Science labs are trickier in high school. You can no longer dig in your kitchen cupboard and pull out what you need. Luckily, there is an alternative.
This is the exact question we are attempting to answer right now in C107! We have set up our potatoes (cut about 1/4 off and soaking in plain water for a couple weeks) and have begun to observe, infer and predict about the growth we expect. Each student is keeping track of their information on one of these recording sheets. We will check back in a few days and again at the 2 week mark. We are anxiously awaiting the results! In the mean time, it makes a pretty cool display in the classroom! If you're a teacher who'd like to try this experiment with your kiddos, you can download the lab sheet for FREE in my TpT store!
Children love science experiments. They want to observe and test out #allthethings, but sometimes it’s hard to get students to understand the scientific method. Understanding the steps of a true experiment is part of every
We have been talking second grade science! Specifically, we'll chat about the Next Gen standards on landforms and how to implement hands on activities,
Most teachers follow the typical first-day-of-school protocol which includes passing out books and discussing class policies. BORING! If you want kids to be passionate about chemistry, get kids u…
Are you taking the leap into the wild and wonderful world of teaching elementary science? Congratulations! 🎉 From making science notebooks your best friend to transforming your classroom into a curiosity-filled lab (minus the lab rats), we’ve got tips and tricks that even Albert Einstein would high five us for! Ready to become the next superhero ... Read more
Most teachers follow the typical first-day-of-school protocol which includes passing out books and discussing class policies. BORING! If you want kids to be passionate about chemistry, get kids u…
Are you creating a love of science? You are either teaching kids to hate or love it. How do you create better science experiences? This 10 day challenge
Use this pre-lab worksheet to ensure that your science students get the most out of the lab activity. Pre-lab preparation reinforces lab safety. If the student has an understanding of the lab activity before entering the laboratory, there will be fewer accidents, less time wasted, and the student will come away from the lab with an enriching lab experience. The worksheet can be a part of the student's lab report for grading purposes. When asked to read the lab activity as homework the night before the lab, few students will do so. I have discovered that my lab activities run much smoother and the students actually benefit from the lab experience if they read and prepare themselves prior to class. This is the purpose of this simple Pre-Lab Worksheet. The questions are designed to make sure that the students read the lab handout prior to class. Both printable and digital (Google Slides and Google Forms) versions of this resource are included. The student handouts can be printed or used in the paperless digital format in your Google Drive, Google Classroom, Microsoft OneDrive, or similar. This resource is perfect for traditional classroom settings, 1:1 schools, or for distance learning. What is included in your download folder? Printable and Editable Pre-Lab Worksheet Google Slides Version (not editable) Google Forms Version (editable) Teacher Guide Please Note: This Pre-Lab Worksheet is also included in my Lab Safety Bundle. Click here to view Lab Safety Bundle. What will the students be doing? I require that all of my students read the lab as homework the night before we actually do the lab experiment. Students must complete this worksheet as they read the lab handouts. By answering a few simple questions, students will be well prepared to do the lab experiment. Students Will: Identify the title of the lab. State the purpose of the lab. List needed materials and equipment. Identify safety precautions. Make predictions. Identify sources of potential error. Determine independent and dependent variables. The lab always runs much smoother and is much more meaningful to the students when they are well prepared before hand. This handout can be used with any grade level old enough to complete lab work, and it can be used with any type of science class. Related Products Include: The Ultimate Lab Safety Bundle for Science Teachers Lab Safety Chat: 10 Lab Safety Lab Stations Identification of Lab Equipment Hidden Picture Reveal Game Science Chat: A First Day of School Science Lab Icebreaker Chemistry Chat: A First Day of School Chemistry Lab Icebreaker Introduction to Biology PowerPoint: Scientific Method, Graphing, Themes of Biology, Microscope Lab Safety Scavenger Hunt Graphing Practice Problems Graphing and Scientific Method and Experimental Design Practice Problems Biology Prefixes and Suffixes Activity Science Skills Worksheet and PowerPoint: Comparing and Contrasting Scientific Method Lab: The Student Designed Experiment Tabling, Graphing and Analyzing Data PowerPoint with notes for Teacher and Student Graphic Organizer for Writing Science Lab Reports FREE Science Lab Inventory Form Scientific Method Task Cards Graphic Organizer for Writing Science Lab Reports For updates about sales and new products, please follow my store: My TpT Store: Amy Brown Science
Today, my classes completed the Cup Challenge! We loved it! The point of this was for students to practice their new lab team roles and develop some teamwork guidelines. Each team gets 6 cups, string, and rubber bands. Using just string and rubber bands, students must make a pyramid with the cups. No touching the ... Read more
I have a confession to make. During my years in the science classroom, I was never able to sustain a long-term warm-up or bell-ringer routine with my
Click image to view product I always try to do something different on the first day of school. When the students go home at the end of the first day, I want to be the teacher the kids go home and talk about. Last school year, I developed an activity called "Science Chat" for my biology students. It was a huge success, and I plan on using it again this year. A few days ago, I polished it up and posted it to my TeachersPayTeachers.com store. Nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming response this product has received! I have had a mountain of messages asking if I had a similar product for chemistry and physical science students. In response, I have developed "Chemistry Chat." Now, before speaking any more about Chemistry Chat, let me suggest that you read my previous blog post on Science Chat. The details of the activity - the purpose, how it works, what the students are doing - are all included in the previous blog post. Some of you have already read that post, and I don't want to bore you by repeating myself. The gist of the activity is that students will rotate through 10 different lab stations designed for physical science and chemistry students. At each station, the students will be completing a science task, but just as important, the students will have to answer icebreaker questions in order to get to know their classmates. What topics are covered at each lab station? Station 1: Chemical and Physical Properties Station 2: Graphing Station 3: Metals and Nonmetals Station 4: Periodic Table Station 5: Lab Equipment Station 6: Laboratory Safety Station 7: Making Observations, Forming a Hypothesis Station 8: Metric Scavenger Hunt Station 9: Chemistry Prefixes and Suffixes Station 10: Chemical Symbols These photos will give you a better idea of what is involved in the activity: In my neck of the woods, schools are back in session next week. Others of you have until after Labor Day. Whenever you return, I hope that you have a fantastic school year.
Not sure how to handle high school science labs in you homeschool? Two-Day Lab Intensives from College Prep Science make it easier than you ever imagined.
Five activities to use to get to know your grade 4, 5, 6, and 7 science students on the first days of school. These back to school activities will allow students to be creative through hands-on activities, writing, or sharing about their personal lives through art to foster personal relationships.
The takeaway from this blog post is simple: You must teach a deep and thorough course on laboratory safety to the science students in your class EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR! It's not debatable or open for discussion. {{ Insert whining voice here. }} "But my students have heard this so many times before. Do I really need to make them sit through it again?" YES! It doesn't matter how many times your students have received lab safety instruction in the past. It is your duty, obligation, and responsibility to ensure the safety of your students while they are in your care. Can you imagine the nightmare if a student was injured in your lab, and you had to admit that you had not taught a lab safety unit? All teachers who teach science......please listen to me! You must cover lab safety thoroughly and appropriately for the students you teach. If an accident should happen while the child is under your "care", you must be able to prove that you provided instruction in lab safety. If you are not teaching the lab safety rules, then you could be found negligent in the event there is an accident in your class. Lab safety instruction should be the first unit you teach at the beginning of each school year. Since I am a high school teacher, the lab is an important and integral part of my class. In all my years of teaching, I have been fortunate that there has never been a serious accident in my lab. I have had a minor cut or two, but nothing more serious than that. I attribute my great safety record to the fact that I stress lab safety on the first day and continue to stress it all year long. What are the elements of good lab safety instruction? First and foremost, students must be given a paper copy of all lab safety instructions. I use a PowerPoint presentation that is packed with pictures and photos. Fun images and lots of color will help keep your students interested and engaged as you go over the rules. I give my students an outline of notes that they complete as we go through my PowerPoint presentation on lab safety. Lab Safety Contract: Parents must receive a copy of the lab safety rules. Have the parents and the students sign a Lab Safety Contract and keep these on file on year long. Student Medical Form: I require that each student complete a Medical Emergency Form. This form is sent home to parents to give the parents the opportunity to list any "conditions" that I might need to be aware of. I once had a student who had very severe mold allergies. She was excused from doing my mold lab. I have taught several students with peanut allergies who were excused from my "Energy in Peanuts" lab. Students are not allowed to go to the lab until they have returned a signed Lab Safety Contract and a completed Medical Emergency Form. Take your students to the lab and teach them about the lab safety equipment. I have a first day activity that students complete when we visit the lab for the first time. Students are instructed on how to use the eyewash fountain and safety shower. Students are shown the location of the fire extinguisher, fire blanket, and fire alarm. Students are informed on how to exit the lab in case of an emergency. Lab Safety Quiz or Test: Students must be tested on the safety rules. My students are required to score 90% or better on their lab safety quiz. If they score below 90%, I require them to take the quiz again until a 90% score is obtained. I love the old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This is so true in relation to lab safety. Make safety instruction a priority and keep your students safe! If you are looking for resources to use in your classroom, click on the images below to check out these in my TpT store:
Looking for back-to-school ideas for your forensic science class? Check out these 5 fun and engaging forensics activities for the first days of school.
I have a first day routine that I am very proud of. I have used it for 25 years and I think I finally have it down pat. I have spoken to students from 20 years ago at reunions and they tell me that they still remember the first day of chemistry so I think it is pretty good.
Most teachers follow the typical first-day-of-school protocol which includes passing out books and discussing class policies. BORING! If you want kids to be passionate about chemistry, get kids u…
Hi, Teaching Friends! Welcome to the February I Teach First Linky, filled with classroom ideas to keep the fun in teaching and learning for you and your little learners. Okay, let's just be honest about this. Teaching has always been a fast-paced juggling act. But now, there are now more subjects to be taught, more standards to be addressed, more assessments to be given, more mountains to climb, and basically more of everything in a teacher's day ... except for time! When I'm planning activities for my homeschooled grandchildren or designing classroom resources, that's something I always try to keep in mind. I think of it as "stacking"... addressing multiple objectives and even multiple subject areas with the same teaching materials. Solving word problems about your science topic is the perfect example of this. You're touching on objectives in math, but also science and reading. If you can have your students create their own word problems, you can add writing objectives to your DONE list! Here are a few ideas for stacking math and literacy. From First Grade W.O.W., this is a great example of stacking. After reading Virginia Kroll's Equal Shmequal, she engaged her students in this hands-on visual activity to introduce a unit on symmetry and fractions. Literacy, math, and art, too! I love this idea from Learning at the Primary Pond. What a great way to combine math and literacy! Here's one of my own free resources, a guided reading book about place value. {{This is not the freeebie in the title of this post. Read on! }} Here's an idea's great for stacking science and literacy. It's from The Science Penguin. Ari's post is about supporting ELLs in your science teaching, but this particular idea would be wonderful to use with all young literacy learners, to model in shared writing, post as an anchor chart, and then carry over into science notebooks. Sometimes the stacking is all within the same subject area. Hundred chart games and activities are a good example of this. While your students are reading numbers to 100 (or 120!), they might also be adding or subtracting the dots from a roll of two dice, counting on or back from a given number, adding ten to a number, or various other skills. If you take a careful look, you'll likely discover that you're already doing some stacking! This brand new just-for-you freebie will help your students practice stacked math objectives for addition, subtraction, and odd and even numbers. It includes sorting mats for addition and subtraction, two pages for recording number models from dominos, and an extension activity for an extra challenge. There are also printed dominos, in case you'd like to add some pink to your February math! I hope this resource will help save you some time in your math teaching and help secure your students control of these math skills. Download and enjoy! Stacking objectives will save you crucial time, in planning, prepping, and teaching. Stacked standards also make it easier for your students to build connections, whether they do it on their own or with your guidance, and of course building connections helps cement and extend learning. Consider adding questions like these to your building connections list. * "What else have we learned that's like this?" * "How can this help you when you... ?" * "Does this make you think of something else you know?" * " How did knowing _____________ help you understand ____________?" What other questions for stacked objectives would you add to this list? If you're looking for more ideas for your February teaching (talk about a month with a time squeeze for teaching! So many events and celebrations!!), be sure to visit the February Fun for Firsties Linky on this blog. It's filled with over 200 activities both free and paid for everything from Valentines Day to Groundhog Day to Heart Month, Presidents Day, etc, etc, etc! Don't miss out on these great posts that are also part of the I Teach First February Linky!! An InLinkz Link-up Happy Teaching!
An escape room in the classroom is a super fun way to engage your students in any topic. Make one easily with the worksheet you already have!
Make a red cabbage pH indicator and use it to test the acidity of common kitchen ingredients! A red cabbage indicator turns vibrant colors in different solutions and introduces kids to acid/base chemistry. Making a cabbage juice indicator is a kitchen science experiment that makes a winning kids' science fair project!
Click image to view product I always try to do something different on the first day of school. When the students go home at the end of the first day, I want to be the teacher the kids go home and talk about. Last school year, I developed an activity called "Science Chat" for my biology students. It was a huge success, and I plan on using it again this year. A few days ago, I polished it up and posted it to my TeachersPayTeachers.com store. Nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming response this product has received! I have had a mountain of messages asking if I had a similar product for chemistry and physical science students. In response, I have developed "Chemistry Chat." Now, before speaking any more about Chemistry Chat, let me suggest that you read my previous blog post on Science Chat. The details of the activity - the purpose, how it works, what the students are doing - are all included in the previous blog post. Some of you have already read that post, and I don't want to bore you by repeating myself. The gist of the activity is that students will rotate through 10 different lab stations designed for physical science and chemistry students. At each station, the students will be completing a science task, but just as important, the students will have to answer icebreaker questions in order to get to know their classmates. What topics are covered at each lab station? Station 1: Chemical and Physical Properties Station 2: Graphing Station 3: Metals and Nonmetals Station 4: Periodic Table Station 5: Lab Equipment Station 6: Laboratory Safety Station 7: Making Observations, Forming a Hypothesis Station 8: Metric Scavenger Hunt Station 9: Chemistry Prefixes and Suffixes Station 10: Chemical Symbols These photos will give you a better idea of what is involved in the activity: In my neck of the woods, schools are back in session next week. Others of you have until after Labor Day. Whenever you return, I hope that you have a fantastic school year.
This hands-on seed dispersal project had an interesting beginning... Once upon a time, our third graders planted seeds every spring and we watched the Brassica plant change through its entire life cycle- including pollinating them with dried bees. This was always my favorite day of the year! I would hint to my third graders that the "bees
A great science introduction that introduces your students to science and its processes and helps you gain important insight into your students.
Bilirubin is a product of the degradation of hemoglobin (the red blood pigment that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues) and some other blood components (heme-containing proteins). It is a yellow-red pigment and
31 Water Experiments for kids with the scientific principles explained - perfect for homeschool science.
Two facts we all know about teaching chemistry: The concept of a "mole" is absolutely crucial to the teaching of our class. Many of our students struggle with this concept every single year. According to the textbook: A mole is the quantity of a substance that has a mass in grams equal to its molecular mass and contains Avogadro's number of particles. I think that many students memorize the definition of a mole, but fail to grasp the concept of a mole. I want my students to be able to visualize a mole and to have a grasp on the size of a mole of substance. I just added a new lab to my yearly chemistry curriculum. It is not really an "experiment" but more of a review and reinforcement of the mole concept. The idea of the activity is very simple: Students are given ordinary household substances and are asked to determine how many moles are in a teaspoon of the substance. Purpose: To determine the number of molecules and/or atoms in small amounts of everyday substances. To determine how many moles of chalk it takes to write your name on the board. Materials: Balance Weighing dishes Plastic spoons Water Salt (NaCl) Sugar (C12H22O11) Chalk Chalkboard I had the students find the mass of a teaspoon of a substance. From this mass, I had students determine the number of moles of substance, the numbers of molecules of substance, and the number of a particular atom within the substance. The bottom line is that this activity provides repetitive practice in mole conversions. I was a little concerned that my "sophisticated" high schoolers would find this activity too elementary. Wrong!! They embraced the activity whole-heartedly and came away with a better understanding of the "size" of a mole. The activity concludes with a student-designed experiment. I asked my students to design an experiment to determine the number of moles of chalk required to write their name on the chalkboard. Students had to write the steps of their procedure, construct a data table, and convert their data to moles and molecules. SO SIMPLE, but my students had a great time with this. They enjoyed comparing the "size" of their name to that of their classmates. Click above picture to view this product in my TpT store.
See our plant life cycle activities and why my students are so excited to write about science! Includes FREE lesson visuals for teaching about plants.
Students find missing side lengths of right triangles and the areas and perimeters of the triangles in this activity that doubles as classroom décor. Students practice using the Pythagorean Theorem while also using their logic to figure out area and perimeter. Each pennant also includes Greek line art for students to color so that the end product is a fun pennant to hang in your classroom that says, "Hey, we know the Pythagorean Theorem!" *If you need a metric version, please see Pythagorean Theorem {METRIC VERSION} Included are 20 pennants, an answer sheet (if you would like students to also record their answers for credit) and an answer key. Each group of students can be given a set of pennants, scissors and either glue, tape or a stapler. Students can be in charge of cutting out the pennants. Groups can compete to see which group can complete the most pennants or your entire class can add pennants to one string as they complete each one. You may also choose to have your students color their pennants to add to your classroom décor. You may also like: Pi Day Digital Math Escape Room Voyage to the Treasure! Pythagorean Theorem Game 8th Grade Math Word Wall - print and digital
Study glacier movement with free kid-friendly science labs. See how long rivers of ice, flow and calve, as they change the world around them.
Most teachers follow the typical first-day-of-school protocol which includes passing out books and discussing class policies. BORING! If you want kids to be passionate about chemistry, get kids u…
The Preschool and Kindergarten Geology Worksheet Pack is available for FREE on the blog! Includes tracing, more/less math, and cutting/pasting!
The next station lab in my Mad Science Station Lab Series covers Newton's Law's. I created station labs for each of the 3 laws, or you can download the
As usual, my students struggled with erosion more than any other content standard so far this year. So, I made a stations unit for some of my students to use to help them master weathering, erosion, and deposition by wind, water, and ice. Whew! So helpful– they ended up mastering the content. Here’s a ... Read more
