10 Activities for The Great North American Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024

On Monday, April 8th, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America.  The next opportunity to see a total solar eclipse of this magnitude in the US is 2045!

Here are 10 Activities to do with students: 

1. Watch a simulation of the eclipse - find the start and end time where you live or the closest place to where you live

2. Make vocabulary cards with definitions (astronomer, corona, Earth, eclipse, lunar eclipse, moon, partial eclipse, path, penumbra, phase, solar eclipse, Sun, totality, umbra)

3. Watch a video

4. Make an information foldable (Include: what is a solar eclipse, a solar eclipse diagram & how to observe a solar eclipse safely)

5. Color & label the Path of Totality

6. Make a Solar Eclipse anchor chart

7. Make a Phases of a Solar Eclipse anchor chart

8. Label a Solar Eclipse diagram

9. Complete a Solar Eclipse Word Search or Crossword

10. Make a "How to View the Solar Eclipse Safely" warning anchor chart

Many states will see a partial or total eclipse

Engage and inform your students for this exciting historic event!

Can You Escape State Testing?

 I can't but students can... Well what I mean is, they can use escape rooms to get ready for the test.  

5 Reasons I use Escape Rooms to Review for State Testing

1. Engagement: Escape rooms are highly engaging and capture students' interest, making the review process enjoyable and motivating.

2. Active Learning & Teamwork: Escape rooms encourage all students to actively participate in problem-solving activities. Solving the puzzles together makes a more memorable learning experience that increases the likelihood of long-term retention of the material.

3. Differentiated Learning: Escape rooms can accommodate various learning styles, allowing students to engage with the material in ways that suit their preferences and strengths.

4. Review Critical Content: These escape rooms are aligned with the standards on the state test.

They are engaging but the puzzles and “codes” don’t diminish the test review material embedded within the themed scenario.

5. Time Management: Each escape room is designed to be completed in class period (~45 minutes).  Students must manage their time effectively, which reflects the time-sensitive nature of standardized tests.

Assembling escape rooms is an easy prep.  The NOS, Life, Space & Matter Escape rooms don’t use locks and boxes.  They are paper and pencil puzzles.  Additional materials needed for some of the puzzles are envelopes/zip top bags, colored paper, card stock, page protectors & dry erase markers.  After the initial set-up, the only task is to monitor students and provide “helpful hints” if necessary.  I love walking around listening to students’ comments!

Try escape rooms, they’ll make test review fun and engaging!

5 Tips for Using Games in the Science Classroom

Games are a great way to make learning more engaging and interactive. Here are 5 tips for using games in the Science classroom:

1. Use games to introduce new concepts or reinforce existing ones.

Introduce Food Webs/Food Chains.  Students learn the relationships between organisms (predator/prey, herbivore/carnivore/omnivore) quickly during this competitive game!  An alligator may eat most prey but all is equal when it comes to death & decay.

This is a great review of vocabulary such as autotroph/heterotroph, chloroplast/mitochondria… using a crossword and/or hidden message puzzles.  I have used it in class but it’s great as homework!  It’s one of a few homework assignments students actually like to do!

2. Incorporate games into lesson plans to break up the routine.

Interactive Jeopardy involves the entire class not just 1 student!  Each student has an answer sheet which can be used at the end to make their Final Jeopardy wager and as a formative assessment. We play in teams so students can collaborate, and their spokesperson rotates so everyone is engaged.

Students draw pictures to get their team/class to guess vocabulary terms.  I use this at the end of class and students have begged to stay after the bell to “finish.”  It is almost no prep.  I print the pages, cut the words apart and put them in a container. It sits on my desk so I can grab it whenever I have a few extra minutes.  I also add it to my sub plans.

3. Use games to review material before a test or quiz.

This game uses questions that address the state standards taught in 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grade Science. We use it to review before the test given in the spring.

4. Allow students to collaborate and work in teams to promote teamwork.

Students answer a few questions on their own then they “find” other students to help answer the rest.  It’s a great way to get students moving and interacting with the content.  I have students initial the answer they give and then we review the answers together.

5. Use games to teach problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

In this game, students have to use their knowledge of the periodic table to find their opponents ship/element before theirs is found by asking questions and guessing elements.  I am so impressed when students ask “higher-order questions!” It’s also really interesting to see how they plot out their strategies!

 

Incorporating games into my Science classroom is a fun and effective way to enhance learning! By following these tips in your classroom, you can ensure that games are used in a way that is both educational and engaging.

Use your content to make games for your classroom.

I hope your students enjoy games as much as mine.  It really makes Science fun!

Back to School - Measuring Stations

Every student can use the practice with measuring!  This is a great activity to start the school year with. 

I have 2 ways to do this using anchor charts.

Easy Prep:

1. Print the 5 anchor charts (large - 4 pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 paper) and hang around the room.
2. Have students rotate around the room and read how to use each tool
3. Give students a list of measurements and ask them what it measures and the tool they would need to use
• 14 g (mass/triple beam balance)
• 34.5 cm (length/ruler)
• 22° C (temperature/thermometer) 
• 5 N (weight/spring scale)
• 50 mL (volume/graduated cylinder)

Hands on Practice

1. Print the 5 anchor charts (small - 1 8 1/2 x11 piece of paper or medium - 2 pieces of paper) and put them at lab stations
2. Set out the tool (ruler, triple beam balance, thermometer, spring scale & graduated cylinder) at each station that the chart explains
3. Put objects to measure at each station 
• Graduated Cylinder Station - Graduated cylinders with colored water
• Thermometer Station - Containers of ice water, warm water and room temperature water 
• Spring Scale Station - Different sized bolts (put wire loop around the top of the bolt so they will hang from the scale)
• Triple Beam Balance Station - Objects such as toy cars, blocks, dice etc. 
• Ruler Station - Different lengths of string taped to the lab table
4. Ask students to use the tool according the directions on the chart.  
5. Have students rotate around each station - I use a lab sheet like this:
   

 

Assessment: Ask students to write a short explanation on how to measure length, mass, weight, temperature, and volume including the tool and units.

Differentiated: Give students a list of tools. Have them walk around and look at the poster to find what each measures.  

• triple beam balance (mass)
• ruler (length)
• thermometer (temperature) 
• spring scale (weight)
• graduated cylinder (volume)

Give students the word find with a word bank.

• measure, tool, unit, length, ruler, centimeter, meter, mass, triple beam balance, grams, weight, spring scale, Newton, temperature, thermometer, Celsius, volume, graduated cylinder, Liter, milliliter

Use a sentence stem for students to fill in.

• Length measures ________ The tool used to measure length is ______.  The units are ____.
• Mass measures ________ The tool used to measure mass is ______.  The units are ____.
• Temperature measures ________ The tool used to measure temperature is ______.  The units are ____.
• Weight measures ________ The tool used to measure weight is ______.  The units are ____.
• Volume measures ________ The tool used to measure volume is ______.  The units are ____.

Advanced: Give students a word find with no word bank.  The 20 words in the word find can be found on the posters.  Optional: offer a prize to the student that finds the words first!

For more measurement activities see:

***Each of these comes with its own poster.

At the end of class my students tell me they had fun.  I hope yours do too!

Back to School - Birthdays

 One of the things I do before school starts is set up my birthday chart.

I like to get this ready ahead of time because  I lose track of time once the school year starts and I don't want to forget anyone!

Grab the FREE Happy Birthday chart here.  

I laminate it and use dry erase markers so I can modify it when I get a new student or one leaves.  Use the chart to decorate a bulletin board, hallway, door etc.

I also make individual birthday pencils.  I like to leave these on student's desks so everyone knows it's their birthday.  If a birthday happens on a weekend, holiday or break, I hand it out the day before so they know we'll be thinking of them!  Grab a FREE set here.  *You could also attach these to a lollipop, pixie stick or crazy straw.

My students love these, I hope yours do too!

New (3rd grade) Space Unit

My 3rd grade homeschool group, started our Space Unit with a read aloud of the Dr. Seuss book, There's No Place Like Space. 

Our lessons will include stars & the Sun, gravity, telescopes, planets & seasons. This book touched on each one and was fun to read.

I looked for flashcards on the Solar System online and found several free versions however most had a dark background that weren't great for printing or the facts were too advanced.

I made these flashcards for the 8 planets, Moon and Sun for students to use in class to quiz each other.  There are interesting facts on the back and illustrations on the front.  

*These would be easy to adapt as a research project by copying them single sided and having students fill-in facts.

Energy Game (insulators and conductors)

Based on a game from the EIA, students review electrical energy  - insulators and conductors with this game.  

16x20 gameboard and spinner

To use the spinner, put the point of a pencil through a paper clip in the center of the spinner.  Flick the paper clip and wait for it to stop on a section of the spinner.  If it is an insulator - move ahead 2 spaces.  If it is a conductor - move ahead 3 spaces.  

The gameboard has pit falls such as move ahead or move back, spin again and go back to start.

*Add color and game pieces such as novelty erasers, pawns, bottle caps or other markers.

With 4 players, this game takes about 15 minutes to play.  To extend time, use the added rule that if a player lands on a space occupied by another player - that player goes back to the start.