Abby's Science and STEM

A clear and simple checklist for students to use when doing a self-evaluation of their CER claim-evidence-reasoning assignment. Students will identify whether or not they've included the most important components of a CER (at least two pieces of evidence, good transition words and phrases, an explanation of the evidence in the reasoning section, proper grammar and spelling etc).

This is a project that I did with my 7th graders. It was at the end of our Life Science unit and includes these topics: evolution, reproduction, energy roles, ecological relationships, and design solutions for protecting species. Each topic is associated with one of the 7/8 Massachusetts State Science Standards. The resources include the instructions, the grading rubric, and a sample project (about the North Atlantic Right Whale). Click the PREVIEW button for the sample. Students are to chose a

A list of water cycle vocabulary with definitions and illustrations. Perfect for 7-8 grade. Incorporates phase changes, states of matter, and heat transfer into understanding the water cycle on Earth. This product can be used as framework notes, a reference sheet for interactive notebooks, or a poster.

I made this project for my 7th grade class as an end-of-unit assessment in genetics and heredity. It was a major success! Students enjoyed creating their own "alien offspring" based on a selection of traits from the parent organisms. This packet includes project instructions, project grading criteria/rubric, student activities sheets, and an extra credit assignment. It provides a thorough review and reinforcement of punnet squares and genetic concepts such as pure, hybrid, recessive, dominant,

This resource has students explain and draw how three different islands formed: Martha's Vineyard, Hawaii, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. I used this at the end of my unit on geologic processes. Students were applying their knowledge of the following concepts: glacial erosion, deposition, weathering, hot spots, volcanos, and convergent boundaries. You could use this as a quick in-class activity, homework assignment, or you could extend it and make it into a larger project (have them make a

This resource has a simple fill-in-the-blank note sheet for teaching density. It includes definitions for density, mass, and volume as well as helpful diagrams and formulas. The second page has 4 practice problems for students to apply their understanding of calculating density. This could be used as a quick review before a test or as an introduction to a unit on density/properties of matter. This is great for use in interactive science notebooks.

This 2-page resource is a lesson where students interpret USGS data on earthquake locations in the United States. They then do a group RAFT (role, audience, format, topic) activity where they discuss and present the information. RAFT is an excellent strategy for all students, especially English Language Learners and special education students. I developed this lesson to be directly aligned with one of the new NGSS standards: Obtain and communicate information on how data from past geologic even

This is a one page reference sheet summarizing climate change and its impacts to coral reef ecosystems (including the impacts of ocean acidification, warming ocean temperatures, and stronger hurricanes). I used this reference sheet when my students wrote a claim-evidence-reasoning writing on the the impacts of climate change and the fragility of the coral reef ecosystem.

This resources has a filled-in teacher note sheet as well as a fill-in-the-blank note sheet for students. It includes these vocabulary terms relating to ecology: organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, species, abiotic, and biotic. This could be used as a quick review before a test or as an introduction to an ecology/ecosystem unit. It would be great for an interactive science notebook.

This activity sheet is for a glacier modeling lab. It assess student's knowledge of the weathering and erosional forces of glaciers on Earth's surface. Students use clay, paper plates, and a mini "glacier" (a cup of frozen water with sand/gravel) to simulated the movement of a glacier. It includes instructions for the activity, a place for making observations, a passage about glaciers with relevant vocabulary words, and assessment questions. This is such a fun, interactive, and educational activ

This is a resource that has filled-in teacher notes as well as a fill-in-the-blank student note sheet. It could be great for reviewing the theory of plate tectonics or using it as an introduction to a unit of plate tectonics. It includes information about the tectonic plates in the lithosphere, the average speed of tectonic plates, and a map of the Earth showing the major tectonic plates.

Project Description The purpose of this project is to collaborate with group members to design, build, and test a scale-version of an ocean current drifter. An ocean drifter is a device that is designed to follow the flow of ocean currents. This project is based off the Student Drifter Program through NOAA (http://www.studentdrifters.org/). This PDF document is an engineering notebook that students use as they complete the project. It includes research questions about ocean currents, a space t

These are scaffolded notes for a middle school unit on Chemical Reactions. This includes the filled-in teacher version as well as a fill-in-the-blank version (for students). Vocabulary words/concepts covered are: Law of Conservation of Mass, Chemical Reactions, Chemical Equations, Exothermic, and Endothermic. It has clear diagrams and wording, and could be an excellent resource for Interactive Science Notebooks.

This handout provides the instructions and background information for this Engineering Design Challenge where students design and build something that achieves neutral buoyancy in a tank of water. The handout includes a definition of the terms neutral buoyancy and density. This activity can supplement a unit or lesson on density or buoyancy and could even be related to real-life scenarios such as submarine design or fish anatomy (swim bladders). This activity requires access to a tank (I used

This sheet can be used to model chemical reactions using gummy bears* as "atoms". This activity can follow an introduction to conservation of mass and the relationship between products and reactants in chemical reactions. This hands-on activity template allows students to visualize molecules and compounds when undergoing chemical change. Activity Duration: 20-40 minutes (allows for extensions if time permits) *can also use legos, skittles, or M&Ms