Resources for Teaching Science

Once students have learned to observe weather, they can build their own weather tools through the directions on this website. They can record their own weather data and understand how we find temperature, wind speed, cloud type, humidity, etc. Teachers could incorporate this into future lesson plans to engage students about weather and give them a hands-on experience into the world of a meteorologist.

I like the opportunity for students to make their own weather instruments. They could do this in class, or as a family project and then monitor different aspects of the weather at home as well.

This website includes the instructions for a kinesthetic approach to teaching the layers of the earth. The project consist of layering different color Playdoughs on top of eachother to simulate the earths layers. After completing their mini earth sculptures, students will be able to cut the earth in half and visual see the different layers through the different color Playdough. This project is going to be a great addition to my "The Place I Call Home" lesson as it not only consists of a kinesthetic approach to learning, but it also includes the visual approach.

The website includes directions for a great kinesthetic approach to teaching constellations. This project consists of star cookies which the students configure into different constellations. I selected this resource to use during my stars lesson plan. After seeing the stars in the distances I feel this project will bring the idea of constellations down to earth.

I was surprised to find this website to be written in French! It would require some calculation to convert the recipe from grams to our more standard measurements, or at least a kitchen scale. This recipe isn't essential to the star shape, though, which could be achieved with regular sugar cookie dough and a small star cutter.I do love the idea of placing the cookies in a pattern and connecting with chalk or crayon to either "create" new constellations (for which students could also write related myths or stories) or review and recreate the existing constellations under study.

Geocaching is a great way to get kids outside and observing the world around them. Geocaching give you a set of coordinates and your job is to find the hidden object. It is usually a small box containing small trinkets like children's toys, CDs, coins from around the world, etc. When you find the box, you take something and leave something and you can track where your items go across the globe. They are literally all over the world. They can be found in oceans, on mountains, at gas stations, in the woods, etc. It would be a great field trip to take the kids out to a local bike trail (there can be more than 15 Geocaches on 1 trail) and take some time to be outside, talk about nature and try to find something cool! As a teacher, you can even make a Geocache for your class and check out who is finding it online. My husband and I have a Geocache of our own and go out geocaching often. It helps keep you active and allows you to enjoy the outdoors. Older students can also benefit from learning about coordinates.

The website is a great resource for any elementary school teacher. It is broken down into sections such as organization, search engines, games, activities, etc. While I obviously didn't look at all 100, the ones I did look at seemed like they had great potential. The organization section seemed especially promising because I struggle with keeping things organized. It has websites similar to diigo to provide you with more ideas and inspiration. I think this will be a great starting point for any new lesson that I decide to try. Picking any of the 100 sites is sure to bring up something helpful. It includes free audiobooks, body maps, worksheets, electronic field-trips, etc.

I found several of the links to be faulty--leading to old sites no longer functioning, or to sites that looked questionable. However, I did also find Climate Zone, which allows you to use a clickable map to select a region of the world, and then a country, for which the site then provides latitude, longitude, and climate information about the location. This would be a good resource for students researching regions of the world or biomes.

This is a cute idea to incorporate visual arts into a science lesson plans. I loved using Crayola lesson plans when I was teaching pre-school. This lesson is cute because it deals with baby animals and the students get to work on fine motor skills as well. Be sure to check out the rest of the website.

This website has some great ipad apps. I don't know if they are all free, but it looks like some of them are. There are apps for for both students and teachers. The rest of the website also has resources for teachers and it looks like a great place to find all kinds of information to use in the classroom. I like the idea of mobile apps and I use them when i can.

I think that kids fun science is a great website to use in the classroom. It includes many activities that can be used in the classroom. I think the activities would be very engaging for students. For example: To demonstrate sedimentary layers there is an activity where they use graham crackers, and peanut butter and jelly. The website also includes many experiments that can be done in the classroom. It also includes how to host a science fair and the steps that students should take. I feel like this would be a resource that I would use in my classroom to help me teach science.

Glad to see some of the science behind these fun activities explained.

This website shows lesson plans for 4th grade science classes. This came from the uen.org website which several of us used for our lesson plan analysis project. I think they do a thorough job of planning their lessons and presenting appropriate demonstrations.

This is a fun computer activity for students to practice their knowledge of the periodic table. They can practice the spelling of the elements or the recognition of them. Teachers can incorporate this as part of a center activity or advise students to practice with this computer activity at home.

Grade level- K-5 This is a great website that has alot of games for kids. I believe it would be good for grades K-5. It covers many topics about science including bugs, animals, ozone, and ways to go green. I think this resource would be a great resource to use in the classroom to incorporate computers. It is also a good way to get kids out of the regular classroom and lecture. Many children learn very well from the computer. This resource is also a great resource for teachers, because it has many printables and and videos that can be incorporated into the classroom.

This is a great activity to make the concept of the water cycle hands-on. Students can watch the process right before their eyes over the matter of an afternoon.

This resource is an interactive tutorial that provides a very concise overview of the school science lab environment. It familiarizes students with the basic lab safety precautions. It also helps to increase awareness of the lab environment. It covers instrumentation and equipment, rules for staying safe and concludes with a brief assessment. It also provides 'comp checks' between slides. This resource is one of the most important 'lessons' for science students prior to performing lab experiments.

This downloadable model allows students to manipulate the reactants in the photosynthetic equation. Doing so changes the outcomes of the products. This is a wonderful tool for understanding the physical implications of change in the environment.

There is a typo in the link causing the item not to be found. Edit to: http://concord.org/stem-resources/leaf-photosynthesis

This activity allows students to work hands-on to observe and to collect data. It would be a fun activity that could engage students. This is also uses materials that would be accessible to students at home. Therefore, they could always show others.

This is a lesson on setting up a weather station in the classroom. Students will be able to construct scientific instruments to measure weather and record data. I like this lesson because it provides a lot of activity.

This is a booklet of experiments and worksheets to help the students understand the states of matter. This could be used throughout a unit on states of matter. There are 9 experiments included in this bundle so they can be place throughout the unit.

At this time, technology is a huge thing that should be incorporated in each classroom. For this site, I would take the children to the computer lab and allow them to have their own computers. They love when they feel as if they have the power. This site has recycling facts, a T/F questionnaire, "magic," and even a few games. Of course, I would allow them to play around, but the main idea would be to do the T/F and read over the facts.

This is an energy game where the students choose the energy mix for a vertual city. This game allows the students to discover the economic, environmental, and security impacts of their decisions. There is areas to learn about each energy source in detail. Students can compete against other students or play one-on-one.

I would use this during my lesson/teaching time with my children before most activities and projects. This website gives a page of facts about recycling and each material that is recyclable.