Group items tagged

This activity will be done at the end of our plant unit. For this activity, students will label the four different things that plants need to grow. Each need can be revealed by flipping up the leaf. I chose this resource because plant needs is a very important concept in first grade. We will spend a lot of time discussing the different needs, so this project will be a great review at the end of the unit. It is valuable to me because it allows me to see if the students understand the needs of a plant. While some of the components of this activity cost money, I will instead replicate it myself by copying the pattern. Once these projects are completed, I will display them in the classroom.

Good choice for the end of the unit, once students have learned through doing what plants need.

In this game, students are separated into teams. Each team is given a block of Legos. Students must then take turns crab-walking from one side of the room to the other. Once the student reaches the other side, they are to break off one Lego from their block, set it on the floor, then pass the remaining piece to the next classmate in line. This game is a fun and easy way of explaining the process of the weathering away of a rock through the effects of erosion and deposition. I chose this resource because I thought it was a great way for students to become actively involved in the process of erosion, while allowing them to be active and work with their classmates. I would use this game in my classroom as a conclusion to a lesson on weathering, erosion, and deposition.

This hands-on activity allows students to get a better understanding of why a tree's leaves change colors. By doing this activity, we will be able to see how a leaves colors stay hidden in the leaf all year long. Students will collect leaves prior to doing this experiment, and will place them in small jars filled slightly with rubbing alcohol. Those leaves will be chopped up into tiny pieces and left in the jar which will be covered with a lid or plastic wrap. The jars will soak in water for about a half an hour. Students will then use a strip of coffee filter paper to see the colors from the leaves bleed. They will see different shades of green, orange, red, and maybe some yellow depending on the type of leaf. I chose this experiment because it allows the students to understand chromatography, chlorophyll, and different pigments found in leaves. By doing a hands-on activity, students are more engaged and anxious to find out what is going to happen. I envision this experiment being used at the end of a plant lesson in science. We would have been discussing different types of plants, trees, flowers, and why they are all different colors. There will also be many important vocabulary words that the students will need to understand, which will be present in this activity. We will conduct this experiment in small groups so that students are able to participate and see what is going on.

This is the St. Louis Zoo's website. It contains all the events it holds along with information about some of the animals. I chose this website as a source for a field trip. It is a good place to take students to because it is fun, but they are also learning about animals. I would take my students to the zoo after the lesson on food chains. They would have knowledge about what animals eat in terms of other animals. I would have them create their own food chains on the animals they saw at the zoo.

This is a resource for a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo. I selected this resource because it fit right in to my standard, 2-LS4-1 because the students will be able to make observations about the plants and animals that they see at the zoo as well as make observations about the types of habitats that the animals are in. I would use this resource to take my students on a field trip to the zoo to show them all of the different types of animals and most of the different types of plants.

This website has 5 different experiments that students can do with plants. The experiments test the effects of light, water, food, talking to the plants, and soil content on the growth of plants. I selected this source because I think the experiments are good and will help students understand the best conditions of plants. It will help them understand that there are other components besides light and water that go into the growth of a plant. I would use this resource during a plant unit, likely in 3rd or 4th grade. This would be an ongoing project that could integrate measurement in math, graphing (with and without use of technology), and art (by drawing observations).  

I love this one! I really like plant experiments becuase these days, kids don't really get to appreicate and witness actual plant growth. I would any of these as ideas to use in my classroom.

This is a video from teacher tube about the parts of plants and what they need. I would show this video on the day that the students would make their chart craft of the parts of plants. I feel like this would flow with the craft project perfectly.

In this field trip opportunity, the students will receive the chance to go apple picking, go to a petting farm, go through a fun house, and watch an educational variety show. I chose this field trip location because it fits multiple topics that are learned in elementary science classes including nutrition and animal biology. I would like to go on this field trip at the end of a nutrition lesson and use it to lead into an animal biology lesson.

This would be such a great field trip after studying about how some of the food you buy in stores actually comes from a farm. The students would have the opportunity to walk around the farm and see different kinds of fruits that are grown on the farm, as well as, the students being able to do some apple picking! The tour includes apple or pumpkin picking, petting farm, educational variety show on the grand stage, tractor and wagon ride, and the students would enjoy free apple cider and one free apple per child. This field trip would give the students a visual of where different fruit comes from.

Students will Learn and understand the term habitat. Discover that forests, deserts, wetlands, and grasslands are unique and separate habitats. Identify animals that live in four different environments. _______________________________________________________________________________________ In this lesson, students are learning about four different habitats: forests, deserts, wetlands, and grasslands. Students learn about the different environments of each habitat, as well as the different animals that live in each habitat. To show their understanding, students will create a drawing of the habitat they would most like to visit, including the different animals and plants that live there. I selected this resource because I think it's important for students to understand that there are many different habitats around the world. Students (as well as adults) often forget that there is a world outside of where they live, and I think it's important for students to learn about and understand these other habitats. Also, many students are interested in animals, and incorporating animals into this lesson will make it easier for the students to be engaged. I would follow the lesson the way it is written, and incorporate what we learn into a discussion about the type of environment we live in. Students would be able to compare where we live to other kinds of habitats. To add to this lesson, I would have each corner of the room decorated with a different kind of habitat (ex: forest corner: trees, monkeys, etc). Each student would make their own drawing, and go to their desired corner to share with their group first and then share their drawing to the whole class.

Looks good!

In this activity, students are put into small groups to construct 3D candy landform maps. To begin, students are given a blank outline of the United States on a large piece of paper and a landform map. Students must then map out where all of the major rivers, deserts, mountain ranges, plains, and oceans are. Next, students are given various candy, yarn, and paint with which to construct their map and key. I chose this activity for three main reasons. For one, it allows students to work with their peers to create a product. It also provides them with a link between social studies and science. Finally, students are very likely to be engaged in the project because both candy and painting are involved. I could see myself using this project in my classroom as a conclusion to a unit on landforms because it is a culmination of many different types of landforms as well as an application of what has been studied to an actual map of the United States, thus making a real-world connection.

This activity allows the students to get a better understanding of the water cycle while creating a fun art project. Students will color the printable water cycle stages and then paste them on the cloud template in order. The finished projects can be hung from the ceiling to display your class's work and make your classroom cute and colorful! Because the project is 3-D, it can be spun around which shows that the water cycle is constant and repeats itself. This activity will be done at the end of our water cycle unit in science. It will be one of the many activities done to make sure students understand the process of the cycle. I selected this resource because it is an exciting way to order the stages of the water cycle. Instead of just putting different pieces of paper in order, students can color, cut, and paste their stages on a giant cloud. The free downloadable printable also makes it valuable to me.

"If you're looking for a fantastic way to end your spring plant/botany unit, try this fun activity from Ms. Lopez of Coloring Outside The Lines that will have your kiddos snacking through the parts of a plant!" This lesson/activity could tie a unit on plants with healthy eating unit! I would first make a diagram with the students labeling the different parts of the plant to activate their background knowledge. After that, I would go through my different foods I had out and ask the students what part of the plant they thought it was. They would attach their food to their worksheet and once they were done we could eat the different parts of the plant! I think younger students would love this activity!

This website is really cool. There is a ton of great information on topics that I think would be interesting for kids of all ages. The images included with the information are awesome.

This site contains activities and projects for students to work on like creating their own space probe or looking at interactive maps. Its full of videos, current events, extra teaching resources and even describes way that everyone can get involved with helping the environment. It's a great interdiciplinary resource that can tie together a broad range of subjects and topics. The webiste resources are free but the magazine subsription does cost money. In addition to the teacher resources link there is also a special page just for young learners that includes music, games, movies, and more.

This is a website from a first grade teacher's blog. I am using the pictures for a craft idea that I would use for my lesson plan. To understand the life cycle of a plant, the students would need to have a visual of all the parts of the plant. This is also great becuase they would label all of the parts and the elements of what a plant needs to survive. It is so cute, I love it!

I would use this video in a 5th grade lesson on our solar system.  This video discusses the formation of our solar system and then follows through with information on all of the individual planets.  This video could be incorporated into a science lesson very easily without being too distracting due to the short length of the video.

A great place to start for science activities for kids (chemical change, states of matter, motion, plants, human body, etc) This site includes free activies that can be done in the classroom and then a section where the teacher can asses his or her students on their knowledge of the content. I picked this website because it has so many ideas in different aspects of science that I can always come back to this site in order to get a new idea for an activity. I can use it in the classroom to either begin or follow up a lesson with because students are always engaged with hands on activities and that is what this site mainly includes.

Direct link to the Journal Archives of The Association for Science Education, the British equivalent of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) in the US. The ASE publishes four journals, which are all archived here. Some articles are available for free, but others are locked. Articles feature classroom and research-based ideas for teaching science at a variety of levels.

* This lesson is focused on the identification of structures and functions that plants and need to survive. It lets the students think about what job each part of the plant has to survive along with how important it is for each plant part to do its job or else the plant will not. I selected this resource because I thought it would make for a great introduction lesson for teaching students about plants and how their internal and external structures help them to support survival, growth, behavior, and overall reproduction (4-LS1-1). The structure and processes of plants and animals is my main focus of this lesson, but I feel that this lesson would benefit the teaching of plants.

This source gives the history of space exploration. From the first astronomers to the first shuttle launch. This website will be useful by informing the students on how humans have contributed to the solar system with knowledge and technology. I selected this website because it will be a good source for information on the history of outer space. I like this resource because I can set up groups to explore one of the four websites and report back to class. This hands on experience will help students realize it was a long and difficult journey to get to where we are in space, knowledge and technology. I could use this in not only science by history class by relating to dates of other situations in history as well as showing how Americans have progresses throughout the years in science and technology.

I really like the timelines for different periods of history as well as the depictions of insignia for the different missions to space by NASA. Great informational site for student research!

This resource is an interactive tool for students. The students are asked to enter their area code and to check yes or no depending on whether or not they observed that type of bug. In order to use the online source, students must first investigate the environment of the teacher's choice (ex: playground) and make note of the bugs that they have seen. Once the student's collected their data and entered it into the website, they are able to compare what types of bugs are found in the different states/regions. I chose this resource because it requires the students to observe their surroundings, record their data, and compare their data to other regions of the United States. Not only does it require the use of technology, it also requires the students to not remain stationary in the classroom setting.

Take your students on an exciting adventure to the Saint Louis Science Center Planetarium to experience hands-on and visual learning. This resource allows students to take part in a self-guided or small group exploration of not only our galaxies stars, but also its many planets. I chose this website because of it wealth of factual knowledge and easily accesible tools. This field trip could take part during a planet lesson, and/or an astronomy lesson.