Resources for Teaching Science

So, what does a parade and this lesson plan have in common? A lot of waves! People wave in a parade and this lesson is about waves. Get it? Oh well, that's why I'm a science teacher and not a stand-up comic. Anyway, last lesson we talked about vibrations and frequency. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a great lesson on waves! I think this particular lesson would be appropriate for 3rd through 8th grade. Of course there are adaptations that may need to be made to ensure that it meets the appropriate grade level needs, but overall, I think it would be an interesting and engaging lesson for many grades. This lesson does not include an exact instructional sequence but it is quite informative and teachers will be able to read through the lesson and choose what he or she wants to say about waves. I really like the funny little tidbits throughout the lesson. I really like that there are many experiments available to demonstrate and experience waves. Also, there is a short assessment at the end of the lesson which I think would be a great formative assessment and might even be a great resource for questions of a future summative assessment. Personally, I would use Plickers or iClickers with the assessment to gauge how well the children grasped the material.

In this lesson students earn the basic parts of seeds and what they need to grow into a plant. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I cannot rave about this website enough. It is incredible. The lesson here is on seeds and this website has many portions of the McKendree template prepared already. There is an introduction, instructional sequence, resources, materials, and assessment. I really appreciate the depth of this lesson. It starts with an engaging introduction to get kids thinking and then allows for group work and a hands-on opportunity with seeds. I really like that kids get to hear what the parts of a seed are, view it on a diagram, and also witness it inn reality with an actual seed. This site provides an accompanying video from Sesame Street as well as other websites that would extend the lesson if desired. I would absolutely use this lesson in my classroom. I think something like seeds could be seen as a "boring" topic to some children, but if I used this lesson, I think it would help the topic to come alive and really get the children engaged. I would carry out this lesson as it is constructed, but add my own flair where needed.

June 19, 2015 Anatomy 4D is an excellent iPad app for science teachers and students. It provides an interactive 4D experience of the human anatomy using augmented reality technology. Anatomy 4D offers an easy to use 3-dimensional learning environment ideal for classroom use. This is resource is awesome. It is another technology based resource. To use the technology the students will have to download it to a classroom iPad, but from there they are free to explore the many areas of the human body and do so in great detail. It can pinpoint a specific organ that the student wishes to learn about or that is being discussed in class and they will be able to view that organ while learning more facts; it also allows for the example to switch between male and female letting the student notice any differences or similarities. I personally navigated through this to see just what it was about and I could see so many opportunities to incorporate this application within the classroom. For example, it could be reinforcement to a teachers' lesson when discussing human anatomy and the functions of the main organs. I think it's a great tool that should be used within the class, especially since it is interactive after guided learning the student could explore on their own.

Here's a great Science lesson for students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. This lesson helps students learn about magnets. Storytelling, journaling and teaching from the heart all play a part to make this an effective Science lesson. _____________________________________________________________________ This lesson is taught by Mr. Rutherford. This lesson discusses magnets and allows students to participate in hands-on learning. Students create a journal allowing them to follow what they are learning as well as keep track of the data they are finding. I chose this resource because not only does it give a good idea on an effective science lesson, but it also encourages teachers to be effective as well. I think this lesson is effective because it allows students to become engaged in their own learning. Mr. Rutherford allowed his students to be in charge of their learning, which helps keep all students involved in the lesson. I would definitely teach this lesson in my class. All the students seemed to stay focused on the activity. I would use this lesson to help students learn more about magnetism and how think can effect the magnetism of an object.

Early learners are sure to love these introductory videos on the concept of the solar system. This series features high quality music and animation that will instantly engage kids, and which teachers will enjoy watching as well. Each video states facts about its subject in a catchy song to aid kids in retaining the information and exciting them to discover more. _____________________________________________________________________ I love these videos! This website provides many Storybots videos that all relate to the solar system. These videos are fun to watch and get students engaged. They provide information on everything in the solar system (planets, sun, Earth, stars). Each video provides a catchy song that draws students in, while also teaching them different things about the solar system. I chose this resource because I personally love all the videos. I think they provide a lot of information on the solar system, but in a fun way. I think students will really enjoy these videos, and I think they'll also learn a lot as well. I watched the sun video a couple times and I was already beginning to learn some of the lyrics! I think this resource could be used as a hook for any lesson about the solar system. These videos could be used as an introduction and will help get the students engaged in the material. Students will want to learn more once they watch these videos!

The concept of metamorphosis is fascinating to children of all ages. Help your child's creativity take flight as she makes her very own butterfly life cycle. _____________________________________________________________________ I think this is a really cute activity/craft to use when learning about life cycles. This activity allows students to create their own butterfly life cycle with just a paper plate, dry pasta, and crayons. Students use different types of dry pasta to represent the different phases of a butterfly's life cycle. I chose this resource because I think it provides a really good visual for what each stage of the butterfly life cycle looks like. It's important for students to not only learn the material, but understand the material. I think this activity allows students to understand the butterfly life cycle better and visualize what each stage looks like. This resource could be used during a lesson about life cycles. The butterfly life cycle is short and easy for students to learn, so it would be a good life cycle to teach to students. This resource would be a good hands-on activity to add to the lesson.

A popular St. Louis destination since 1954, Grant's Farm is the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family, named for Ulysses S. Grant who once lived on the land. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Everyone from the St. Louis area has probably visited Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm is very educational and fun for kids. Not only are students learning about the different animals at Grant's Farm, they are also able to interact with some of the animals. This allows the students to be more engaged in what they're learning. Grant's Farm has many opportunities for students to learn, starting from the second they board the tram. I chose Grant's Farm for my field-trip opportunity because I know that I loved going there as a kid, and I also learned a lot when I went. The hows they have allow students to learn a lot while also having fun. I think this would be a good field-trip for any school near the St. Louis Area. If I were to take my students to Grant's Farm for a field-trip, I would discuss some of the animals that are seen at Grant's Farm and certain aspects about each animal. If I were teaching older students, I would assign each group an animal. After the field trip, I would have each group present to the class information they learned about their animal.

As you hold your phone up and point it towards the sky, Star Walk Kids follows your motions using the built-in gyroscope to match the map on your screen to the stars seen from your location. Cartoon-style interface and friendly voice of the narrator effortlessly guide you through the night sky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The winner of 8 awards, Star Walk Kids is a great astronomy app for students! Kids can learn about planets, stars, and constellations. The app is informational and interactive and completely kid friendly with engaging graphics and colors. I love that this app speaks to the operator and helps to verbally label items, so that children will know how to pronounce a name. The most incredible part of this app, in my opinion, is that it is available in ten different languages. I know that if I had a non-English-speaking student in my class, I would be thankful to have an app that offered a comfortable language for that student. Throught the vitotechnology link, one can access the app's manual to better understand its features and how to operate it. This app does cost $2.99, but I believe that is a small price to pay for such a wonderful app. The following is a YouTube link to a review video that goes through some of the app's functions. This video might be nice to view in order to get a better feel of the app. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d9zUbXsY6U

This website is amazing! It offers over 100 interactive online games on more than 30 different topics and it is completely free. Science games are excellent assets to any Science lesson. Interactive games make learning complicated concepts fun and easy for some children. As an adult playing some of these games I felt like I gained a better understanding of certain topics, so I know some children would find these games beneficial and effective extensions to lessons. This website seems to have a little bit of everything from animal classification to biomes to physics and motion. Some of the games offer a short assessment at the end to really see if the children are learning the concept. Having games like these available would make a great addition to a remediation plan if students are having difficulties grasping a particular topic. I will definitely be visiting this site again when I am teaching!

The San Angelo Nature Center is a collection of animals, along with related exhibits and information, that are native to the Southwest. Among the animals are bobcats, skunks, a porcupine, hissing cockroaches, tarantulas, scorpions, turtles, lizards and snakes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The SANC is an incredible place. There are many different types of mammals, reptiles, bugs, and insects for children to experience. Being a former volunteer of the SANC, I know first-hand all of the possibilities this place offers. One of my favorite things about this place is the up close and personal experience children get with the animals. Children can choose to hold various reptiles including snakes, box turtles, or the center's two bearded dragons, Bonnie and Clyde. If they desire, children may hold or touch a hissing cockroach, a cave cockroach, a tarantula, or my personal favorite creature, the vinegarroon! Children can also meet Opus and Juliet, two African spurred tortoises. This place contains many facts and trivia about the various animals and is an exciting place for adults and kids alike.

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.

What I love about this science activity is that students are able to make their own bio domes from household items. By using, 3 two- liter soda bottles, a soda cap, soil, and something to plant, students will be able to grow their own plant. Along the way they will learn about the water cycle and how this infrastructure helps promote the grow of an organism. For an activity I would sort students into groups of three. Each group will bring their own supplies. In class they will construct their bio domes and plant a specimen that I will provide them. Once the construction aspect is completed we will set each labeled bio dome aside. Throughout the weeks to come each group, ever student, will keep record of how much their plant is growing. In their records they will summarize what they observe and what they think is going to happen.

InnerBody.com is a free virtual human anatomy website with detailed models of all human body systems. The Internet's best anatomy learning resource! This resource lets student interact with the human body in the different sunbject matter such as, muscular system, skeletal system, circulatory system and many more areas within the human body. This activity allows students to click on certain areas with the human body and the website increases that part of the human body in order to let the students explore and learn. I believe that this activity can help students study for their assessment as well as assist them within their memorization skills.

The Children's Creativity Museum has a range of exploratory experiences for children throughout their site, their coding workshop field-trip is exploratory in a whole new manner. Children will experience a coding workshop that is structured to engage and entertain them, while also providing actual coding skills and knowledge that can be applied in other scenarios outside the workshop itself.I envision the field trip going along with coding that we do in class, possibly in conjunction with a school-wide "Hour of Code" via Khan Academy, or something similar.

"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."

"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!

What I like about this lesson is that it can be used cross-cirricularly if your younger class does not allot enough time for a science lesson. Using a book as the main idea of your lesson is a great engagement tool for younger students. This lesson on wind, energy, and renewable resources is fun and lists a lot of extension activities like building a windmill and figuring out the problem/solution using writing skills.

"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!

I liked this experiment because it involved an upcoming holiday, which students also seem to really enjoy (you could also do this experiment without involving Valentines Day.) This experiment is similar to the classic baking soda and vinegar. When you put a balloon on top of a water bottle that contains aka seltzer and water, the reaction bubbles form, they have nowhere to go and it fills up the balloon with carbon dioxide gas, inflating the balloon and showing the heart message. To use this in a classroom, I would have my students write down what they think is going to happen to the balloon and to the reaction. We could also try this experiment with a different type of liquid like sprite and see what happens.

"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.