Resources for Teaching Science

This site had information and facts all about autumn. There were historical facts of how autumn has evolved through the years as well as certain characteristics that are specific to autumn. I would use this site as a project resource for the students. I could have the class split up into partners or groups and each group would have to present on one of the seasons. They could make a poster or write a story about their season. This site would be a great resource for this project because it is season specific.

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 resource was organized into the four different seasons. Once you decide which season you want to explore, you click on the specifc button which then leads you to many different artifacts. There were coloring sheets that went along with the season which would be a great tool for free time during this unit. Another great tool on this site was the games. Each season had games that ranged in difficulty. I could use the game section of this website as a computer center for the students. I would definitely use this website in the classroom as well as a resourse for planning my lessons.

This site provides information about butterflies along with coloring pages, teaching tools, and specific information about butterflies local to your area.

This site has a lot of resources for lesson plans and worksheets on a variety of topics. For a butterfly unit, I would use the "Introduction to Bugs - What is an Insect?" lesson plan on this page to introduce the unit by explaining that a butterfly is an insect.

I really like how this site gives basic information about butterflies including area, habitat, food, size, and life cycle in a fun and coloful format. It also includes links to games and activity ideas.

This site gives a variety of ideas for caterpillar, butterfly, and butterfly life cycle art projects.

This site is a great resource for teachers planning a caterpillar/butterfly unit. It's actually two units and it breaks each unit down into parts. It also contains links to supplemental material to use during the lesson, including a slideshow, images, and student sheets.

This site is great! It gives a very cute animated lesson about butterfly life cycles and then allows you to play games to practive what you've learned! This would be great for a kindergarten or early elementary classroom and could be done individually or on a SmartBoard as a class as well.

This would be a great field trip to take at the end of the caterpillar/butterfly unit! This link goes directly to the field trip options for the Missouri Botanical Garden. I also noticed that there is a Teacher Professional Development link as well! This would be great for Science teachers!

I really like the butterfly life cycle coloring page on this site, especially for younger elementary students. The information presented about the butterfly life cycle is also very good along with the videos. I especially like the link to purchase live butterfly kits and would definitely want to do this in my classroom.

This website explains how zoologists have to make "survival plans" for the species at the zoo. In this survival plan zoologists must consider which animal breeds with what. This is because they are often concerned about keeping genetic vigor. I I would use this website to plan a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo. At the zoo students will learn about why some zoologists pick certain mates over others.

This website explains that embryos all go through different stages before being born. Often many embryos look alike until later stages. I picked this website because I thought it was interesting to see the embryos and guess which each organism was. I would use this website during computer time for material to be reinforced and for students to have fun guessing which animal is which.

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.