LoveandLearning

This is a great project to help assess your students understanding of weather forecasts. Students work in small groups to create a week of weather reports. They will report warm and cold fronts, temperature, precipitation, cloud coverage, wind speed and direction, and pressure systems. They will gain valuable presentation skills while demonstrating their knowledge of weather patterns! This project takes about 1-2 hours to introduce and for students to create weather maps and forecasts, and

Students love using their understanding of basic physical properties to build their own pinball machine! This is a great STEM project that can be done individually or in small groups. I use this project in my “Force and Motion” unit (the complete unit guide is also available on teacherspayteachers). This project corresponds with the NGSS engineering standards for Grades 3-5, but could be modified to meet the needs of older students.

Students research, design, and build their own earthquake resistant buildings out of toothpicks, straws, and popsicle sticks. They test these buildings using a homemade "shake table", a tray of jello. Your students will be very engaged in this hands-on STEM project!

This bulletin board consists of a 23 scientists from diverse cultures and fields. The purpose of the bulletin board is to familiarize students with a variety of scientists, and for students to learn that scientists can be from any ethnicity or gender. The final bulletin board poster has room for a mirror, so students can envision themselves as the next famous scientist.

Students observe how different seeds are dispersed through water, wind, and animals. They then design their own seed, and practice their own method of seed dispersal. Fun, educational, and NGSS aligned!!

This is an exciting and easy to implement science unit correlated to the NGSS Kindergarten standards (can be modified for older students). This unit plan has essential questions, literacy connections, vocabulary, and hands-on inquiry labs. Each lesson is aligned to the main ideas and NGSS standards. The Push and Pull journal is an engaging and easy to understand journal for students to record their learning. Enjoy!

Looking for an easy way for your students to practice the scientific method? Students test how a ping pong ball bounces on 3 surfaces: wood, rubber/foam, and carpet. They then practice creating a bar graph to show their results.

This engaging and hands-on STEM project will get your students jumping with excitement! Students use the engineering-design process to research, design, and build a prototype of a shoe, using everyday materials. Includes vocabulary, complete project, materials list, and a rubric.

This interactive and engaging unit introduced students to forces, and how they interact. Here is a unit plan, including objectives, activities, and materials. This unit includes an exciting inquiry-based project where students apply their understanding of forces to build their own pinball machine.

This lab is a great way to explore animal adaptations. Very engaging and NGSS aligned!!! When I introduce this lab, I often read about animal adaptations. A fictional book to engage students is: “Octavia and her Purple Ink Cloud” by Donna and Doreen Rathmell. This cute book introduces students to different ways sea creatures protect themselves from sharks. Students quickly realize that thumbs are an important adaptation for daily life. They love to try out new strategies for daily activities

Looking for an engaging and student-centered project for students to study different ecosystems? Students research and design their own commercial for different types of ecosystems. Students can work in small groups, partners, or individually to research an ecosystem, and to make a commercial convincing tourists to visit their ecosystem. Project includes a memo from "Nathaniel Geographic" to engage students and make the project more meaningful, as well as rubric for quick and easy grading.

Students record information about what happens when they add heat or cold (take away heat) from water, to change it to a solid, liquid and gas. Students can draw and write their answers, learning about changing states of matter!

Students work in groups to test how variables affect their plant growth. This 1 month experiment is a great way for students to practice the scientific method, while learning more about how different factors affect plant growth. This is easy to build into an ecosystems unit, or as a stand-alone experiment.

This lab is an excellent addition to any animal classification or biodiversity unit. Through this lesson students should be able to explore the unique characteristics of the guppy fish, and how guppies interact with their environment. Students will be introduced (or review!) formal taxonomy, and make predictions about the guppy fish. Students will also practice writing and testing a hypothesis.

This test is a simple, ELL friendly assessment of an Earth, Moon, and Sun unit.

Here is a fun way for students to practice the different steps of the scientific method. Student create a hypothesis to test how different variables affect the growth of their magic sponge capsule. They identify the independent and dependent variable, and their controls. They record their results using a data table and a graph. This is structured enough to guarantee students understand the steps, but flexible enough that it challenges students to think like a scientist.

Kids love the chance to design their own playground! This activity helps students to identify properties of building materials, and compare the pros and cons. Students select 3 playground structures, and decide if they should be built by wood, metal, or plastic. They then create a poster of their drawings. This is great practice for the NGSS engineering standards, as well as observing properties, and working together.

This assessment covers the different types of rock, and their journey through the rock cycle.

Students make observation of a common object (my recommendation: a leaf). They compare what they can see using their eyes, a magnifying glass, and a microscope. *** Make leaf microscope sample ahead of time. Scrape the leaf to make it more translucent.

Here is a great way for students to organize their study tools and prepare for a test. Students choose off of a menu of ways to study for their test, and then have their parents initial that they have studied. Great way to help students get organized as well as promote parent communication/involvement! ***** Please email me at gretchenrolston@gmail.com if you would like me to send you this document in an editable format!!*****