Science Education Idea Exchange

Here are the new additions since my last post: 1. Ecology Escape Puzzle Room This puzzle escape room would be great as a review or a day there is a sub in the classroom. Topics covered are food webs, food chains. energy pyramids, abiotic versus biotic factors, limiting factors, carrying capacity, and symbiotic relationships. Hints for the clues are all printable and distractors are included. The instructions tells you how the clues are solved, the code, and where it leads to next. 2. States of Matter Vocabulary Note Sheet The states of matter note sheet has key terms for a unit on phase changes, thermal energy definitions of states of matter, and molecule movement. Pair this with your favorite reading, presentation, or video for students to summarize the key terms and concepts. (Background information is not included.) 3. Plate Tectonic Review Games Bundle This bundle includes two activities over plate tectonics to help students review vocabulary terms on plate motion and concepts. The

I have been subbing for a year in a few different schools and age groups. My favorite is the middle school teachers who are prepared for a guest in the room. They all tend to have some variation of my list below: 1. Lesson plans 2. Emergency procedures 3. Rosters/seating charts with pictures: Include any special information, like if the student has band lessons during class. 4. Important contact information, like admin (grade-level, if applicable), attendance, tech department 5. Hall passes: when are they issued, how are they issued 6. Supervision or other duties 7. Do you share your room during your plan? Bonus points for the teachers that put it in a clearly labeled binder. It's a lot of work, but it makes it easier for me to run another teacher's classroom successfully. Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

  This week's freebie is a practice of identifying physical and chemical changes by Mudds Science . The resource can be downloaded from their store here . This is a simple activity with a PowerPoint slide with 12 pictures. The answer key goes into great depth about the reasoning for each. I like this resource for the details in the photos and explanations. Furthermore, the more practice you can find on this topic, the better! My students have always struggled with this topic. Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash

 I have been busy, but it took me awhile before I posted some new products. Here they are: Christmas Escape Puzzle Room Celebrate Christmas and the winter in style! This escaped room is designed with four different codes (numerical, letter, and directional) hidden in puzzles and visual clues that lead to matching Christmas presents with their missing tags. The students are told they are Santa's elves on Christmas Eve. Bundles Autumn Holiday Escape Puzzle Rooms: Halloween & Thanksgiving Cells & Genetics Escape Puzzle Rooms Rock and Rock Cycle Note Sheet The rocks note sheet has key terms for a unit on rocks, types of rocks (metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary), and the rock cycle. Pair this with your favorite reading, presentation, or video for students to summarize the key terms and concepts. (Background information is not included.) Who am I? Plate Tectonics Vocabulary Game The classic "Who Am I?" game has 22 cards that cover vocabulary terms associated with pl

Enchanted Learning is an old website that I relied on as a new teacher years ago. I cannot believe they still have it up and running! The nice thing is that you can create worksheets from the website and it includes answer keys. The downside is that it won't be pretty without time and effort.

Photo by Trnava University on Unsplash This week's freebie is from a newer TPT author named Hannah Carroll . They created a Google Form that provides examples of experiments. The student identifies the dependent and independent variables and other parts of an experiment . It can be downloaded to your Drive here . What I love about it: You can modify it to your needs The answer key is built-in Great examples for a quick check

Here are a couple of the latest additions! Thanksgiving Escape Puzzle Room Celebrate Thanksgiving and the fall in style! This escaped room is designed with four different codes (numerical, letter, and directional) hidden in puzzles and visual clues that lead to a hint to where the cooked turkey has been stashed. Students are setting up for their family to come over for Thanksgiving. The clues and distractors are in PDF format to be printed off and distributed around a room with minimal additional work on your part. The instructions tells you how the clues are solved, the code, and where it leads to next. Genetics Punnett Square Inheritance Logic Puzzle This print-and-go logic puzzle allows students to practice understanding inheritance patterns and vocabulary by sorting three people and their phenotypes. They should have prior exposure to the terms hybrid, purebred, homozygous, and heterozygous. The types of inheritance reviewed are single Mendelian, incomplete, and codominance. The se

Students missing class is inevitable. Being organized will help save time, effort, and frustration. My solution was to have an absent/extra bin in my classroom. Photo by Feliphe Schiarolli on Unsplash The set-up: A large crate that can hold hanging files 5 or more laminated sheets with absent information (Ideas listed below) 6 Labeled folders with the days of the week and " Older " Laminated Sheet with "Absent/Extra Classwork" in large font Wet erase marker How to do it: In my first class, I have a trustworthy student with neat handwriting who fills out the form using the wet-erase marker. The completed form is placed in the corresponding hanging folder along with the worksheets . I clean off the form for the next day so it can dry overnight. Any worksheets left over are placed in the "Older" folder. Laminated Absent Information Form: There are many options on Teachers Pay Teachers that can be downloaded or you can create your own. Information to inc

This week, I found a reading and writing resource on heat transfer created by A Dad's Classroom . Included in the PDF is the reading, two pages of questions, a KWL chart, and an answer key. I love that the questions are in a variety of styles to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the reading. This could serve as a great introduction to conduction . Download your copy here ! Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

 I worked on creating new bundle s   and here is where you can find them: Birthday I and Online Birthday Escape Puzzle Room Birthday II and Online Birthday Escape Puzzle Room All three Birthday Escape Puzzle Rooms Build You Own (pictured above)- You can choose items from my store to bundle together NGSS MS-PS1 Activities on Atoms and Matter Since I have the NGSS MS-PS1 Bundle, that means standards 5 and 6 are done! See more information about them below. MS-PS1-5:  Conservation of Matter Chemical Reaction Model Students create a model of a chemical reaction to show how atoms are conserved. This activity assumes students already are familiar with atoms, and it would pair best with a mini lesson on the Law of Conservation of Matter. The lesson starts off with a brief demonstration and a kinesthetic activity to show how matter is not created or destroyed. MS-PS1-6: Thermal Energy and Deicing Project In this project on thermal energy and chemicals, students choose an effective deicer for

As a secondary teacher, it is no secret that students forget to write their names on their projects and papers. (This has become less of an issue with digital submissions.) As a young teacher, I witnessed a genius tactic for dealing with all those lost souls: the "no name" folder. Photo by Wahid Khene on Unsplash On my bulletin board, I stapled a file folder with the large label "No Name." Papers were placed in the folder with a label of when it was received and the period, if possible. (I had separate turn-in spots for each class.) When students and parents would ask where they could look, I had one spot! Here are some pro-tips: Do not grade an item until the name has been assigned . This is for two reasons: students will not try to claim an assignment that was not theirs for a good grade. Secondly, it provides privacy to the student who forgot to write their name . Circle the name spot so if there is a question on why something was late being graded

  This freebie comes from a brand new store called The Aussie Science Teacher . Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash This poster would be great to have on the wall in your classroom year-round. There are two formats to choose from, but both include a labeled graph and instructions for titling the graph. There's even a mnemonic device to help students remember what to include in their graphs. Check it out here !

 I am working on completing activities for all of the NGSS PS1 standards, so stay tuned! For now, here is a new one that I created: MS-PS1-4: Phase Change Models for States of Matter S tudents create a model drawing of phase changes for a pure chemical. There are two templates to make the states of matter models. It can be printed or designed into a slide presentation (instructions included). This activity assumes they already know about atoms, states of matter, and thermal energy. The activity included is no-prep. Simply upload or print the materials and go! Included are: Teacher's guide with suggested chemicals and chemical boiling/melting points (secured PDFs) Graphing Model Template and instructions (secured PDF) Drawing Model Template and instructions (secured PDF) Standards/Objectives: ✅NGSS: MS-PS1-4 In the life science camp, I ha ve my  Genetics Vocabulary Note Sheet . The genetics note sheet has key terms for beginning a heredity unit. Students color and label information