In this activity you need a flashlight, A transparent container with flat parallel sides, and 250 milliliters (1 cup) of milk. There will be water in the container. Gradually as you experiment you will add more milk to the water. The water acts as the day time sky, the milk acts as the clouds, and the flashlight is the sun. As you add more milk it gives of the appearance of a more cloudy sky. The cloudier you make it the more orange the light will get. Basically the sun sets as you fill the container with more and more milk. I think this is an awesome idea. I have never seen this done before but I would have been amassed as a student to see this. it fits great with a weather lesson, a light lesson, or a lesson about clouds and cloud types. Depending on have advanced your students are you could probably ask them to give you examples of the cloud cover that might be present as you continue to pour in the milk. This is another good observation and journal point in class. Maybe you don't tell them right away what it is supposed to look like and you have them tell you instead. You could discuss how as clouds get thicker less light passes through and introduce terms such as transparent and translucent. Whether you tell them what it is or not it is a great connection to make with students. This is something that literally happens every day in their own lives. maybe you could have them go home with journals and compare the real sunset to the one you made in class today.

This link allows students to either move the moon around the earth and see the phases, or they can click what phase they want to see and the moon jumps to the position it would be in when in the sky. Bellow the big picture you can also advance the moons position around the earth day by day. Using this simulator may dispel so misunderstandings about what causes the phases of the moon. There are several different views of the same information so students can choose which ever one makes more sense to them to look at. As I also said above there are several different ways to manipulate whats in front of you. I would most definitely use this in a chapter about the moon. I might have a worksheet that asks students to show me where the moon would be at each phase, I might follow that with questions about why they think the moon looks the way it does. I love this tool, it was introduced to me in astronomy. I love how easy it is to use. Again you can manipulate it day by day, you get to see what the moon would really look like up in the sky if you had the chance to see it, and you get to see and understand what rotates around what.( We rotate around the sun, the moon rotates around us.)

In this lesson you go over 6 different habitats in the world. The list contains grasslands (or savanna), temperate forest, tropical rain forest, desert, polar ice, tidepools. You separate your class into six groups and assign each group a habitat. Each habitat has its own assigned question that the students need to find the answer to through research of their habitat using a computer. For example the grassland group has to explain why speed is such a good thing for animals who live there, while the temperate forests are going to explain what tree leaves have to do with frozen water available in their climate. When the assignment is done students have to present their work to the class and teach each other what they learned through their own research. The lesson is basically about adaptations and how they come in handy in certain parts of the world but not others. This link also has web links embedded in it to help students look for their answers. I think this is great for a unit on adaptations and habitats. I would have loved to do this in my upper elementary classes. i feel like i would have learned and remembered so much more. It definitely fosters more constructive learning. I don't tell you about adaptations and then ask questions, you are sent to find the info on your own.

This is an android app, there is a free trial but then you do have to pay about $3 for the rest of the experiments. The app opens with an experiment using batteries, tape, paper, two alligator clips, and a pencil led. The isea is to build a simple circuit. The whole experiment is guided on what ever device you use. After the experiment is conducted it is even explained. The guide even tells you why pencil led was used, graphite contains carbon and carbon can carry electricity. I would use this app in a young classroom to introduce electricity, or the flow of energy. I might even use this as an opener so everyone can do it. Then we might discuss what exactly we learned, or what else we would like to know. I would also set up at least one real experiment to show the students up close. I wouldn't let them do a real one on their own unless they were 3rd grade and up. I think this is an amassing way to introduce electricity and show students how circuits work. Electricity is a real world thing that they use every day.

This process is called 'capillary action'. In this experiment you will need a little bit of time. You need a minimum of two glasses, one filled with water and the other one empty. You then will twist a paper towel and form a 'rope' out of it. You will place this in the glass with water in it. You will also place the other end of it in the empty glass. If you do this in the morning first thing when the students get there you could check on it at lunch and maybe a gain before you leave for the day, either way this takes time. You cant start this right before science. What happens is the water travels up one side of the paper towel, across the cups, and down into the other cup until both glasses are evenly filled. This shows students how water is capable of travel. It also is a bridge into talking about how root systems work in plants. What the students will be able to observe throughout the day is the same process plants use when they take water from the soil and carry it to the other parts of the plant. I would do this as an all day thing. Maybe between every subject, or every other subject, I would have them record observations in their journal. This is great for observational skills. You can even use more cups and put food coloring in them, this helps you track the water as it goes from cup to cup.

This experiment uses a plastic bag, string, scissors and a small action figure. As you might have guested you are going to make a parachute. After you construct the parachute you will drop it as slow as you can. This shows air resistance. This is a great start to a lesson, an experiment, and even an example of a fair test! I would use this to start a lesson on air resistance ( or maybe even gravity). I would first drop my parachute in the class and ask students what happened. I might even drop both an action figure by himself, and an action figure on a parachute to farther demonstrate the air resistance. I might ask questions such as "why did this action figure fall more slowly? What was stopping him? Why/how? Then after a discussion I would get out materials for the whole class. I would ask students "What could we test using what we now know to create different parachutes and find out which one will work the best?" We would talk about how larger surface area creates more resistance and will make a parachute fall more slowly. In the aspects of a fair test I would try to guide the idea towards testing out maybe 5 different parachutes. The controlled aspect would be using the same material, and same size parachute. What would change would be how many holes we would put in the top of it. Holes in the top cause air to go through the parachute not around it, this causes the parachute to fall more straight. (This is something we might have found out through research.) The goal would be to make a parachute that falls as slow and straight as possible. The challenge would be where to place the holes and how big the holes should be.

When you drop an egg in a glass of plain water it sinks. If you drop the same egg in a glass of salt water, it floats. This experiment link explains this. If you start class with the two glasses and the eggs and just have students make observations you could really spark some interesting conversations. I would use this in part of a density lesson. This might even be my introduction to density. It is definitely a way to grab the students attention because you almost play a mind trick on them. As a student I know this would have really captured my interest, it also sparks more exploration. What else could you add to water to get the same results?

This resource houses a view of the perfect meteorology field-trip for students. The location is The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL. The exhibit gives loads of visuals of and scientific background for a variety of storms. The link attached is about the whole exhibit, as you click on what you would more directly want to study the website shows you how students can explore. The exhibit doesn't just cover storms, it also covers atoms and ways to harness energy. If you explore the tornado section you will get to see and manipulate a giant tornado. You also get to make your own table top tornado to explore farther. Finally they have wind tunnels you can get inside to feel the force of the wind. In the lightning section they explore charge. Not only do they get to see and hear a lightning storm inside, but they also get to experiment with magnets and levitation! There is a ton of information on fires including how some fires in nature aren't so bad. Students even get to use reactions with fire to create a fireworks display. The list of fun goes on and on! In the sunlight section solar power is discussed. Students can even watch a tsunami in a tank, and an avalanche in a disk. The exhibit is completely educational and makes many connections to the real world. I would use this to close a year in science, probably right after a unit on weather where students have studied all of the aspects of weather for at least one month. The exhibit is an awesome way for them to see what changes in weather and climate can do, and how exactly they do it. Some parts of the exhibit put a student in they eye of the storm! I had never heard of this place before but I would love to go! .