Resources for Teaching Science

I will use this website to have my students make lightning using an aluminum pie plate, styrofoam, glue, ballpoint pen, thumbtack, and a wool sock. Manipulating these materials will create a harmless mini-lightning bolt. This website provides instructions and detailed explanations for this activity.

I will use this website to have my students make lightning using an aluminum pie plate, styrofoam, glue, ballpoint pen, thumbtack, and a wool sock. Manipulating these materials will create a harmless mini-lightning bolt. This website provides instructions and detailed explanations for this activity.

This short video gives a brief description of the solar system. Although it doesn't go into great detail, it is a great starting point to get the students interested on the subject and excited to learn more about solar system. One thing that I really like about this video is the fact that is doesn't say anything about Pluto. Many of the other videos that I watched still included information about Pluto.

This is a video of a "weather rap" that reviews weather for kids by asking a question and pausing for students to come up with the answer. The answer then pops up on the screen so students know if they were correct or not. I would use this in my classroom as a review before a test for a fun way to help the students remember.

This is a diagram that explains the water cycle and gives definitions on words pertaining to the water cycle. I would use this in my future classroom to give my students a visual to help better their understanding.

This a science experiment that involves students making a cloud in a bottle. I would use this in my classroom as a fun activity to extend a lesson over clouds and reward my students for all their hard work at the end of the week.

This is a lesson plan over clouds and what they are made of. It involves activities for the students during the lesson and includes a worksheet that also incorporates math. I would use this lesson in my classroom as an introduction lesson to clouds because I feel that it would really grab the students' attention and curiosity.

This is an interactive website that explains in a kid-friendly way what causes the seasons and how we measure temperature. There are also related games on the website for students to play. I would use this website in my future classroom to explain how seasons work and reinforce those concepts through the games provided.

This website gives a list of famous astronauts and their biography. I would use this in a classroom and give each students an astronaut and have them research the astronaut and give us (the class) a short presentation on their findings. You could use this website in multiple ways.

This website includes information on each planet, the sun, the moon, asteroids, comets, meteorites, explorations of space, telescopes, types of equipment etc... I would use this website for an activity where students learn about each planet, the universe and what is in the universe. I also like this website because it contains videos of the Mars space shuttle, telescopes, etc... I think that would be a useful tool for students who are visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

What I liked about this website was the fact that it has a section for teachers and parents, and also an interactive website for the young ones. It teaches the students about the importance of the environment, and how important it is to take care of it. There are games, videos, and create your own "EekoCreature". In the teacher section, it includes lesson plans for K-4. Each lesson plan includes an overview, objectives, subject area, other internet links, background, steps, several activities, and standards. I also liked the fact that it comes from a PBS website.

This seems like an amazing website in which a teacher is able to teach their students about the world on a large scale. It's an interactive site for teachers, and includes many different resources. It includes lesson plans based on grades, which also includes the standard that was used, procedure, objectives, and how the student should apply it. I think I will use this website in the future. It looks to be very helpful.

This lesson plan starts out with the students comparing the size of the planets in the solar system and relating them to sizes of objects that they see everyday. After having a discussion about the solar system with the class, the teacher groups the students and assigns each group a planet. The students then research the planet and come up with a few sentences about the properties of the planet as well as some interesting facts about the planet. I like that this lesson incorporates writing skills and encourages the students to use their words to describe the planets.

Although this field trip would only work for a school in Chicago, I found that the Adler Planetarium has an amazing exhibit about the solar system. Besides extensive information about each planet, students can participate in a space walk where they have the chance to explore the different terrain and atmospheres on the other planets. My favorite thing about this exhibit is that is gives the students the opportunity to touch a piece of Mars and the moon! I think the students would find this field trip very interesting and it would be much more entertaining to them than staying in the classroom and watching videos of the solar system!

This site gives you a great lesson plan idea on teaching students about nutrition and what is really in all the food they eat. This is both a science and math lesson because after the students find out how much fat, sugar, etc. is in most of their favorite foods, the concept of energy is brought up to show the students what they need to do to burn all the calories off.

This fun game for elementary students shows the students how different kinds of animals or insects go through their different life cycles. It would be very good for kids who need to review how the life cycle works.

I would use this website in my classroom to give examples of ways I could get my students to learn to recycle and stay green. I would point out that this does not necessarily mean to just recycle plastic and paper, but that there are other ways to keep the environment clean and thriving.

This site poses questions for the kids and gives the answers. Nice 8 phases of the moon chart and provides more links.

A clear calendar by month and year. Nice way to compare one month to another. Can select Northern or Southern hemispheres.

This is a step-by-step explanation of a moon phase lesson. Gives a logical order to the lessons. Provides an idea for a hands on experiment too. Give many more moon links.