Motions, Forces, Energy...& amusement park rides!

On Caught In the Middle's recommendation, I bought Disney Imagineer's ENERGY video.

It didn't disappoint. 

Now, the students will be researching and analyzing the motions, forces, and energy of 

their favorite amusement park ride.

They have 2 days to create a informational brochure about the energy of their ride.

I created a sample to show them the expectations (seen above, click for it below):

The Motions and Forces of Disney's "Mad Tea Party" Tea Cups Ride


Update: Check out the brochures below:

I used a generic rubric for grading: Generic Brochure Rubric

(Next time around, I would like to create a more detailed and specific rubric.)

Enjoy!

Reviewing Motions.

Reviewing for a Motions Test this week.....

Here are the vocabulary words on Quizlet: 

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study acceleration flash cards

And here is a Jeopardy Game  I just made! How cool is that? Jeopardy with flash...AND you can create your own...and go back and edit it later!

(Warning: Not making any promises on quality...I made this in a rush just to see how Quizlet and Superteachertools would turn out...)

Earth, Moon, and Sun

I purchased the Classroom Solar System (seen above) and adored it.  

That is until fire codes made it illegal to hang stuff from your ceiling.

For those of you out there that can still hang things from your ceiling....I recommend this!

On another note, I am still looking for great links to teach astronomy and came across this great one:

Teaching Moon Phases

I always love her ideas.

Current Daily Moon Phase

Daily Moon Phases:

CURRENT MOON

lunar phases

I think this is pretty darn awesome.  

Just one more week until earth science and moon phases! ;)

And I'm so excited to try out modeling the moon phases with Oreos!

Just looking at this picture makes my mouth water!

As I began thinking about the upcoming unit...........

I just gave myself another one-hour-challenge

to find every link I can find on Astronomy/Weather/Earth's Changing Surface. 

K... Go:

Astronomy

Videos:

Brain Pop Video - Eclipse

Brain Pop Eclipse Quiz Worksheet

Brain Pop Video - Gravity

Brain Pop Video - Tides

Brain Pop Video - Weather

Brain Pop Moon

Brain Pop Moon Quiz Worksheet

You Tube Moon Phases Misconceptions

Bill Nye Music Video - Moon Cycle

Bill Nye - Gravity, Rotation

Phases of the Moon Rap Video

Rapping Weather Man: 1 3 4  (just for fun)

Teachers Domain Video: Why Doesn't the Moon Fall Down?

Interactive Sites:

Animation of Moon Phases/Revolution Awesome model of the moon movement aligned with what we see.

Virtual Reality Moon Phase Site

What Does the Moon Look Like In the Southern Hemisphere? Interactive 

Animation of Spring and Neap Tides

Games:

Lunar Phases Moon Challenge

Weather Maker and Worksheet

Shoot for the Moon 

Other Misc. Ideas:

Observing Solar and Lunar Eclipses Times and Locations

Moon Phase Interactive Bulletin Board

Types of Eclipses Worksheets 

Moon Clock

Earth's Changing Surface:

Brain Pop - Rock Cycle

Brain Pop - Weathering

Brain Pop - Soil

Brain Pop - Erosion

Teacher's Domain - Rock Cycle Animation

Teacher's Domain - Solid as A Rock Writing Prompt

Teacher's Domain - Interactive Tectonic Plates

Plate Tectonics Video from UnitedStreaming

You Tube - Rock Cycle Rap

You Tube - Plate Tectonics

Enjoy!

(And let me know if you have any great links I didn't find!!)

Rock-Cycle Stations

I love stations.

Here's an oldie but goodie.

a freebie, ready-for-print station activity from Illinois State Museum Geology Online:

Journey Through The Rock Cycle

Just print the dice (colored paper not required).  

Cut and tape together the dice.

Set up the stations.  

Photocopy the worksheets. 

And voilà:


The students follow the rock cycle, recording what happens to them and where they move to.  Followed by creating a cartoon strip of their travels.

It's very fun to watch because no 2 students/rocks take the same exact journey.

Design-A-Rollercoaster Fun!

We had a blast in the lab today designing Roller Coasters!

Design-A-Rollercoaster Freebie

Steps to completing the lab:

1. Students design and draw a hypothesis of a rollercoaster.

2. Students test the rollercoaster with a BB pellet.

3. They record their changes and create a new design.

4. The process continues until they create a successful rollercoaster.

5. Write a conclusion reflecting on the process making sure to use key vocabulary: kinetic energy, potential energy, and gravitational potential energy.

Materials: lab tubing (about 5 feet per group), tape (5 pieces only!), BB pellet

Prior to completing this lab....

I showed my students this short video:

Student Made YouTube Video on Energy of Roller Coasters

Used these interactive links on my mimeo/projector:

Potential and Kinetic Energy - How Roller Coasters Work

Potential and Kinetic Energy - Energy in a Roller Coaster (same interactive activity with better graphics)

After completing this lab....

We went to the computer lab for them to each take this online quiz:

Roller Coaster 14 Question Quiz

Twister In MATH Class?

Twister Probability Class Activity Worksheet

The above worksheet is one of my probability favorites.
Buy it on my new teachers pay teachers page!

I bought a handful of twister mats (so we can play 1 student/mat) and designed the activity above.  

Then, my 6th grade resource class followed along with the above worksheet to explore the concepts of fair games, hypothetical probability, and experimental probability.

They absolutely loved it.

Disclaimer: I am very aware that I should have written "theoretical probability"not "hypothetical probability" in my title. Sorry. Blame it on the science teacher in me. theory/hypothesis....theoretical/hypothetical....

It's that time of year {fall colds/flus}.

Usually, if I think I might be out, I post-it note EVERYTHINGGGG for the following day with detailed directions just in case.

I even pre-setting the timer for the warm-up.

I also kid-proof the room and put away items that may be damaged in my absence.

BUT...

What about emergencies?
As in, not able to give directions to someone at the last minute.
As in no copies are activities are prepared for the day.

What's your go-to worst-case scenario emergency plans?

Worst case scenario, I have the following extreme-emergency materials on my desk:

SCIENCE Virtual Labs

"The Best of Beakman's World" DVD

with instructions on how to write up a lab

report for each short 15 minute episode.
(The video has natural breaks, which area good opportunity to pause and discuss.)

AND

"Mythbusters Season 1" Box-Set

with a generic "Mythbusters" Worksheet of analysis questions to complete while watching the chosen episode.  I have a few of the short episodes flagged that coincide with the curriculum.

How do you organize YOUR student desks?

I swear by small-groups in my classroom {as seen above}. 

As with any desk arrangement it has it's pros and cons:

+ With the desks clumped together it provides more floor space in the classroom. (= easy walking pattern for proximity to all students)

+ Students are already in small groups so it cuts out the transition time of moving desks into small groups for daily groupwork.

+ I can put a bin of materials neatly on each desk.
+ Stations and "pass the card" activities work well in this formation.

+ The students can easily rely on their "teammates" when they need assistance: whether they need to borrow a pencil or find out what page we are working on.

+ All the groups are tilted so that all students can see the board at all times.

- For some students, the setup is a distraction when we are doing whole-group instruction.

-  There is a big transition time of desk movement when students need to move their desks apart (about once a week) for a test or a quiz.

I would love to hear how other teachers arrange their student desks! Link up below!

Physical Science Videos Part II

Working on my upcoming Motions & Energy unit / science curriculum writing today....

Just took an hour out of my day to search for videos and links to use...

And here is the list I have compiled:

Brain Pop Videos:
Brain Pop Video: Forms of Energy
Brain Pop Video: Kinetic Energy 
Brain Pop Video: Potential Energy
Brain Pop Video: Gravity
Brain Pop Video: Law of Conservation of Mass
Brain Pop Video: Acceleration

You Tube Videos:
The Story of Potential And Kinetic Energy
Potential and Kinetic Energy Roller Coasters/Rides Student-Made
Wile E Coyote: Potential and Kinetic Energy
Harry Potter: An Example of Law of Conservation of Mass
Positive and Negative Acceleration
Solar Thermal Energy in Europe
Nuclear Power Democratic Debate Question
NASA: Calculating Real-World Kinetic and Potential Energy
Conduction, Convection, and Radiation Rap
Mythbusters: Flag on the Moon (Forces)

Teacher's Domain Videos/Interactive Links:
Teacher's Domain: Convective Cloud Systems
Teacher's Domain: Kinetic and Potential Energy in A Rollercoaster
Teacher's Domain: Law of Conservation of Mass Demo
Teacher's Domain: Virtual Car: Velocity and Acceleration
Teacher's Domain: Speed, Velocity, and Centripetal Force on the Race Track

Other Interactive Links:
Doppler Effect Interactive Activity
BBC Interactive: Energy Stored and Used
BBC Interactive: Forces
BBC Interactive: Electricity and Magnetic Forces

Ball Drop Lab.

A Kinetic and Potential Energy Lab

The lab ran smoothly and the kids enjoyed it.
I have shared it on my TpT account for you to download!

And here are some half decent interactive sites I used with my mimeo today (the kids love any opportunity to use the mimeo pen):

Temperature & Kinetic Energy
Potential and Kinetic Energy - Paint Buckets on a Ladder

And some video clips:  Surprisingly, my kids voted they liked the "older one" best. (embedded below)

Brain Pop - Potential Energy 

Brain Pop - Kinetic Energy

Cross Curricular Video (History)- Energy Transfer in a Trebuchet

Check back next week for a Roller coaster Lab Freebie and fun interactive links & videos! 

operation integers.

Bought 2 of these Operation Integer board games for my resource center class and tested them out today.

The game is really just a lot of integer problems disguised as a board game. 

The game directions are open for interpretation.
It could be played MANY different ways to include your choice of operations.
I would recommend the game for 6th - 8th grade.

Here were my modified rules:

1. Students took turns rolling.

2. Each space they landed on had two integers.  I told them the operation they were using was ADDITION ONLY. (pick the operation of your choice for the whole game OR have the students spin to use the operation).

3.Each student was required to solve the problem on the white erase board.  They earned 1 point per problem correct (the spinner-person can earn 2).

4. Each board game comes with an easy-to-navigate answer key for each possible problem for students or yourself to reference.

The students became much more comfortable with integers.  I saw growth in skills. And they had fun.

I give the "game" it an A-.

one person's trash...

Totally psyched about my new wire racks I found today....

I've been searching on craigslist and amazon since the summer for wire racks to hold all my science magazines without dropping 200+ bucks on the project.  I've been saving magazines for years (literally. I have Kids Discover magazines dating back to when I was in 4th grade.) and they are still in great shape and relevant so I'm looking to keep them that way.

... it just so happened another teacher wanted to get rid of them and was putting them in the hallway as I passed by her room....  PERFECT timing!!

The racks were a great addition to my classroom and hopefully will save the magazines for a few more years.

Does anyone else save old magazines? How do you preserve them?? 

Accentuate the Negative

Negative Numbers can be one of the hardest units for students to grasp...

So here are some fun ideas I have found make the abstract concept seem a little more "real":

1. Number Balls - a game of ordering integers from least to greatest....

e learning - learn2. Cyberchase "Less than Zero" episode....I prefer to pick out only the math related clips of the episode.  This is easy to do using UnitedStreaming or TeachersDomain.

Here are the CLIPS from teacher's domain:

• Inventing Negative Numbers (cartoon)
• Importance of the Origin (cartoon)
• Cyberchase for Real: Competing in the Northern Hemisphere Games (cracks me up)

3. Teach this song:

Same sign, add and keep

Different sign, subtract

Take the sign of the larger number 

Then you'll be exact. 

Change the minus to a plus

Change the sign that's next

Now all you do is add them up

As if they were a plus.

3. Integers Project

Click on the pic above for my Integers Project

fall in first.

Boyfriend's bulletin board with a nocturnal animals science theme!

(Bats sleeping on a fall branch)

Everyday Acids & Bases Lab

Click on the picture above for a copy of my Litmus and pH paper Lab!

[Reflection: Plan an efficient way of pouring all the various substances for the students.  I did not plan enough in advance, wasted a few minutes of class time pouring liquids for the students, and kicked myself for it later.  I had the students stay seated and pass the substances from table to table. The final class, I had the students rotate the classroom for set amounts of time at each station. This worked the best.)

Current Events Connection

I felt that today was a teachable moment in american history...

RIP Steve Jobs, one of the greatest visionaries of our time.

The passing of Steve Jobs was a sad but important event to discuss in middle school because it was something the students had many questions, thoughts, and misconceptions about.

It was touching to see how the students connected to this current even story and a great jumping point for discussion.

Coordinate Graphing Games Continued....

Check out BattleShip Coordinate Graphing!

In a shameless effort to trick my students into liking coordinate graphing, I spent the past few days bribing them to identify the correct points with fun games.

And, the trickery continues...

Click on the picture above to link to by tpt account.

{Update: Pick the leveled game board wisely...the modified version it leads to more organization with the activity as well as a more exciting, faster paced games....however the first version may work well for some students...}

As an intro to teach the students how to play this board game here is an awesome online interactive battleship game:

Top Quark Battleship Game

Check out more "Math Monday" ideas below!

Yummy Gummy Bears!

Click on the links below for my activities!

First, have the students explore diffusion with an inquiry activity:

Diffusion Inquiry Activity & Vocabulary Study

Then, have them investigate what happens to gummy bears in salt water and regular water:

Yummy Gummy Bears Osmosis Lab

Try the lab out yourself first.  It's a matter of personal preference how long you want to leave the gummy bears in water.  I chose to leave them in overnight. 

For your enjoyment:

Had anyone tried this? If you have, I would love to see some comments and suggestions below! :)

Phillies Phever in Phirst Grade.

Red october is phinally here....

and boyfriend's room has got some Phillies phever going on just in time!

Acids, Bases, and pH Webquest

After my 6th grade students enjoyed the math symmetry webquest lesson last week, I was motivated to create another webquest....

This time, a SCIENCE WEBQUEST for my 7th grade students.

Check out the Acids, Bases, and pH Webquest below.

Materials Needed to use this Webquest:
Pencil
Red & Blue colored pencils (for shading the pH scale on pg. 2)
Computers!

Here are the websites it includes:

Science Spot is the starting point...which links to the following websites: 

Chemist- Acids & Bases

VL - Acids & Bases

ZOOM Kitchen Chemistry

Quia - Acids, Bases, & pH

Alien Juice Bar

Let me know what you think!