Resources for Teaching Science

This is a field trip that I took with my high school physics class and i think it could be scaled down and still be useful at the junior high level.

This link is actually more direct to the information relevant for planning a school trip. http://www.sixflags.com/stLouis/groups/schools.aspx

This is just a video that you could show at the beginning of a lesson about food chains and how they work to keep our world going and to get students engaged.

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 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 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 is a game for kids to play about plants. In the game, the kids have to balance water and sun just right for the plant to grow or else it dies. This game is extremely beneficial for students to learn that plants need an equal balance of sun/water to stay allive. I would use this during the first part of my lesson.

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

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 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.

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 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.