Science Lessons

Science Lessons 

The National Science Teachers Association provides a lesson plan on creating paper airplanes. Within the lesson viewers will find that students have the ability to create an airplane and adapt the design of the airplane to make it fly at a greater distance. Students also can fill in a chart comparing two airplane designs to determine which airplane flew the longest.  

Discovery Education is an informational website that also provides numerous lesson plans. The lesson plan that I chose in particular was The Era of Inventions . The lesson asks students to complete research to determine three  important transportation milestones over the years, starting from 1903. Students need to be able to explain the milestone and how it is relevant to people’s lives.

The National Park Service has a variety of lesson plan ideas for grades 1 – 5. The lesson plan that I chose is called Secrets of the Past . Within this lesson, students will study the Badlands rock layers and learn about how the rock layers were deposited over the years. Students will also learn how weathering and erosion shape the Badlands.

 The U.S. Geological Survey website provides viewers with an abundant of lesson plans. In particular, that lesson plan that peaked my interest was Rock Stories . Within this lesson, students will learn about Sedimentary Rocks. Students will then be given Sedimentary Rocks in which they will create descriptions of the rocks. Using prior knowledge, students will go outside and find a rock and determine the type of rock and state what makes it that type of rock.

The EekoWorld website presents a lesson plan called Trash, Trash, and More Trash. Trash, Trash, and More Trash allows students to investigate a bag of trash to determine which contents actually belong in a landfill. Students will then create two class posters that show which items are recyclable and what items are not recyclable. 

The Smithsonian Education website provides viewers with a variety of lesson plans based off of the students grade levels. The lesson that I chose is called Here Come the Sunflowers. Within this lesson, students will have the opportunity to learn about sunflowers, and plant sunflower seeds. Students will also learn how sunflowers are an important resource and what foods that we consume in everyday life  that have sunflowers in them. 

The Humane Society Website provides students with various activities and lessons to create so that students can become more knowledge about animals. The particular lesson that I chose is called Who Lives in the Prairie?. Within this lesson, students will identify why prairie dogs are keystone species. Students will also be explaining a prairie food web.

Dinosaurs! After a read-aloud of Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs, students will discuss the different types of dinosaurs in the book. Students will then be split up into two groups, a herbivore group, and a carnivore group and be given specific dinosaurs within each group. Student will complete research on their given dinosaur. If time is allotted students can create dinosaur posters to display within the classroom.

The Making Science Fun website allows viewers to learn about geodes, and then make their own geodes within the classroom. It would be best to complete the Incredible Egg Geode lesson after a unit on rocks and minerals.  I have seen this lesson implemented within the classroom and the students absolutely loved it! 

The Science Kids website allows viewers to learn about a variety of topics such as water and ice. The lesson plan that I chose from this particular site allows viewers to cut ice cubes in half. Throughout the lesson, a piece of ice gets cut directly in half by the pressure of fishing line and melts.  To further this activity, a discussion can be used to describe how this activity is related to ice skating. 

Helpful Science Websites

Helpful Science Websites: 

 The U.S. Department of Education provides age-appropriate activities for students to complete at home with adult supervision. Viewers will discover that you can find activities for students from Pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade. In addition, the site is very easy to follow and lists the materials needed for the activities and lists the step by step procedures. One aspect that I especially enjoyed about this website is that all activities are available in English and Spanish for bilingual households. 

Animal Planet provides viewers with live critter cams. Viewers can watch various animals such as Sloths, Sharks, Bunnies, Birds, Elephants, Penguins, and Sea Otters. The site is very easy to navigate. First, click here to be directed to the Animal Planet Website. From there, you will find a list of various live cams to choose from. Click on a live critter cam and enjoy! 

 The National Geographic Society provides viewers with a fun and informative GeoBee Challenge. The GeoBee Challenge posts ten questions every day from the National Geographic Bee. Each day there is a brand new quiz for viewers to take. The site also allows viewers to take the current days quiz, yesterday’s quiz, and the quiz from two days ago. The quizzes ask interesting geographic questions and are a challenge for all! 

Science Kids is a site for students to use to discover new science experiments to do at home. Within the site, there are at least forty six experiments from the students to choose from. Almost all of the science experiments can be done with common household materials.  In addition, this site also provides viewers with Science games and tutorials to choose from. 

During the summer, students and parents can use the site CyberCamp for a virtual reality summer camp. When first visiting the site, students need to be registered as a camper. After being registered, this site allows students to learn more about ecosystems, the environment, and health and safety. 

The Science Made Simple site allows viewers to learn about common questions that children ask. For example, this site provides scientific information regarding why the sky is blue, and why rainbows are different colors. Science Made Simple also gives students science fair, and science project ideas. 

The PBS Kids site can be used for students to discover experiments and activities to complete relating to Chemistry, Engineering, The Five Senses, Forces, Life Science, Patterns, Sound, Structures, and Water. This site is laid out by listing the materials needed for the activity, and then listing explicit instructions to complete the activity. In addition, at the bottom of the page lists student’s results to the activity. 

The Kids Activities Blog provides students with  fifteen engaging science activities for students to try at home. When viewing this site, scroll through the list of activities to choose from. Once an activity is chosen, you will be directed to another site which shows explicit instructions for the activity, as well as provides pictures directions for many of the steps. 

The Education  website allows viewers to choose science experiments which vary from a variety of topics such as Weather and Seasons, Physical Science, Earth and Space Science, Chemistry and Environmental Science. The website also allows viewers to choose the age appropriate activities based on the students grade level.  

Kidspot is a website that students can come to explore scientific experiment ideas. This site also breaks down the categories for age appropriate activities based on the student’s age. For example, activities can be selected for students ranging from one to eight years old. 

Good Science Reads for Children

Good Science Reads for Children

SCIENCE VERSE by Jon Scieszka  

This book contains various poems about science and entails perfect illustrations to match the topics. Some of the poems include within this book are about the water cycle, food chain, scientific method, and changes in matter.

Next Time You See a Maple Seed by Emily Morgan

This informational text describes to readers the hard work that Maple Seeds have to entail in order to eventually turn into a Maple Tree. Moreover, this text could be used within the classroom to discuss seeds with children, and maybe as an introduction to your own seedlings that you could plant! J

Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt

This text not only presents readers with scientific information, but it also introduces readers to history and biographies. This book also displays numerous photos which also helps to entrance readers. Even with its quirky style, this book is a must read within the classroom!

Tiger Math: Learning to Graph from a Baby Tiger by Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel

Tiger Math: Learning to Graph from a Baby Tiger is a great life science text to use within the classroom. This text is interesting because it incorporates life science and math into the text. The text depicts T.J., an orphaned Siberian tiger cub and uses the aspects of science and math to depict the baby tiger cub’s life.

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh

Girls Think of Everything is a perfect text to use within the classroom because it incorporates social studies and engineering, all in one text. This text depicts the inventions women have made, and how those women used creative thinking to overcome obstacles. A few of the examples of the inventions that women created include windshield wipers, and bulletproof vests.

Meeting Dolphins: My Adventures in the Sea by  Kathleen Dudzinski

This informative text is a great book to use when incorporating life science into lesson plans. This book is written from the Marine biologist/author’s prospective of working with dolphin communications. Throughout the book, Dudzinski explains how gestures, sounds, and behaviors are used as communications tools.

A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial

A Handful of Dirt is an informative text to use within the classroom when teaching students about the environment and ecology. This text mainly depicts the importance of soil and the abundance of forms of life that soil supports. Throughout the text, readers embark on a dirt tour to learn about soil and how precious this resource truly is to our environment.

The International Space Station by Franklyn M. Branley

If you or your students have questions about the International Space Station, this text belongs within your classroom.  Not only does this text have hundreds of answers to frequently asked questions, but it also embarks readers on the journey of constructing the Space Station. Furthermore, this text also gives readers to the virtual feeling of being two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth!

Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker

Cloud Dance is a great informational text to use within the classroom when discussing Earth and Space Sciences. Cloud Dance is a poetic text that describes the different types of clouds. In addition, this book entails beautiful illustrations which keep the readers captivated.

River of Life by Debbie S. Miller

River of Life engages readers to learn about the life cycle that occurs along a river, throughout winter, spring, and summer.  The beautiful illustrations truly help readers to understand more about the ecosystem within a river.