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This article will help me prepare for teaching elementary students a lesson on static electricity. It explains the difference between static charge and static shock.

This article will help me prepare for teaching elementary students a lesson on static electricity. It explains the difference between static charge and static shock.

This website provides procedures for creating static electricity using a variety of materials. The lesson also provides objectives and suggestions for "gearing up." The procedures are geared towards 6th and 8th graders but I can do the challenging demonstrations and just have my students observe. I like this lesson because it provides a variety of activities to show students how static electricity is made. There are activities provided in this lesson that would be appropriate for elementary students, and I will modify this lesson for my elementary students accordingly.

This site provides everything from objectives to assessment strategies and also lists related books and links for more information.

This resource contains instructions on how to bend water. The object is to bend the water by using static electricity. The materials needed are a plastic comb or inflated balloon, a narrow steam of water from a faucet, and dry hair. I selected this resource because I believe the lower elementary grades would really enjoy the experiment. Someday, I would love to teach kindergarten and I can see myself making a lesson out of this resource.

I will use this video in my lesson about lightning and static electricity. I really like this video because a meteorologist answers questions asked by elementary students about lightning. I think my elementary students will enjoy it because young students like themselves are featured in the video.

I like this lesson because it includes an activity on how electrical charges attract and repel. While doing the activity using Cheerios, thread, wire clothes hanger, plastic comb, piece of wool, foam cup, and a large nail, students will draw conclusions about the nature of electricity. It must be a good lesson or it would not be posted on the Smithsonian's website!

I found this and thought it would pair well with the Clouds in Jars I posted earlier. Both these activities could be used as part of a center day during a unit about weather. This page includes two experiments on how to create lightning. The first one sounds kind of involved and from what I read it did not have great results. I would probably used the second one. All the students would need would be a balloon and a metal spoon and, depending on the age of the students, they would only need minimal supervision. The students would be creating static electricity by rubbing the balloon on their hair and then touching the spoon to the balloon. This is really cool and really simple. This could also serve as a filler activity on a day when you need something quick to fill up some time. I could also see this activity being used during a unit on electricity as well. I would probably use this activity with students between kindergarten and third grade.