Resources for Teaching Science

This site gives information on educational tours at the St. Louis Zoo. The tour can be guided toward a certain theme and are offered throughout the day. This would be a good field trip to take to get the students outside and actually seeing the different animals and being able to identify it on a food chain or web.

This is a game for the students or the class as a whole to do. It has many different options of food chains. I like this game because it is different each time you do it. It also has pictures and words. It then shows you what eats what after you get it correct.

This biology resource is an interactive tool for students to use while learning about the food chain. In the game, the student will be given pictures of 3-5 animals or plants to drag into boxes. The order of placement in the boxes is based on how high that plant or animal is in the food chain. This resource is a great way for students to be tested about different types of animals. There is a different mixture of animals and plants with each step so there is always a new selection of animals or plants to rank. This is the type of resource I can use after teaching the students about the food chain in order to assess their level of understanding.

This is a game/video that shows the food chain. It also uses a fun video and scenario to get the students engaged. I would use this as class and have it on the projector. I like the story line that goes along with the game.

This is a game for students to see the food chain in action. The students choose the correct organism in the chain. I would use this as a game for the students to do on their own during computer time, or I could put it up on the projector and do the game as a class.

This is a handout that shows the food chain pyramid with pictures and words. I would give this to the students to keep and help them with studying or other worksheets. I like it because it shows the different animals in the pyramid.

This site includes games, lesson plans, worksheets and activities, and more. This website would be useful to gather information and plan lessons and activities for students. It also has the grade level expectations.

This link has lesson plans and activities that would useful in learning about food chains. It also has standards, objectives, and rubrics for the teacher to use. I like this link because it will be useful to guide off of for lesson plans, objectives, and activities. You can use the lesson plans and activities, or you can change them for your liking.

This video is very engaging and very fun. 1st graders would love the beat, and the rhyming of the words. I think that it would be one of those songs that would be easy to memorize, and something they could refer back to if they want to know if something is alive or not. It also keeps repeating the three main characteristics of living things- eat, breathe, and grow. I could use this either as an introduction since it is so engaging or as a review to end the session.

This website was uploaded by BPS Elementary Science Exemplars Project. It is a great lesson plan on how to teach first graders to differentiate between living and nonliving things. This would be a great way for me to introduce the lesson plan to my class. I really like how it still has a lot of pictures to match with the words, in case some readers are not as advanced as others. This lesson plan is very kid friendly, and would be engaging for them, because I could also use several objects in the classroom/around the school to ask if it is living or non-living. After the students gave me their answer, I would then go into characteristics of each living or non-living thing.

This site had a great diagram that showed how the earth is tilted and where it is located according to the sun during each season. I would use this site as a resource during my lessons. This could also be used as a center for the students because it had a season quiz and season themed sheets.

This video was a very child friendly video explaining why we have seasons. This video would be a great resource for the students. I could show the students this video after we have discussed what the four seasons are and the characteristics of each. This would be a great lead in to explaining why we have seasons. I could show this to the students as a whole class or make this another center. The video also has a quiz, questions, and a section to learn more about the seasons at the end of it. This makes this video even better.

This website lists the different biomes and what animals are contained in each. It is very informational and goes into detail about each animal. I chose this website for the fact that it lists the animals in each biome. It would be a great resource to use for a food chain or food web project. I would have my students create a poster making a food chain or food web. They can use this website as a resource to discover what animals live in certain biomes. I would assign each student a biome and their project would consist of placing the animals present in the correct order, to make a food chain.

Seems advanced for early elementary school due to the amount of reading. I would advise for grades 4 and up.

This website is interactive and allows children to work together. In this activity students pair up and see what their children's eyes would look like if they had a child together. I selected this website because I thought it would reinforce some of the Punnett Squares and other genetic content covered. Also, I thought it would be fun and engaging for students to pair up and work together. I would use this resource as an activity to go along with a lesson that I taught. Students would work together to see how genetics play a role in their child.

This website contains a video about an ocean food chain. It is kid friendly and somewhat humorous. I chose this website because young students would enjoy watching this video and still gain knowledge of food chains. It only covers an ocean food chain, failing to touch on other environments. However, I would still use this in my classroom because I think young students would enjoy it. I would allow them to watch it after they finish an assignment early.

This website explains what the PTC gene is and why some people taste bitter flavors. It explains what the PTC gene is useful for in nature and how natural selection works. It also stated that PTC gene carriers were less likely to be smokers. I choose this resource to go in to depth more about why some people are carriers of this gene and other people are not. It helps explain why it is important in nature, which I thought was cool. I would use this website as tool for myself after giving my students the paper to test for this trait. Then I would explain the benefits of having this gene.

This is a website that contains information about food chains and the classifications of animals based on their eating. It also contains worksheets for the students to do. I chose this website because it contains worksheets for students to do. I would use this website as a resource in my future classroom because it contains worksheets. As a teacher I would assign my students to complete one of the worksheets as an activity during the lesson on food chains.

This is a news story about a genetic disorder caused throughout the generations of a family. Due to marrying within the family, family member's generations later have a genetic disorder. Members of this family have a blue pigment to their skin. I selected this source because I think it is important for students to see that genetics is still present in the news and world today. I would use this resource to engage students in genetic disorders. Then I would have my students do a research presentation on other types of genetic disorders.

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 is interactive and gives students real life situations where Punnett Squares are useful, such as breading. Also, it shows students how to create Punnett Squares and then allows students to try it on there on. I like how this website gives students feedback right away and it is making Punnett Squares applicable to the real world. Also, I like how it asked students to answer the chance for an offspring to have a certain characteristic. I would use this resource to help teach Punnett squares. It would be a tool for me to show students that this activity is relatable outside of the class, but it would be engaging at the same time.

This website is interactive and explains how sexual reproduction is different than asexual reproduction. Through the use of flashcards students are able to quiz themselves over descriptions of each form or reproduction. I selected this resource as a tool for my students to help them learn the material as well as quiz themselves. This website also allowed students to hear description of each type of reproduction, do flash cards, play games, type in answers to their questions, and do an online test. I would use this website to see if my students really know the material and have it as tool for studying.