lifelearner

Are you looking for a fun, creative, and informative way to assess your students at the end of an ecosystems unit? This is a great authentic assessment project to do just that. Students will be able to select an ecosystem and plants/animals about which they are interested in learning more, and they can also use their creative skills to draw the ecosystems, plants, and animals as well as abiotic factors of their chosen ecosystem. Materials - the teacher will need at least six 4" x 6" index c

Are you looking for a fun way to review weather concepts? Weather Jeopardy! is a PowerPoint created in the traditional Jeopardy! style. The material aligns with North Carolina Essential Standards but would certainly be useful for any science teacher in any state. I have used this product with my own 5th grade students in the past, and they love playing the game!

This is a great activity to use when teaching about biomes, ecosystems, food chains/food webs, etc. It sounds difficult but isn't, and my 5th grade students enjoy doing this activity every year. This would be appropriate for students up to 7th or 8th grade, and it would also be a good activity for an older special needs student, depending upon his/her abilities. The activity includes directions, a sheet to print out for the students to draw their biotic and abiotic factors, sample illustration

This is a PowerPoint showing various animals utilizing their camouflage capabilities. There are two slides for each animal. The first slide asks the viewer to find the animal, and the second slide shows the animal as circled with its name.

This is an activity labsheet to use when teaching about the rock cycle. It uses crayons to model the three kinds of rocks along with the processes that create each kind of rock. The labsheet begins by describing weathering and erosion using the crayons. Next, it describes sediments layering on top of each other and being pressed together to form sedimentary rock, more pressure (creating heat) to form metamorphic rock, and finally melting the rock in an aluminum pie pan over a hot plate to form

This is an activity worksheet/labsheet to use when teaching science process skills. It is for use when teaching about "predicting". The teacher passes out a small cup of M & Ms. The instructions are on the labsheet. The student may eat the M & Ms after completing the activity worksheet/labsheet. Of course, it is important that the teacher checks to determine if anyone in the class has a food allergy to chocolate or other ingredients in the candy. This activity could also be modified to use

Kids enjoy learning about stars and constellations; who doesn't like looking up into the night sky and gazing at the wonders of the heavens? This task allows students to choose a constellation and learn more about it. There are over 70 constellations from which to choose, so there shouldn't be too many tasks that are similar. The task includes an explanation sheet and a rubric with which to grade the task. I am posting it as a Word document so it can be modified to suit your own classroom's ne

You're getting ready for the 5th Grade Science EOG and you know you need to review for it, but the students are just so burned out. (And to tell the truth, you're a little burned out as well) Instead of more drill and kill worksheets, try a fun review that takes place outside and also reviews the students on forces and motion concepts using common objects. This is a two-part review. The first part involves students running around a track of a pre-determined distance. They are able to calculate t

This is an activity worksheet/labsheet to use when teaching science process skills. It is for use when teaching about "observation". The teacher passes out an Oreo cookie or something similar to each student. The instructions are on the labsheet, but the teacher should emphasize that observations must be able to be proven, not opinions. The student may eat the cookie after completing the activity worksheet/labsheet. Of course, it is important that the teacher checks to determine if anyone in

My students had a bit of difficulty visualizing the biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem; any ecosystem, really. They knew what "living" factors were, but the "non-living" factors stumped them. I created this task for them to do in class to help further clarify the difference between the two. It is a fun way to use formative assessment to determine if your students "get" the concept or not.

Kids love to learn about animals, and this project allows them to select an animal about which they've always wanted to learn. Children will be creating their own book about an animal of their choice. Instructions are provided for creating the book along with a research sheet children can use to write down their notes and references. Teachers can choose to have their students create the book entirely at school or allow them to make it at home, so the time required to create the project can v

If you've ever needed a PowerPoint to introduce the three kinds of rocks with examples and with basic vocabulary, this is the slideshow for you! Some slideshows include too much information for young children, but this one is, in the words of Goldilocks, "just right". There is also a brief description of the rock cycle with a diagram at the end. This PowerPoint can also be modified to fit your own needs. If you need the 2003 version of the PowerPoint instead, please let me know. I have it, too