Enjoy this colorful self-paced lesson to practice leveled reading. Use question words like “Who? What? When? Where? Why? & How?” Watch a real hot air balloon launch and meet a crazy ostrich who knows she can run but thinks she can fly. Students learn about how matter, mass, volume, and weight are connected to air.
This lesson begins with a story about rescuing reptile eggs from a new construction site. Using the story as motivation, students are presented with an engineering design challenge: Build a portable device that can warm, support, and protect one reptile egg as it is moved from a construction site to a nearby reptile conservation center. After observing different heat packs, students discuss the criteria and constraints related to designing a heat pack as the basis for their device. Students investigate calcium chloride as an exothermic dissolver and then move on to calcium chloride and baking soda as the exothermic chemical reaction which will serve as the heat source for their device.
Students adjust the amounts of the reactants (water, calcium chloride, and baking soda) to achieve the right temperature range and then test a prototype in a sealed zip-closing plastic bag. Students use their findings and ideas about insulation and heat transfer to draw an optimized design that 1) Keeps an egg at the ideal temperature, 2) Holds an egg in the proper orientation, and 3) Protects the egg from impact. Each student or student group draws this device and explains how the device meets each of the three criteria.
Students will be conducting a series of investigations in order to compare and contrast the various intermolecular forces that exist between compounds. First, students will rank 4 substances according to their melting points. Second, students will work together using the jigsaw research approach to understand the 4 types of intermolecular forces. And lastly, students will use the information gained to go back to their data collected and compare their original compounds and type of intermolecular bond they exhibit.
This lesson plan results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
In this learning experience, students will describe the characteristics and structures unique to prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Students will utilize their learning from the associated during activity to explain the visual representations of different cells and determine whether they are prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Students will record their findings on a Venn diagram.
This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.
Students will discover how plants, animals, and fungi are all interconnected in a giant web. They will construct a model of a food chain to explain that energy in animals' food is used to sustain life. They will also acknowledge that all food chains start with energy from the sun.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
In this activity, students brainstorm how people living along coasts harm ocean animals and plants. Then they analyze specific examples.
Observe how objects in a dark space can only be seen when light enters the space in this interactive game from PEEP and the Big Wide World. The interactive game offers opportunities for students to find objects in a very dark space by shining a beam of light around the area.
Support materials include: Background Reading, Teaching Tips, and Discussion Questions. This resource was developed through WGBH’s Bringing the Universe to America’s Classrooms project, in collaboration with NASA.
In this Martha Speaks interactive story, students explore the benefits of sorting waste in order to help the environment. Students learn about how recycling and composting work. When used as a part of Martha’s True Stories Buddies Program, buddy pairs engage with the interactive story, then talk and write as they create their own Earth Pledge about how they will help protect the earth. To familiarize yourself with the program, begin by reading the Martha's True Stories Buddies Program: Overview.
This activity is an excellent video for introducing a unit on waves. This is a video of a rubber duck being placed in a container of water. The question, "Why doesn't the duck move across the container?" is posed at the start and end of the video. The purpose of this activity is to get the students excited about waves and thinking about the movement of waves. This activity can be used whole group or small group as a center activity.
This learning activity was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science University, GEMS-U Project.
In this lesson, students will explore a consequence of burning fossil fuels: the greenhouse effect. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to interpret data to explain the greenhouse effect on temperature and how various human activities could cause changes in local and global temperature over time.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Lesson modified from Global Climate Change and Sea Level Rise plan from the California Academy of Science http://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/global-climate-change-and-sea-level-rise.
The resource provides information about plastic pollution and includes suggestions for reducing waste and using plastic alternatives. The science standard is related to this information because it addresses protecting the Earth, recycling, and overuse of landfills. The site is innovative and creative because it includes videos showing children how to make their plastic alternatives for commonly used items. This can be used in the classroom to initiate a class recycling project and could be the impetus for creative projects made by re-purposing items. Additionally, the site provides tips for saving the Earth and animals.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of chemical weathering or serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept. This classroom resource can be paired with the classroom resource "Physical Weathering at Work," so students can compare and contrast these two destructive forces.
In this episode of Crash Course Physics, Dr. Shini talks about the realities of the apple story and how Newtonian Gravity is more than a little important.
Symbiosis describes a relationship between two organisms in an environment. There are three main types of relationships: mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the different ways organisms can interact within an ecosystem. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Whenever you walk across a bridge or lean on a building, statics are at work. Statics is the study of objects when they're not accelerating. In this episode of Crash Course Physics, Dr. Shini talks to us about stretching, compressing, and springing as they relate to statics.
In this interactive lesson, students will learn that life without friction is a 3-ring circus and an accident waiting to happen. A circus dog with lots of tricks will help you learn about compare and contrast, cause and effect, and the importance of friction.
In this video excerpt from NOVA: "Hunting the Elements," New York Times technology columnist David Pogue explores how isotopes of carbon can be used to determine the age of once-living matter. Learn how variations in atomic structure form isotopes of an element and how the three natural isotopes of carbon differ from each other. Meet paleoclimatologist Scott Stine, who uses radiocarbon dating to study changes in climate. Find out what it means for an isotope to be radioactive and how the half-life of carbon-14 allows scientists to date organic materials.
This lesson gives students the opportunity to explore volcanoes and their impact on our planet. Students will take a virtual field trip of a dormant volcano and answer research questions about its formation and its after-effects. Next, students will discover which volcanoes in the United States are currently active. Finally, students will use an interactive map activity to explore famous eruptions from around the world. They will be given clues about the date and consequences of the eruption. Once they locate the volcano, they will place a virtual pin in its location on the world map. This lesson aligns with 6th grade Alabama Science Course of Study.
This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.
During this activity, the students will use drag and drop computer code to create an interactive ecological energy pyramid model that shows how the 10% law applies to the energy available at each trophic level. As part of the hour of code, students can use this activity to participate in the Hour of Code week during their biology class.
This lesson plan results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used to introduce students to the different appearances of stars in the night sky, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson. This article could be a precursor to students making their own observations of stars at night.
In this episode of Crash Course Physics, Dr. Shini walks us through the differences between series and parallel circuits and how that makes Christmas lights work the way they work.
Minerals are either elements or compounds with a crystalline structure that makeup rocks or are dissolved in water. They have many properties, including streak, color, luster, hardness, and structure.
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe minerals and their properties. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding. This resource can be used to provide background information before students perform their own observations and investigations.
In these Hero Elementary activities, children learn about the way they can use their five senses to help them in everyday life. Children also think about the ways that animals use their five senses to survive. They name the body parts for each of their five senses.
In this virtual lab, students simulate the radioactive half-life of four different elements. They record the data in a digital table, graph the data, and then answer journal questions based on their findings.
This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Gap Project Resource Development Summit.
Students will consider the marketing campaigns of Gatorade to help identify what makes a substance an electrolyte. Students will plan and conduct an investigation to test common ionic and covalent substances to determine if the substance is an electrolyte or non-electrolyte when dissolved in solution.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used to introduce students to the varying habitats of living things, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson.
Take a historical perspective on the creation of the science, which didn't really exist until a super-smart, super-wealthy Frenchman put the puzzle pieces together. In this video, Hank tells the story of how we went from alchemists to chemists, who understood the law of conservation of mass as proposed by a decapitated aristocrat and explains how we came to have a greater understanding of how chemical compounds work and eventually a complete understanding of what atoms and molecules are.
The atmosphere is a blanket of gases surrounding the Earth. The gases are classified according to their temperature differences. The weight of those gases pressing down on earth is what creates air pressure.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the different layers of Earth's atmosphere, how the atmosphere supports life, and how Earth's weather occurs in the atmosphere. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Students will experiment to identify how vibrations cause sound. A student worksheet is provided.
This activity can be used as an introduction to atomic structure. Students will be given several sealed envelopes and asked to use their senses to identify the objects inside. Students aren't allowed to open the envelopes, but they may use any of their senses to figure out what is inside. The teacher can compare this activity with the discovery of the atom and its structure.
This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.
Codes are used to transmit messages. We may use codes to keep our messages secret from people who do not know the code, or we may use them to change one type of information into another. The key to decoding a message is knowing the rule to crack the code. In this lesson, students will explore different types of codes, create coded messages, and apply rules to decode messages.
This lesson provides the background needed for students to then develop their own method for transferring information.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the carbon cycle. In addition, there is a sing-along video that students can perform karaoke-style that will help them remember the steps of this cycle. After utilizing these two resources, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding. Students can use the information presented in this video to create their own model of this biogeochemical cycle.
This episode of Crash Course Chemistry dives into the HOW of enthalpy. How we calculate it, and how we determine it experimentally--even if our determinations here at Crash Course Chemistry are somewhat shoddy.
All matter can exist in three forms: solid, liquid, or gas. Matter can change states through heating or cooling, and it is sure to change states when it reaches its boiling point or freezing point.
The classroom resource provides a video that will explain the three states of matter and how matter can change states. There is a karaoke song that students can learn to help them remember the characteristics of the states of matter. This resource can provide background information for students before they conduct their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
In this lesson, students will be able to explain that snowflakes form from ice crystals in clouds. They will make a model to show the common six-sided structure of a snowflake. Students will also recognize snow as a solid form of water. Students are shown a video of snow falling and discuss their experiences with snow. Students discuss where they think snow comes from and how snowflakes are formed. Students see an animation of ice crystals in a cloud and a snowflake forming. Students see videos of actual snowflakes forming and pictures of snowflakes with six similar branches or “arms.” Students then model the formation of a snowflake using cotton swabs.
