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This website was designed by a teacher that has taught biology and chemistry to middle school and high school students for 37 years. This is the culmination of materials and resources that she has created, modified, and gathered over the years. She provides a multitude of various links to different activities, worksheets, labs, demos, test reviews, etc. She even provides her email information so you can be in contact with her and discuss the material on the website and other teaching strategies. I selected this resource because there are so many different activities that can be used by middle and high school biology and chemistry instructors. It is particularly valuable to me because I will more than likely use many of the materials and resources provided from this website in my own classroom. Personally I find it challenging to create really fun and yet beneficial, educational activities for students on my own, so it is very useful to have some ideas available for me to start with. 

Free streaming video that shows the actual fossils from an ancient sea in the middle of Indiana. Put the mouse on highlighted sections of the rocks and a depiction of the fossil comes to life along with a brief summarization of what kind of fossil it is and how it lived. I really liked this program because it shows how different our world was millions of years ago, and the fact that the program animates whichever fossil you choose, brings the past to life. It would be a great resource to use when teaching biological evolution (3-LS4).

As we have learned throughout our education, every teacher is a teacher of reading. Plus, by integrating science with literature, hopefully, more kids will become excited about science. This website offers literature books specifically related to individual content areas. While the website is directed toward elementary teachers, I think some of the books could be utilized by middle school teachers as well. These may be a fun way to introduce a new topic or just on shelves for students to learn more about a specific topic that interests them.

This website is full of different hands on activities for teaching biology to high school or middle school students. All of the activities that are provided are closely linked to biological concepts. The reason why I selected this resource is because I feel that students will truly understand and be able to apply a biological concept if they are able to engage said concept in a hands on activity. It is important that the kinesthetic mode of learning is addressed in class. This resource is valuable because I truly believe that the more hands-on activities that I have in my classroom, the more effective of a science classroom it will be. I will undoubtedly use some of these activities in my own class.  

This is a resource video for Middle School Science Teachers that displays simple demonstrations to help instruct on chemical or physical reactions, surface tension, life science, and waves. I would use this video to help utilize creative and engaging lesson starters. I selected this resource because it has multiple ideas to spice up the classroom for both the students and teacher.

This website is more for the experiment that you might do after teaching a lesson. This particular experiment is the old fashion "making a volcano". I believe that students can learn from this experiment. There is an objective on the understanding of volcanoes and guiding questions at the end. I would probably do this experiment in the middle of the week for lessons on volcanoes. I would definitely give my students background knowledge on what volcanoes are, how they are formed, and what happens when they erupt. I would then have them do this experiment. After, the website gave a great idea for a homework assignment such as, looking into the volcanoes we have on earth and possibly writing a paper on them. I enjoy experiments, especially in science so I believe this would be great for any lesson involving volcanoes.

This website could be used as a personal cheat sheet for me if the students ask me a question that I dont know the answer to right there. It can also be used for the students because it has all of the basic formulas the students will need.

Seems pretty advanced for middle school.

St. Louis Science Center's reconstruction of a dig site in the Badlands, of Montana. The fossils at the "dig site" are casts made from the real fossils that can be seen on display in the Prep lab. The Prep Lab features interactive tables where real dinosaur fossils are displayed. Students are also encouraged to ask the workers and volunteers questions. There are also many other interactive exhibits at the St. Louis Science Center that deal with fossils and how they are made, and beginning March 7, there will be a special traveling dinosaur exhibit to visit. I can't think of a better place to take a field trip when teaching about biological evolution (3-LS4) than the Science Center. A large majority of their interactive displays fit right in with what the students are learning, and having the hands-on experience will only enhance the students learning and make it more meaningful. I would take the field trip somewhere in the middle of teaching the material, that way I could reference what the students have already learned in class when we're on the field trip but they would find that there is still more to learn.

Weekly astronomy article written by middle school science teacher in Flora, IL. Past articles are archived for easy reference.

This set of 6 videos explores the science behind the "super" powers of speed, strengths, mass, immortality, flight, and invisibility. Geared for middle and high school level students, this resource could be used as the hook to introduce physics concepts.

Also includes assessment questions!

This website is great. It was created by a meteorologist specifically with children in mind. She wanted them to be able to learn more about "the fascinating world of weather." I couldn't pick just one link, as I feel the entire website is incredible educational.

This website was designed by meteorologist Crystal Wicker. She designed it with kids in mind, but it's also an excellent resource for teachers. It answers questions about tornadoes, lightening, clouds, volcanoes, and much more. It also provides games, flashcards, jokes, photos, and experiments. I chose this site because I think it is a great, quick reference for early elementary teachers. It would also be and asset for a middle elementary student doing research. I would use this in my classroom as a resource to questions being asked by my students, or questions I need answered. I would also pull some of the weather experiments and use them when applicable.

This is a lesson plan all about DNA. The students will use a banana and extract DNA from it and observe it under a microscope. I think that this is a cool and fun, interactive way for students to obtain a better understanding of DNA.

DNA is so abstract that I think it would be better recommended for 6-12 than K-12.

In this activity, Students will try extracting DNA from a banana by following the simple instructions and can take the activity further with the use of a microscope. It is a fun, interactive way to get the students thinking about structure. I would consider incorporating this activity into my classroom because it involves very little cost (1 banana would provide enough DNA for a classroom-wide experiment). Also, the experiment is totally sanitary--you are not working with human/animal DNA, you're working with food. Finally, anytime you bring food into a classroom, healthy or not, the students are interested. It's a win-win-win-win. This is a great lesson because it can be easily modified and adapted based upon the grade level and needs of the students. I believe this lesson would provide a nice introduction of DNA to a Middle School science classroom. However, if the instructor would like to increase difficulty for an older grade, it is easy to do. The students could compare and contrast DNA from different fruits, research in-depth, etc.

Students will observe the effects of osmosis on a gummy bear in this guided scientific method lab report. This is a fun visual way to grasp the difficult concept of osmosis. I chose this lesson because when I was in middle school I had difficulty with the concept of osmosis, and I feel that this hands on and visual lab will bring the students to a better understanding of osmosis. Also, this would be a great way to explore osmosis on a deeper level and engage the students because giant gummy bears are cool. I would use this lab during the cells unit in science when we talk about the different properties of the cell wall: osmosis being one of the properties.

This website gives you the ingredients and amounts of different liquids and materials to poor into a clear cylinder to determine the different densities of materials. In their lab groups, the students will determine the order that the materials will layer in the cylinder before the materials are actually poured in. I selected this resource because it provides a way do demonstrate density in the classroom and it explains the reason for why each material settles differently. I would use this experiment as a way to introduce volume and density to my middle school students.

This website has a variety of unscrambling puzzles for young children. I would use this as an activity probably in the middle of "Recycling Week" to get children away from "schoolwork." Not only are the children learning words associated with recycling, they are also working on spelling and handwriting as well.

This is an interactive place to learn about agriculture in a fun way. Initially it could be used for the teacher and the students together. It has videos, pictures, and shows processes of how food gets from the farm to the plate. However, there is a section that helps teachers integrate it into their classroom.

This website is a teaching resource providing lesson plans, worksheets, and activities for upper elementary and middle school science teachers. All resources on this site are copyright protected but are free to distribute to students in the classroom. Included are links to other websites offering lesson plans, worksheets and activities. Access to literally hundreds of thousands of teaching materials. Broken down into four major categories of life, space, earth and physical sciences.

A lot of worksheets and crossword puzzles related to science content. A few lessons, but my favorite is the collection of different styles of periodic tables (black and white, color, etc.) available for downloading.

This is an entire unit on wetlands and it is completely free. There are five lessons on wetlands that each build on one another. I really like how the first lesson relies solely on the student's senses to experience wetlands. There are activities for each of the five senses that really get children engaged and in tune to what a wetland is. The second lesson teaches about different types of wetlands and includes a game to help learn them. Lesson three is great because it pairs this ecology lesson on wetlands with an English lesson on metaphors. It even includes objectives with measurable verbs, There are also great extension activities included! Each lesson in this unit plan has at least one video paired with it. I really like when there are videos provided, because teachers don'e have to use them, but they may if they choose. I would certainly use some of the videos that I thought would help better explain the context of the lesson, so visual and auditory learners would be able to better grasp the content. I could certainly see myself using this lesson in my future classroom. Especially since it is for upper elementary and middle school which are my ideal age group.

Mr Bones is - an interactive presentation geared toward an elementary school audience. A discussion of the human skeletal system presented by a physician, medical or graduate student using human skeleton model to demonstrate skeletal system anatomy and physiology. Common injuries and disorders of the skeletal system will be discussed as well as ways to keep the skeletal system healthy. This field trip would be a great opportunity for the students to learn about their body from the professionals. It would get the students out of the classroom and into a different learning environment for the day! I would try to plan this field trip to be before starting an anatomy or body system unit in middle school science.

The students are studying Animal Classification Systems they will make a "foldable" that would help them practice seeing and using the 8 levels of classification. After teaching the students about the 8 different levels of classification, I would have the students each choose a mammal and have them fill out this "foldable" to help them see and use the classification system because there are scientists out there who have the job of classifying animals in real life. This is a great way for the students to be little scientists and take this boring concept and make it their own!