Glencoe Active Folder Inserts
Stumbled upon this website from Glencoe…has great stuff for foldables! Print, cut out, and paste into a foldable template or use for Notebooking/Lapbooking.
Some examples are:
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Chemistry Unit
I am working on the sequencing of my chemistry unit and trying to come up with some new ideas to use for my interactive notebook. Here is a list of topics that I am working on. If you have any great ideas to share, please feel free to leave a comment.
- Physical vs Chemical Changes
- States of Matter (Foldable for Solid, Liquid, Gas Notes?)
- Phase Changes
- Elements, Compounds, & Mixtures
- Atomic Theory (Foldable with Scientists and Atomic Models?)
- The Atom
- Periodic Table
- Bonding – Ionic & Covalent (Shutter Foldable?)
- Chemical Formulas
- Chemical Reactions
- Balancing Equations
- Conservation of Mass
- Acids and Bases (Cut ‘n Paste Venn Diagram)
BrainPOP has a great collection of movies for chemistry – I use just about all of these during my unit.
Show me the Strategies!
I just learned about this site from the Middle School Science Group. It is an extensive list of different types of strategies for classroom use.
They have strategies for:
- Starting a class
- Hooks and explanations for starting lessons
- Keeping Your Students Engaged/ Cooperative Learning & Group Activities/Assessments/HOTS (almost 300 tips!)
- Ending & Exiting Your Class
Float or Sink – Interactive Activity
This is an activity that has been around for years, since 1995 or so, which is like prehistoric times when talking about the web! Originally, it was a website with a collection of similar interactive activities, and they were free. The website evolved into ExploreLearning and now features many interactive gizmos for science and math. You can still find this older version (mirror site) floating around the web and each year I look for it and hope its still out there!
Left Side:
I made a booklet for this lab activity with instructions and room for data collection and analysis. You can use this as a SmartBoard activity with students coming up to take turns, or you can have students do this activity on laptops or desktops.
Students will find the mass and volume for each shape, then place it in the tank to see if it floats or sinks. I usually have them calculate the density after they have recorded all their data, they can use the calculator on the computer or a hand-held one. Once they have the first data table completed, I have them categorize the objects into the two groups: Float or Sink. They should see a pattern where objects with a density less than 1 floated, and objects with a density greater than 1 sank.
Note: the graduated cylinder does not use displacement, it gives the volume of the object directly. And technically, objects that float in the tank should float in the graduated cylinder instead of sinking to the bottom. I always smile if a student points that out.
The kids usually enjoy this activity and when completed on a laptop/desktop, they can work at their own pace. Some students will need help with using the density formula and entering the information into a calculator, as well as rounding to the 100ths place.
Right Side:
Students will answer the analysis questions and write a conclusion.
Here is the activity as a pdf
Updated: One of my student’s notebook with the completed activity
Add This – Free Widget
Found a free widget for adding social networking to your blog…very easy and quick to do!
Edublogs
I tried out Edublog today to see what features they had compared to blogger. It was very easy to use, with a few more bells and whistles available. They have an “import” feature where they can take all the posts from your blogger account and post them right onto your edublog site. The transition was pretty seamless.
For now I will mirror this blog on my edublog account and see which program I like better until I really figure out all there is to know about each blog service.
Buoyancy Cut ‘n Paste Vocab
I borrowed the idea of using “cut ‘n paste” vocabulary from my fellow science teacher, Marcia. Students cut out the definitions and match them to the correct vocabulary word. For my cut ‘n paste activity, I like to add a simple graphic to help explain each definition. This helps with visual learners. What I like about this activity is that the students can manipulate the definitions and do a dry run of where they think the definitions should go. If they realize that something is not in the right place, they can easily change its position. Once they are sure the definitions are all matched correctly, they can glue them into place.
Left Side:
When I introduce Buoyancy, we have already been talking about Density for a few days and completed a variety of activities. I show the Bill Nye Video Clip on Buoyancy (part 1) and we discuss it afterwards. Parts 2 & 3 have a few things that I would like to show once I figure out how to edit them and take out the parts that I don’t want or need.
After Bill Nye, I show the BrainPOP movie for Buoyancy. I made up a handout for the students to work on after they watch the video clip. To complete the notes, they work with a partner after we have watched the movie the first time. When they are done, I show the movie again and they fill in anything that they missed. Afterwards, we go over the answers as a class. I find this works much better than having them complete the sheet while they are watching the clip the first time. The students become so focused on what they are writing, that they end up missing a lot, and its hard for them to focus on both writing and watching.
Right Side:
As a review, the students complete the cut ‘n paste vocabulary for buoyancy. They can use the notes we took in class and work with a partner.
Handouts:
Mass, Volume, Density Foldable
Left Side:
Using Publisher, I made a 4 door foldable for the three density related formulas: D= m/v, v= m/D, and m = v x D. The 4th door has instructions on how to solve a word problem. I used the 4 panel brochure template and on the 1st and 4th panels, I made a guide line at 4.25 inches. To make the flaps, simply cut on the dotted lines.
Along with the formulas, inside the foldable are 3 practice problems, and a few notes about mass, volume, and density. I need to make a ppt to go along with the foldable, it will be posted on my notebook page soon.
Right Side:
On the right side are practice problems. Students have to determine which formula is needed, set up the problem, and add the correct units. They can refer to their foldable for the formula and how to solve the problems. The problems are not that difficult, my main goal is having them choose the right formula, set up the formula by plugging in the known values, and adding the correct units when done. Some students may have a little difficulty with multiplying or dividing decimals and rounding to the 100ths place, so I usually go over that before we begin by modelling a few problems with them.
Handouts:
- Foldable – legal sized paper 8.5 x 14 (how to shrink to 8.5 x 11)
- Practice Problems
Update: Here is the powerpoint I will most likely use as part of our class discussion
BBC Measures – Internet Activity
10/2/09 updated Link: This is a fun interactive site found last year and used with my 5th graders as a laptop lab activity. What I loved about this activity is that it gave them a chance to practice the following skills:
- Using a metric ruler
- Determining what increments to use on the ruler
- Finding mass
- Determining what increments to use on the scale
- Using a data table to determine the correct postage based on length and mass
- If a student makes a mistake, they have to try again until they get it right, so they get immediate feedback
- practice collecting data
- the activity is self paced
For students who are done early, I found some great websites that are fun, interactive, and give them a chance to practice their skills, and even challenge them a little bit.
- Fun Brain Measure it! Practice reading a ruler
- Pour to Score – logic problem using volume (kids LOVED this one!)
- Can you fill it? Fill the container with the fewest # of pours
- Can you balance the animals? Uses metric and non metric units, practice conversions.
- Can you balance the poddles?
- Left Side – activity sheet
- Right Side – metric tic-tac-toe & volume practice
Volume: Water Displacement
After we are done with the volume of regular objects lab, we will determine volume using water displacement. This is a lab where setting up the equipment on a lunch tray really comes in handy, its pretty messy! Whenever we use water, I always add a few drops of blue or green food coloring to it. The food coloring makes its easier to read the water levels in the graduated cylinders. Yellow is light, and red tends to stain more than the other colors. I use a large beaker as my stock of colored water then fill smaller beakers with it. A few drops per 100 mL is plenty.
This will be a stations lab with 10 stations. On each tray, there will be a beaker (200 – 250 mL) of colored water, graduated cylinders (10 mL, 25 mL, and 50 mL), two items to measure (rocks, small rubber stoppers, marbles, pennies, etc..) and a plastic spoon. The plastic spoon is a must have for this lab. How so? Lets say the kids are finding the volume of a small rock, they drop the rock into the graduated cylinder, find the volume, now they have to get it out. I show them how to tilt the graduated cylinder to pour the water back into the beaker while using the spoon to cover the opening of the graduated cylinder. Water pours out while the rock is stopped by the spoon. They can easily take the rock and place it back on the lunch tray.
If that doesn’t work, and the rock (or whatever object they are finding the volume for) falls into the beaker, they can use the spoon to fish out the rock from the bottom of the beaker. Otherwise, the kids are putting their whole hand into the beaker to fish out the rock and their hand will displace the water in the beaker = spills. Another reason to use the spoon is that some objects, like metal cylinders or marbles, can crack the beaker when it falls out of the graduated cylinder. (also, to prevent the grad. cylinder from breaking when an object is placed in it, place a small rubber stopper inside the grad. cylinder)
I usually remind the students that when they fill up the graduated cylinders to only fill it about half way with water. This allows room for the object to be placed into the graduated cylinder without the water running over. I also remind them to record the starting volume, drop the object in, record the final volume, and to subtract the final volume from the stating volume to calculate the volume of the object. (1 mL = 1 cubic cm)
Prior to starting the lab, we will talk about Archimedes, how to read a graduated cylinder, what a meniscus is, what displacement is and how to use it to calculate volume, and how to determine the increments to read the volume. We will also do a few practice problems as a pre-lab.
Left Side:
Right Side:
- Practice: Reading a Graduated Cylinder and determining volume by displacement (page 1)
