Stephenson's Science

Students use an online PhET simulation (free) to experiment with bending light through a prism in this activity. This worksheet can be edited to fit specific needs. My kids LOVED being in charge of their own prisms (rather than being in a group) and making cool designs with the light. This activity is ideal if your class meets during the middle of the day and it is incredibly difficult to get the room dark enough to actually use prisms and light.... not that I have any experience with that..

Great sub plans. Brain Games can be found on Netflix- have students complete this worksheet as they watch these episodes. Don't let a sub day just be a "movie" day- students will learn more about themselves and the world around them with Brain Games.

Students use a Slinky to demonstrate how longitudinal and transverse waves move through a medium. Most of my kids had never seen a Slinky before and you would not believe how awesome they thought this activity was! This was a simple way to get them engaged with their peers, engaged in the content, and off of their iPads! Beware: Students will beg to play with the Slinky for weeks after this activity.

Students use a Snellen eye chart to test their visual acuity. Students are asked to calculate averages and draw conclusions based on their data. My 6th graders really enjoyed learning more about themselves and their peers in this interactive lab activity.

This worksheet/webquest is written for plants native to Minnesota (uses MN websites)- it can easily be modified for any state. Students look up various plants from Minnesota and describe adaptations that allow these plants to survive in their native environment. Good introductory activity to plant adaptations (which seem to be harder to understand than animal adaptations).

Worksheet to fill out while watching Brain Games- Left vs. Right (Season 5 Episode 2)

Students will make detailed observations about different soil types. They also get to combine materials to see which types of sediments settle to the bottom of a container of water first. My students LOVED seeing the layers of sediment settle to the bottom. In all honesty, I thought this activity would be a bit of a dud- but this activity made them excited about soil science.

Student demonstrate how weathering and erosion can impact the surface of the Earth in this hands on lab activity.

Use this worksheet as super simple sub plans. 2 worksheets included- one for the episode about language and another for the episode about patterns.

Students explore how increasing force applied to a marble increased the distance traveled. Can be used to supplement simple machines (inclined planes) or Newton's Laws.

Middle School activity to introduce the idea of adaptations in birds.

Students build levers and discover how movement of a fulcrum can affect how much effort is required to lift a load.

Students explore Newton's Laws with this Coin Flick Experiment. You decide how in-depth you want to go with identifying the laws at work in the experiment. This is a very brief outline that can be distributed to students to serve as a lab worksheet.