Resources for Teaching Science

This is a great source for showing students chain reactions and to as how the environment is affect by our decisions. I feel like this could be used with younger students but also with a bit older students as a reminder for earth day.

This is super cool! It is an interactive encyclopedia. Students can choose different categories in science as well as different sub categories. Once in a subcategory students will find: vocabulary words, a slide show, related topics and a test.This again is beneficial as a study tool as well as a research resource.

Journey North classrooms track bald eagle migration each season. This goes into details on things such as their territories, nest building, courtship, and babies! I love this site its so interesting going into more depth in a specific animals life. There are other animals on the site as well.

This source has a collection of questions and observations students can make while visiting the Botanical Garden. A field trip to the garden is very realistic in the St. Louis area since there is one in the city. The questions could be previewed in class before the day of the trip, so the students are alert and focused on those topics. This is a great lesson to improve the field trip experience and to get students thinking about the fascinating world of plants. Going on a trip like this is great, because many students will not get a chance to see a wide variety of plant life otherwise.

An interactive woodland and pond scene where children aged 8-9 can spot plants and animals, and then place them into food chains. This also gives little factoids about each living thing in the picture and students are forced to identify living creatures in their environment as well.

The science movies teach kids educational topics like animals, habitats, plants, land, matter, forces, space, energy, and weather. I really enjoy the animals section since it talked about different types of animals and their habits such as hibernation, camouflage, migration and food chains. Throughout the early years i feel like this would benefit students since they are given videos, and text. This site is reliable and gears towards many learning styles.

This is the webpage for Mrs. Sharp's 4th Grade classroom at Friendsville Elementary School. This activity is similar to a field trip because the students get to leave the classroom and investigate, but they do not actually leave the school grounds. The students get to go outside and walk around their school to find signs of erosion. They will keep a notebook with them to record their findings. I chose this activity because it is a fun interactive way for students to learn. They get to get out of their seats and learn through a hands on activity. I would use this activity to wrap up the erosion unit and to show students that erosion is everywhere. We would end the activity by coming back into the classroom and discussing the findings.

This is a slideshow that explains weathering, erosion, and deposition. There are 31 informational slides. The slideshow explains in depth what each word means and how it affects the world and landmarks around us. I chose this slideshow because I thought it would help visual learners and it would be a nice introduction to the topic. Sometimes it is better to actually see what erosion does to a rock rather than just talk about it. I also liked that it gave real life pictures of erosion and weathering. I would use this resource to start my lesson on erosion. I would start with the slideshow and discuss all the important details and then break the students into groups to do an activity dealing with erosion and weathering.

This activity is a great introduction or addition to learning about the rock cycle. By using chocolate, you can show students the difference between weathered, heated, cooled, and compressed rock. The students can use bars of chocolate to create "sedimentary," "metamorphic," and "igneous" chocolate. This is a simple way to effectively show students the difference between the types of rock. The hands-on approach will aid in the students seeing firsthand what the differences look like. It aligns with NGSS focused on the rock formation and cycle, as well as, the geosphere.

How sweet is this activity? It's an introduction to the rock cycle using chocolate! Chocolate can be ground into small particles (weathered), heated, cooled, and compressed - just like rocks. Unlike rocks, chocolate can undergo these processes safely and at reasonable temperatures. Use your chocolate to create "sedimentary," "metamorphic," and "igneous" chocolate. I chose this lesson because it is a great way to get the class focused during a not so exciting topic, not to mention chocolate is my favorite thing on the entire world. I think the chocolate creations are perfect representations of the changing rock, and would allow students to understand the rock changing process easily by using visuals. I would introduce this lesson in an earth science unit as a good tool to show the three stages of rock, and to get the class hooked and ready to discuss the different phases. I would also enjoy making these three phases at home because I am sure there would be lots of left overs!

This activity will help students identify what is magnetic by testing different objects. Students will work in small groups for this activity, and be provided the necessary materials. They will use magnets to test each item to determine whether or not it is magnetic. Once they have made their decision, they will record it on their worksheet. I selected this resource because it is a great hands-on activity for the students to work together on. The free downloadable printable makes it valuable to me as a teacher because I do not have to take the time to create my own worksheet. I envision this resource being used for a science center. I will provide the objects to the students in a small bucket, and have them use their coloring materials to record their data.

I like the idea of the blank worksheet, so students could gather up their own collection of items to test, or you could provide some, and then have them select others they would like to try.

This lesson is about the importance of recycling and how to do so. Students get to explore the physical properties of objects and decide whether they can be recycled or not. Then, the students get to work together to make recycled paper. I think that this lesson is important to young students because if they learn to recycle at an early age, then they can carry that with them as they grow older and continue to recycle.

This resource is my technology source. In this resource you are able to chose air, water, or glass. Then you press the light button which allows you to send a light ray or wave through one of those. You then can see how it reflects, bends, or bounces through each one of these. I would use this resource as part of a way to summarize a lesson. This will allow students to play around with it on the computer.

Most of us probably remember the classic science experiment of cleaning a penny with a mixture of vinegar and salt. This website demonstrates stepping that up a notch and experimenting cleaning a penny with different types of substances. This activity allows for the students to make inferences and predictions on what liquid will make the penny cleaner or shinier and what liquid or substance will make it duller.

I wanted to step it up a notch since I loved Dr. Hope's Oobleck lesson plan. I discovered this on pinterest and it is actually Oobleck that moves. This activity incorporates both the texture of the oobleck and the unique sound waves/vibrations that make sound waves. Students ears and fingers will be stunned as they watch and hear the oobleck slide through their fingertips. This experiment can create multiple leading questions, an investigation, and a lengthy discussion.

This is an interactive city where students can explore different parts of a community and how they can affect the environment. It also shows ways to better the environment by recycling and other tips and tricks. I think that this would be a good center activity for the students to explore. This fits my standard, 5-ESS3-1, very well because it shows how a community makes a difference in the environment.

Ask students to look at a glass of water with a pencil in it and have them draw their observations. Tell them to look at the glass from all angles. Ask them to explain their observations and hypothesize the cause of this discrepant observation. This would be a good follow up lesson after the bending light lab/experiment. I would use this to introduce the lab and experiment. Then finish and summarize the lesson by adding the questions.

This resource is a field trip to Cahokia Mounds. I think that this fits with my standard, 5-ESS3-1 because it shows how the community preserves a historical landmark, and it shows how something can last for a long time if people take care of the environment.

Our eyes are using light to see various objects all the time, but when this light travels through different mediums (such as water & air) it changes direction slightly. Light refracts (or bends) when it passes from water to air. I selected this resource because I could not quite find a good field trip. I feel like this is an easy way to show the young children how objects bend when looking through other material. This is a very easy lab and experiment for young grades. I would use this lab when showing my class how objects may appear and look different when seen through different objects.

The magic house is an ideal place for an elementary level science field trip. This website outlines what all the magic house has to offer starting with holiday specials, classic games, special school discounts, and specific learning standards that can be met. All around, the magic house is a good time for both students and teachers, simply because it's a fun and active way to explore science.

"Is your fourth grader a hands-on learner? If so, just reading about the layers of the Earth may not be enough to inspire or even interest him. Turn the abstract lesson into a practical craft with the fun and colorful creation of dough earth layers!" This lesson plan lays out the layers of the Earth through the fun artsy craft of play dough creations. Basically the child will create their own personal batch of dough-incorporating color dye and close guidance. The student will then use their play dough to collaborate on the outer crust of the earth, the water, the land the inner core and the crust. Students are capable of physically making the play dough thin or thick in accordance to the knowledge of their information. They are applying their understanding of the earth and what it's made of basically at their own fingertips.