Resources for Teaching Science

This website could be used in a 5th grade astronomy lesson.  This is an interactive website that students could go to to find out information on our solar system and surrounding areas. You could create a worksheet that could be a website scavenger hunt that the students would have to complete while exploring the website.

I would use this video in a 5th grade lesson on our solar system.  This video discusses the formation of our solar system and then follows through with information on all of the individual planets.  This video could be incorporated into a science lesson very easily without being too distracting due to the short length of the video.

This is an identification game that students could play to familiarize them with the location of the planets in our solar system.

This is an awesome book that the students could complete over the course of a few days, while learning about the solar system.  The book has a page for each planet in our solar system that requires the students to find out information about each planet.  This is a great activity that allows students to become familiar with the rest of our solar system in a way more hands on than just reading a chapter.

This is another lesson I found that would be great for a 5th grade astrology lesson.  This is a complete lesson that has students do research no computers do gather information on the solar system, after they have been through guided discussions.

I couldn't bookmark the individual activity but the Scale Distances in the Solar System lesson would be great to use in the classroom to demonstrate and give students a visual on the size of our solar system and the distance between our planets.

This resource gives a thorough description how clouds are formed and gives details and pictures about the many different kinds there are. I chose this resource because it is colorful and attentive as well as using appropriate vocabulary, which makes it valuable. I envision using this resource as the basis for an online scavenger hunt where students would learn more about clouds.

This resource allows students to interact with weather online by experimenting with meteorology tools, conduct research about weather, and create their own weather forecast. I like this tool because it's interactive and the students can have fun feeling like they control the weather.

This resource provides a thorough description of weather symbols and what they represent. I like this resource because it is comprehensive and has all of the symbols together. I would like to use this in the classroom by having students learn about the symbols and then watch a taped clip of the Weather Channel and see how many of the symbols they see.

This page is easy to navigate and could be used the first day of the lesson to get students interested in the topic. It briefly covers the basics of weather.

This website could be useful to both the teacher and the student. For the teacher it as graphic organizers to guide the students through lesson and also has simulations to watch. The website also has games and practice quizzes for the students.

This resource is an activity that simulates the process of producing precipitation (rain). Although this site is very simplistic, I like it because it allows the students to visually how rain forms. I would use this in my classroom to demonstrate and help reinforce the concept of the water cycle and rain to those students that are struggling with it.

I would use The Weather Channel to show students that learning about weather is important. We are surrounded by weather daily. This website provides practical application, so they understand why they are learning about it.

This page provides a lab project where students can work together to create their very own barometer. It uses materials that are easily accessible, so they can try it at home as well.

This is a short video clip about weather. It explains how weather works in terms that kids will be able to understand. It isn't the best video ever, but it is short enough that students shouldn't lose focus.

This website is great. It was created by a meteorologist specifically with children in mind. She wanted them to be able to learn more about "the fascinating world of weather." I couldn't pick just one link, as I feel the entire website is incredible educational.

This website was designed by meteorologist Crystal Wicker. She designed it with kids in mind, but it's also an excellent resource for teachers. It answers questions about tornadoes, lightening, clouds, volcanoes, and much more. It also provides games, flashcards, jokes, photos, and experiments. I chose this site because I think it is a great, quick reference for early elementary teachers. It would also be and asset for a middle elementary student doing research. I would use this in my classroom as a resource to questions being asked by my students, or questions I need answered. I would also pull some of the weather experiments and use them when applicable.

This is such a neat tool for teaching weather. The students get to create their own weather, but it must follow certain weather patterns or rules. I would definitely use this in a classroom as a game to reinforce what the students had already learned.

This resource describes an event that will be going on at the St. Louis Children's Museum where visitors get to learn about weather, weather prediction, and measurement in an environment focused around The Magic School Bus. I like this resource because it's the Magic School Bus, which kids LOVE. It's exciting and engaging. This is a field trip I would love to take my students on.

This resource explains how to make a tornado in a plastic bottle using only water and dish soap. I selected this resource because I thought it would be a good way to introduce weather patterns that can produce natural disasters. It's fun and interactive and is sure to grab my student's attention. After creating the tornado, I would use it to talk about wind and other weather patterns that can create tornadoes.

This resource has a huge collection of early elementary science activities, projects, and labs. It also includes homework that is less pencil-and-paper based and more activity/exploratory based. Each category has different types of lessons outlined within it. Each of these lessons in meant to be 90 minutes long but they can each be changed very easily.