Group items tagged

This topic, called Bright Ideas at the Magic House in St. Louis, involves students doing an investigation on electric items. The website says that the students will create their own working switches, games, and working with magnets. It also says that this activity fits in with the standard 4-PS3. I like the Magic House because it requires the students to make their own discoveries through hands on activities. I would also have my students bring a notebook to detail any discoveries that the students have made.

This resource takes Newton's Laws of motion and applies them to concepts that we see everyday in our lives. Also, it uses the popular app Angry Birds that will appeal to the middle school students. I chose this lesson because it has real life applications and is a fun way to discuss the different laws and properties of motion in the classroom. I envision utilizing this source in the classroom as an introduction of a Force and Motion unit.

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.

This is a PDF of a science lesson that includes lessons on sound , light., and energy. It includes objectives and instructions for the students. I think this is a great example of a lesson that will be great for students in class to learn about energy and how it is produced. I would use this site as a resource for teaching mu students about energy.

This site provides videos about energy, light, sound, and heat. Students can click on a link and watch a cartoon video that explains what each one of the above subjects are and how they work. After the video is complete, students can take a quick test to test their knowledge of the subject. I would use this source in class as a pretesting measure or as an exit ticket to see if students truly understand the subjects or if they need further explanations.

This video is SO COOL! This would be a great start into a lesson on gravity. It starts with some prior knowledge that students should have. Then it goes into teaching about gravity with the example of an apple falling from the tree. To keep students accountable, I would have them write down words that they may not understand or have them write a short paragraph on what they learned about gravity after this video. If they write down words they don't know, we could go through them as a class before getting in depth to our gravity lesson which could include more videos or an activity later on.

"Experience strange natural phenomena at this mysterious tourist attraction located in Santa Cruz, CA. " The "Mystery Spot" would be a great place to take a field trip. The "spot" is a circular area in the Redwood Forrest where gravity doesn't seem to exist. Balls roll uphill, and students can stand at a 45 degree angle and not fall down! This experience would be great for students if you had just finished a lesson on the laws of gravity. After experiencing the "mystery spot" you could have them think of reasons why this phenomena happens here. I think this trip would be interesting for all elementary students.

"Learn about the forces of motion and gravity with a new painting technique by exchanging the paint brush for a swinging pendulum. Engage your child with the combination of art and science for a STEAM learning activity. STEAM is the combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math." I found this experiment/activity fun and interesting because it combines science and art. During a unit on forces of motion and gravity, you would discuss how a pendulum works. I would do this activity outside and use the washable chalklike paint they give a recipe for on the site. I would have students predict what kind of a pattern they think the paint will go in based off how the pendulum swings with no paint. Once we have done the first paint pattern, we would try to see if different patterns would occur if you pull it back further. The results are very interesting!

Many people think that heavier objects will fall faster than lighter ones. This experiment gives students a chance to test that theory. They can drop objects from various heights and record their results on a teacher-created worksheet. This activity would be enjoyable for the students to predict which items will fall faster than another.

This is an experiment that would give students a chance to test their theory on how fast one object will fall in comparison to the other when each object weighs a different amount. This link provides a worksheet that students can use to rank the objects in the order (from slowest to fastest) in which they think they will fall to the ground when dropped. Students will be instructed to explain their reasoning. I would encourage students to first come up with their own individual theories before collaborating with partners or groups. Then the students would have the chance to test their theories (with a partner or in a group). I will be sure to tell the students that in order for the test to be effective, each object must be dropped from the same height at the same time. After performing this experiment and recording their results, I would have students discuss and explain their thoughts and reasoning based off of the results. I like this experiment because it allows students to come up with their own theories and reasoning while collaborating and working with others. It would be interesting to hear some of the theories that the students would come up with along with their reasoning behind those theories.

"Shadow puppets offer a great way of investigate light and shadows. It also links to literacy, storytelling and design technology. Try out this cross-curricular activity." This activity is a great way to demonstrate to students how light travels as a wave, showing them that when you put a shadow puppet in between the lamp and the wall, the puppet blocks some of the light waves. For this activity, I would have sample shadow puppets made along with a script to go with the characters. I would allow volunteers to work the shadow puppets as I read the script aloud. To boost the creativity of this activity, I would allow students to create shadow puppets of their choice. I think this would serve as a great extension activity to a lesson about light and shadows especially because it gets students engaged as it requires their involvement. To make sure students fully understand and grasp the relationship between the light and the shadow puppets, I would make sure that each student has a chance to use their shadow puppet on the "stage."