Middle School Science Lessons

Good lab for calculating speed. Hot wheels cars and ramps are necessary. Ramps are set up on boards at a height to allow the car to move to the distance of 150 cm. Click on Preview to See picture to see how I set it up.

Density, Mass and Volume calculations using the density triangle. Students will need to write out the formula - Example: D = M/V, write out the equation with the numbers and units and then the answer with the correct units. I would grade each a separate point for each (formula, equation and answer) but you can grade as you wish. Word document and can be edited as needed. Included is the answer key, and the last page is a modified version ( I call it version 2) of the assignment for student

Fun activity to calculate speed. You will need to purchase small wind up toys. I got a bag of them from Amazon. Sometimes not all of the toys will go straight so you can build a track with 2 ruler/meter sticks instead of using just one ruler/meter stick to assist with the toy going straight. Students will let them travel for 3, 6 and 10 seconds and measure the distance they travel. You can change the times if you wish - this is a word document and is easily editable. Students can also graph

Crossword puzzle for Alcohol, drugs and smoking. There is one without a word bank and one with a word bank and there is an answer key. Vocabulary includes: addiction, alcohol, brain, cancer, depressant, illegal, lungs, nicotine, overdose, spinal cord, stimulant, tolerance, vaping, withdrawal.

Good lab activity that allows students to investigate and compare Newton Forces and mass in grams. It is a word document so you can change the mass weights that you use. My lab was written for the mass weights I have. I prep them by introducing them to mass and weigh then I let them do the activity. Questions at the end allow them to discuss what they have done. I go over the questions after the lab.

Fun board game activity. Includes the board and 3 sets of questions - 20 questions each on Fossils, Geologic time scale and Natural Selection for a total of 60 questions. I suggest you print out the card templates and cut them out and glue the answer on the back of the question. You can also print them out as a page, laminate the page then glue them together. The board can be blown up and then printed and laminated. Suggest you make the game board as big as you can for the students to place

This is a great lab activity using food products to simulate the make up of blood. Students receive a real visual of the blood. I used red and white tic tacs for red and white cells or you can use red hots (I could not find those), corn syrup for plasma, colored sprinkles for platelets. You mix them in proportions to the proportions in real blood in a zip lock bag. Students also have a math component as they need to compute ratios of amounts. It is a big hit!

Fun activity to review renewable and non renewable resources. Students will color the 11 pictures, cut them out and paste in the data table that has 2 columns: renewable resources and non renewable resources. Pictures include the following: wind, water, sun, oil, natural gas, trees, biomass, geothermal energy , nuclear energy, metals, coal. There are 2 pages - one is the data table to paste in the pictures and one is a page with the 11 pictures.

Students observe 6 different liquids for Tyndall Effect. You can pre- make the liquids or have the students make them up. I used clear plastic cups or beakers. You can use how much water you want for the liquids that require water. Make the gelatin ahead of time so it is solid. The salt solution will show the Tyndall effect - this is a good stumper for the students. They will call it a solution but there are other materials in the salt ( I use Morton salt for this) that are displaying t

A quick worksheet to show students how the frequency and wavelength of a wave affect the speed of a wave. Students do some simple calculations to show that the speed is not really affected by the wavelength and frequency because as frequency goes up the wavelength goes down. Includes an answer key. In a word doc so you can add or change it.

Crossword puzzle on mass, volume and density. Includes one with the word bank, one without the word bank and the answer key.

This is a good review document of the scientific method which includes questions on variable and controls and the steps to the scientific method. It is an editable word document and there is an answer key.

Crossword puzzle vocabulary review for Forces. Words include: gravity, rolling, unbalanced, free fall, friction, acceleration, terminal velocity, fluid, mass, projectile, net force, inertia, centripetal, opposite, balanced, air resistance, sliding, static, newton. Answer key is included.

A great lab to demonstrate the transfer of thermal energy. Teacher needs to heat up water and distribute to students. Includes lab analysis questions for assessment of lab. I use styrofoam cups for base and lid. Will need ice for cold water and a way to heat up water for hot water. it really works great.

This is a multiple choice test on mass, volume, weight and density - it was written as an accommodated version with 3 answers vs 4 and many pictures to aid with the test taking. It is a word document so you can alter as needed and also the last page is an answer key.

Great group activity that allows students to work together to identify independent and dependent variables. There are 9 stations - students read the scenario and fill in work sheet provided. I have them rotate every 2-3 minutes. Answer key provided. SMARTboard presentation included that has the scenarios and a PDF for you to print cards. I print each scenario on ans 8.5 x 11 card stock paper for durability as they get used. Two scenarios are deleted so that is why you see 2 numbers miss

Good review for skeletal muscular system. Study guide is in word so you can change or customize as needed. Study guide offers word banks as well to assist the students. Answer key is as a PDF as I needed to scan it in.

You will need onion root cell slides for this. Students look at the onion plant cell and answer questions about plant cells. They identify the parts seen and also answer questions about tissues, organs and organ systems. I use this for a lab activity. There are 2 labs - the 1st one is for the students who actually looked at the cells in the microscope and the 2nd one is for the student who was absent the day we did the lab activity.

This is a fun lab activity where the student can make a model of an animal cell using a paper plate, hot glue gun, a piece of yarn and several candy products that represent the cell organelles. After the cell is made have the students fill out the included arrows with each organelle's name and glue next to that organelle. You can always substitute different candies if you want - I just chose ones that were relatively inexpensive and resemble the shape of that part.

This is a nice relatively quick lab exercise that students can do to use water displacement to identify the volume of irregularly shaped objects. This is a word document so you can make changes - I list a variety of odd shaped items but you can change the items to use what you have. I use colored water as it gives a better visual of the meniscus for the students to read. I used a 100 mL graduated cylinder but you can use any other container that allows the students to accurately read liquid lev