Resources for Teaching Science

Let's eat our way through the layers of the Earth! This lab activity allows to students to use food to create the layers of the Earth and then enjoy the results. The activity takes for 45 minutes-1 hour. After passing out each item the teacher explains that layer of the Earth. A gum ball is the core, cool whip dyed red is the mantle, chocolate chip and raisins are for the bedrock, graham crackers represent the clay layer, and crushed Oreos to represent the topsoil. This hands-on activity with help students learn the layers of the Earth!

This foldable could be used to help understand the layers of the Earth. There is a template for students to cut and paste onto construction paper. The layers of the Earth are already made so students only need to cut them out and correctly place onto the layer. The foldable comes with step-by-step instruction for students to follow. What a great way for students to visually see the layers of the Earth!

This lessons discusses the four layers of the Earth. This website also shows the ocean floor, oceanic and continental crust, lithosphere, and asthenosphere. It also explains tectonic plates and continental shelves and shapes. I choose this website as a supplemental resource to teach about Earth's systems. This website is easy for students to read and understand. It also provides great images to help students understand these concepts.

This field trip opportunity takes us to the St. Louis Science Center! Students will be engaged in a live science (weather) demonstration given by Ira and Judy Gall. After enjoying the demonstration, students can explore the rest of the science center and all it has to offer. Other opportunities to learn about weather include an erosion table and tornado formation exhibit. I chose this as a field trip because the Science Center has so much to offer. It's definitely an opportunity to expand upon what we have learned in the classroom.

This is a quick and easy science experiment on what happens when it rains. This would be a good experiment to do after a lesson or two on rain or clouds. It shows how the "clouds" (shaving cream) get heavy with water and causes "rain" (blue food coloring) to fall. I would use this in my classroom because it's cheap, quick, and easy. Shaving cream is always a big hit in the elementary classroom!!

This app was designed by a six year old boy and his meteorologist dad. It includes real weather conditions, forecasts, and weather fun facts. It also includes math and science with S.T.E.M. in mind for parents and teachers. I chose this app for a number of reasons. First, it allows the student to choose his hometown weather or somewhere else to track. The avatar, that the student is also able to choose, dresses according to the weather, and as a little added twist, the student can "change" the weather his avatar experience. It also has a lot of educational material and opportunities for graphing and plotting weekly or monthly weather conditions. I would definitely use this in my classroom during my calendar time. Although it costs $1.99, I feel it would be a fun alternative to the typical everyday weather discussion.

This is a webquest that students can complete over the ocean floor. It is divided into 10 days but could be completed quicker if needed. The webquest teaches students about the continental shelf, continental slope, and deep ocean floor. You will use the ocean floor diagram provided by the teacher to correctly label each part of the ocean floor. The is also a quiz and websites for students to use and explore.

This activity is a great way to stretch your student's imagination and creativity and build up those all-important critical thinking skills by bringing the fascinating world of archeology right into your own backyard. This activity begins with the teacher taking everyday household items and burying them in an area outside. Then the teacher sets up the area as a "dig site" with string and using different tools, the kids dig for the items and then clean them off, inspect them, and record their findings in their notebooks. This is an excellent activity for letting your students BECOME archeologists! I can't wait to use this activity with my class. I can set it up in an area on school grounds and let my "archaeologists" dig around.

This activity requires students to go on a nature walk and collect helicopter seeds of various sizes. The students measure and examine the seeds in the classroom and then make predictions about which size will spin faster to the ground. Students then test their hypotheses by dropping the seeds from the same height and recording the flight patterns. This is a great activity because it teaches students various scientific ideas, plus it is fun! I would use it as an opportunity to get out of the classroom and also do some great learning!

This resource is an interactive tool for students to use in order to learn about the specific characteristics that animals have. The student will click on several animals and read about characteristics of that animal, as well as adaptations that help it survive. Once the student understands the characteristics of the animal, he/she will move the animal to the habitat that best suits it. I really like this resource because it is interactive and will allow the student to learn about animals and their adaptations. I envision this resource to be used at the start of a learning segment, to get the student started with basic concepts.

This experiment, designed by ZOOM, is centered around density. Students will use everyday materials such as coins, grapes, and Legos, in an experiment to find out which is more dense. This experiment could get a little messy, because students will be placing the objects into syrup, oil, and water, to find density. I think this is an awesome activity to incorporate in the classroom. I think it is great when students are using everyday objects in experiments. I believe it sets them up to think scientifically outside of the science classroom.

This activity, designed by ZOOM, allows students to help the environment by cutting down their paper garbage, and recycling it themselves into a new piece of paper. The instructor must gather the materials for the students, and must be available to help the students throughout the process. The students must follow step-by-step instructions on how to transform their original piece of garbage paper, into a brand new piece of paper. I am a strong advocate of recycling. I can see myself using this activity in my future classroom to show students that anyone can save our planet, and have fun in the process.

This activity starts with students each coloring the various pieces of a tadpole/frog (from the printout in the link). Then the teacher takes them through the process of metamorphosis. The tadpole puppet starts out with a tail, but then legs are added and the tail is removed, revealing the complete frog! This is a fun hand-on activity that allows students to visualize the metamorphosis process with their own tadpole/frog puppets. This is a simple but effective activity that I would definitely use in my class.

This is such a fun end-of-the week activity for teaching the various states of matter with yummy root beer floats. The teacher and students review liquid as they look at just the root beer in the cups. Then they review solids, as they add the ice cream. Finally, they observe gas when the ice cream is added to the root beer. I would definitely do this activity in my classroom. It is all about making science applicable to everyday life, and rewarding your students in the process!

With this activity, you start by having just the root beer sitting in cups at each student's desk. Discuss with the class why the matter in the cup is a liquid. Then move onto showing the students ice cream and ask what makes it a solid. Next add the ice cream to the root beer and discuss how the carbonation of the soda makes the root beer fizz which is the gas. This would be used at the end of a unit on solids, liquids and gas as a reward and fun activity to review the previous week's lessons. I chose this activity to show the students how they can see and apply science in their everyday life. This activity was free but there are lessons and units linked to this activity that cost money.

This site is interactive. Students click on the different planets in our solar system and learn interesting facts about each. This is an interesting activity using technology in the classroom. Students can also explore the site for even more interesting space facts. I like this website because there is so much on it for students to explore. I also feel it would be a good supplement to class discussions about space.

In this activity, students create a nonfiction windsock about rain (or anything, really!). First, students draw a diagram of rain. Then, because nonfiction text includes labels, students label 3 different colored strips of streamer paper with facts about rain. On the fourth label, they write a story about rain from their lives, on the fifth strip they write about how rain affects the environment, and on the sixth they write about a nonfiction book they have recently read. I love this activity because each child makes his/her own windsock and it is a cross-curricular activity....weather and nonfiction! I would use this activity in my class as a cross-curricular activity to teach about nonfiction and weather.

This hand-on activity is great for opening up discussion about snow, where it comes from, and what it is. The teacher will put various ingredients in a jar and then add an alma-seltzer tablet to "start the storm." Students will love watching the storm and their minds will be engaged for discussion. I would use this in my class as a "mind-engager" and as a discussion opener.

This activity shows students how strong the hollow bones of birds are. Students roll computer paper into a hollow tube (3 of them), tape a paper plate to the top of the rolls (which are standing up), then add pennies to the plate to see how strong the "bones" are. This is a great activity to help explain to students that birds' bones are hollow in order to allow them less weight for flight and hollow bones require less food for the bird. But their bones are still strong! I like this activity because it's hands on and I think it would be engaging for children learning about birds and their bones. It's also an easy activity to put together.

This video/song on YouTube is about the different choices in weather. It explores sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, and snowy. Set to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle I believe it would capture the attention of students and be a song they could sing daily. I could play this video during our calendar time as a fun way to introduce the weather each morning. I selected it because it provides a different way of learning, it's colorful, and catchy. It also includes some words with the music. These words could easily be integrated into my word wall.

This unit on weather includes three days worth of lesson plans. Each day corresponds with a specific book about weather. One of the books it includes is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Assuming most children saw the movie, I would ask questions to access what they may already know about weather and if the movie is comparable to the weather we experience. These lessons also include weather observation and opportunities to write about their observations. I chose these lessons because they include extensions, assignments, and assessments. I can see myself using this in the classroom with my students because I feel that using literature makes a lesson stronger. It draws the kids in, and enables me to ask questions to access prior knowledge.