Useful Blogs for Teaching Science!

Hi everyone! Here are some activities that you can do at home or in the classroom which will help students build knowledge in many areas of science. Enjoy! 

1. Make a Volcano in a Tea Cup

On this blog you will find this great activity! In this activity students will use wax, sand, water, and heat to make a volcano in a tea cup! Also on this blog you will find a lot of ways to show children color through art. It would be a great resource when trying to link science and art! 

2. How Does it Rain

On this blog Learn~Play~Imagine you will find many activities for kindergarten and first grade! I really enjoy this How Does it Rain activity! In this activity students will learn about the water cycle and what happens when it rains! 

3. Build a Terrarium

On this website, Education.com, you will find tons of activities that will help your child explore science! I really love the Terrarium activity! In this activity students will create a mini plant habitat and learn what it takes to make an 
ecosystem work!

4. Dancing Raisins

On this website, Kids-Fun-Science.com, you will be able to find a ton of hands on activities for many different areas of science!  I really love the dancing raisin activity! In this activity students will get to see carbon dioxide make raisins dance! 

5. Oobleck

Live Science is a great resource for everyone. There are a ton of great activities for science investigation. Check on the Oobleck activity! This activity includes the oobleck recipe and ideas for science experiments once you have made it! 

6. Earthquake Waves

The Science SIte is a great resource for science. Check out the earthquake waves activity! This activity demonstrates how earthquake waves can travel through a variety of different materials after an earthquake.

7. Water Density

Science Sparks is for ages 5 and up, be sure to check out all the experiments on this blog! I really like the water density activity! This activity will help students understand water density! 

8. Yummy Soil Model

Farmer's Daughter is a great blog for fun activities for young kids. I really enjoy this yummy soil model (the kids get to eat it when its done)! In this activity students will build their own soil model while learning about the different layers. Then when they are all done they get to enjoy what they created! 

9. Make Your Own Sundial

This is a great site for science resources. This website has experiments and activities for all ages! I love the sundial activity! In this activity students will make there own sundial and learn how they can tell time by using the sun! 

10.The Science Blog

This website is a great resource for students to do research on! It also is good for up to date news in the field of science! 

Literature for the Science Classroom

Hi everyone! This is a list of great science literature that would enhance any library! 

1. Fish is Fish by. Leo Lionni 

Two best friends, a minnow and a tadpole, are practically inseparable until the tadpole grows legs and decides to explore the world beyond the pond. When the tadpole, now a frog, returns to tell his friend of the extraordinary things he’s seen, the minnow, now a fish, tries to follow in his footsteps, but quickly finds that land is not what he expected. Friendship truly saves the day in this imaginative tale of a fish out of water!

2. Cloud Dance by. Thomas Locker 

Journey across the heavens through thick cumulus clouds, wispy cirrus clouds, and wide stratus clouds as they dance through every season of the year. The author introduces young readers to the basic science of our natural world!

3. Leaves by. David Ezra Stein 

It's a young bear's first autumn, and the falling leaves surprise him. He tries to put them back on the trees, but it doesn't work. Eventually, he gets sleepy, and burrows into the fallen leaves for a long nap. When he wakes up, it's spring and there are suddenly brand-new leaves all around, welcoming him. Young bear has experienced the seasons! 

4. Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story by. Linda Glaser 

Composting also helps us make less garbage. In this book, you can watch as one family makes compost for their garden and also learn how to start your very own compost bin!

5. Change it!: Solids, Liquids, Gases, and You by. Adrienne Mason 

Change It! takes the physics of matter -- solids, liquids and gases -- and transforms it into an enjoyable and easy-to-understand first science book.

6. The Great Kapok Tree by. Lynne Cherry 

 Save the rain forest! If a tree falls in the forest... someone or something will always be there to hear it. Many, many creatures will feel the effects when their source of sustenance and shelter falls to the earth!

7. How Mountains are Made by. Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld 

Mountains are created when the huge plates that make up the earth's outer shell very slowly pull and push against one another. Read and find out about all the different kinds of mountains.

8. What are Food Chains and Webs? by. Bobbi Kalman 

Starting with the sun, food chains link together plants and animals in various ecosystems to help them survive. Kids will be fascinated by these chains and their own links to the natural world.

9. From Seed to Plant by. Gail Gibbons 

This book reveals the mystery of how seeds are formed and grow into plants, detailing the life cycles of flowers, trees, fruits, and vegetables.

10. The Moon Book by. Gail Gibbons 

This book teaches Facts about the moon, including fact about eclipses and its different phases.

Science Lessons

Hi everyone! Here are some interactive lesson plans that will help you explore many areas of science. Enjoy!

1. Extreme Weather on Earth and Other Planets

This lesson is for second through fourth grade! In this lesson students will investigate extreme weather on Earth and other planets. Students will learn about instruments used to measure weather. They will then design a space probe that will gather weather information on another planet!

 2.Marine Protected Areas Exploration

  

This lesson is for first through fourth grade! In this lesson students will explore Marine Protected Areas on an interactive map. Students will then compare and contrast these three case studies. They will then learn how the MPA classification system works in the United States, then will apply that system to example scenarios, and create a case study of their own! 

3. Moon Phases

This lesson is for grades kindergarten through fourth! It would be a blast for any age. In this lesson you learn about the different phases of the moon. You explore what phase of the moon it is in your area and finally you get to make the different phases out of Oreos! 

  4. Studying the Sun

This lesson is for grades kindergarten through fourth!  In this lesson students will learn about the sun. They will also use solar paper to see the affects that sun has on the skin! 

5. Pollination 

This lesson is for kindergarten! Students will use Cheetos's to understand how pollination works! They will use their bees to transfer Cheetos dust from their plant to their friend's plant! 

6. Classroom Planetarium

This lesson is for kindergarten through fourth grade! The students learn about the planets and how the earth fits in. The students then paper-mache balloons to look like planets! 

7. The Eye

This lesson is for first and second grade! The students will learn about the eye and watch each other's pupils change sizes!

8. Energy Star Kids

This lesson is for first through fourth grade. The students will learn about how they can change the planet by saving electric on this fun online lesson! 

9. Life Has a History

This lesson is for kindergarten through fourth grade! This lesson shows students an introduction to the history of life and the biodiversity that we see today in a fun interactive slide-show!  

10. Mixing Liquids

This lesson is for third grade! The students will be shown the properties of different liquids by doing three different experiments. They will learn that the different properties that each liquid possess affect the way they interact!