Lesson Plan: Identifying vocabulary mentors in your class

Thanks to Kecia Waddell for submitting this lesson plan. Remember if you would like to sell us your lesson plans also click here

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This is a student-centered vocabulary activity to be used to identify peer tutors within the process of class discussion. In so doing, the identified Peer Tutors will HELP the Teacher reach the students while teaching vocabulary through active class discussion.

1. Procedures to Execute as a WHITEBOARD ACTIVITY with Note-taking
Provide students with the following info as a handout.
Use the following rating system below to indicate YOUR comprehension of the vocabulary that follows.
0 = Haven’t a clue 1 = Know I have heard it, but I can't define it 2 = Know I have heard it, have some sense of its meaning 3 = Have a good sense of its meaning when I see it or hear it 4 = Can define it and explain its meaning to someone else
2. Teacher presents each term in a PPT display; orally and/or written on board one at a time. Important: ONLY present terms in context of a specific authentic lesson, literature piece, etc. to increase student construction of meaning.

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Explanation Writing Checklist

This explanation tool checklist is a great resource for students to evaluate their understanding of writing explanation texts through awareness of punctuation, vocabulary and layout of their writing.

This is a great tool students can use independently or even swap  with a friend and evaluate each other.

Thanks to Jarrod Sing for submitting this resource.  Remember if you would like to sell us your lesson plans ideas you can do so here. 

Click here to download the Explanation Writing Checklist.

Science Lesson: Making Slime

Time Required:  45 – 60 mins for process, pus you can allow time for research and findings.

Age groups:  Prep to year 9.. Obviously you will need some more time and assistance with the younger and possibly older kids.

Learning Intentions:  To understand what a Polymer is and how chemical reactions can change the state of certain ingredients.

 Click here to download this entire lesson plan and resources as a PDF.

Intro: We are going to make slime, any ideas how we can do it? What ingredients do you think we’ll need?

Show video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlW5Jh-AHc&feature=relmfu  

Go through step by step instructions of how to make the slime (Paper based instructions included below - Make sure Logistics are good)

ü  Students then create the slime and put it in a bag to take home and show.

Answer the following questions once slime is made.

1.      What happened to the slime when you added the borax powder?

2.      How could we make the slime better, what variations could be offer?

Science Elements:

Now for the SCIENCE part.... This POLYMER is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its containers like a liquid does, yet you can hold it in your hand and pick it up like a solid. As you might know, solid molecules are tight together, liquid molecules spread out and break apart (drops) POLYMER molecules CHAIN themselves together (they can stretch and bend like chains) and that makes them special. Jell-O, rubber bands, plastic soda bottles, sneaker soles, even gum are all forms of polymers. The polymer you made should be kept in a sealed plastic bag when you aren't playing with it. Also, be sure to keep it away from young kids or pets who might think it’s food. Have fun!

Recap: What is a polymer? Both a solid and a liquid. Molecules which are tiny little molecules chain together which makes an item hold its shape and then can be altered.

What are some other examples of polymers?

Extension Activity

Who can stretch their slime the longest contest?

Who find and display a practical use for it.

Click here to download this entire lesson plan and resources as a PDF.

PHYSICS LESSONS FOR ELEMENTARY / PRIMARY STUDENTS

I came accross this great collection of physical science lessons for elementary students.  The activities are really well planned and easy to follow.  I hope you can use them.

• Battery Life
• Engineering Toothpaste
• Fish Tank Optics
• Gliders
• The Hidden Jewels of Geometry
• Ice Energy & Making Ice Cream
• Making a Shoe-Box Guitar
• Making a Water Lens
• Maple-Seed Helicopters
• Materials That Absorb Solar Energy
• NASA Robots
• Paper Clip Sailing
• Paper Rockets
• Pizza Box Solar Oven
• Positively Paper
• Rocket Pinwheel
• A Solar Heat Experiment
• Sounds Like Science - Bottle Organ
• Sounds Like Science - Drums
• Sounds Like Science - Guitars
• Sounds Like Science - Jamboree
• Sounds Like Science - Kazoos
• Water Energy
• Where’s the Air?

• Air Pressure
• Altitude Tracking
• Antacid Tablet Race
• Balloon Staging - Rocket Staging
• Balloons - Why Are They Stretchy?
• Battery Life
• Bicycles - How Do a Bike and Its Rider Stay Up?
• Car Engines
• Colored Shadows - Using Lights to Mix Colors
• Domed Stadiums - What Keeps Inflated Stadiums Up?
• Engineering Toothpaste
• Finger Boomerangs
• Fish Tank Optics
• Flying Tube
• Flying Wing
• Four-Wing Paper Boomerang
• Glass Blowing
• Gliders
• Guess What?! (a lesson about atoms)
• The Hidden Jewels of Geometry
• Hollywood Stunts
• How Can I Control the Soccer Ball?
• How Do Clocks Keep Time?
• Ice Energy & Making Ice Cream
• In-Line Skating - Do In-Line Skates Really Go Faster than Roller Skates?
• Lemon Power
• Liquid Bottle Rocket
• Liquid Nitrogen Fun!
• Making Paper Airplane Gliders
• Making a Steam-Powered "Rocket Boat"
• Making a Straw Woodwind
• Making a Water Lens
• Maple-Seed Helicopters
• Match Stick Rocket
• Materials That Absorb Solar Energy
• McEagle Styrofoam Glider
• Musical Tube
• NASA Robots
• Newton Car
• Paper Clip Sailing
• Paper Rockets
• Peanut Power
• Pencil Rockets
• Ping Pong Ball Curves
• Pizza Box Solar Oven
• Playing With Polymers
• Positively Paper
• Robots
• Rocket Car
• Rocket Pinwheel
• Science Safari: Energy Resources
• Scuba Diving
• Sewer Science - Where Does Sewage Go?
• Soda Pop Can Hero Engine
• A Solar Heat Experiment
• Sounds Like Science - Bottle Organ
• Sounds Like Science - Drums
• Sounds Like Science - Guitars
• Sounds Like Science - Jamboree
• Sounds Like Science - Kazoos
• Splitting Water - H2O Hydrolysis
• Using Bubbles to Learn about Light Interference
• Water Energy
• Where's the Air?
• Wooden Helicopter

Lesson Ideas around Plankton

Well if you thought I haven't posted enough lesson plans about Plankton on Edgalaxy you are wrong.  Here is a great collection of sceince lessons aimed at students from grade 4 - 12 about the life and times of plankton. Download them here.

DISCOVER THE MASTERPIECES OF THE WORLD WITH 'GOOGLE ART PROJECT."

Google Art Project is an online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiative’s partner museums. The project was launched in 2011, in cooperation with 17 international museums, including the Tate Gallery, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; and the Uffizi, Florence.

The platform enables students to virtually tour partner museums’ galleries, explore physical and contextual information provided about artworks, and compile their own virtual collection. The "walk-through" feature of the project uses Google's Street View technology.The virtual images of artworks were reproduced at extremely high quality, and each partner museum selected one artwork to be captured as a Gigapixel image (with over 1 billion pixels).

With great resources foreducatorsthere is literally no limit to what can be done with this in the classroom. 

Google art Project will never substitute a trip to the Louvre in Paris but it certainly will make you far more appreciative and understanding of what is in front of you if you are lucky enough to get there in person.

Below is a video that  critiques a famous painting from the 1870's that you could use with students in your history, literacy or art class to great use.

Access Google Art Project here.

The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate factory is one of the most popular children's books of all time.  It is a brilliantly written story by Author Roald Dahl and there has been two starkly different, but very popular films based on it.

Therefore "Charlie" offers a multitude of teaching and learning opportunities based around the themes of bad parenting, mischievous children, greed, gluttony and much more.  Roald Dahl uses little Charlie Bucket as a role model to oppose all of the horrible aspects of the other children selected to enter Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

This Grid I have constructed uses Blooms Taxonomy as a framework to study the book and films and has 42 excellent teaching and learning ideas.

It would be recommended that the book and both films are watched to get the most out of this grid, and there is more than enough here to keep your students busy and enthused for a fortnight depending upon how you structure your learning sessions.

I hope you like the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Learning Grid and if you have any fresh ideas to add to it we would love to hear them.

Download the grid here.

TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO WRITE FABLES WITH THIS GREAT TOOL.

Fables are a great way for young readers to about some of learn life's important lessons.  They are also an excellent opportunity for writers to share important messages that are relevant to them now. 

Last week we used TheFable Planning Toolto construct fables with my grade 6 students, learning about messages, symbolism and even reading some of Aesop's work to learn how to construct a fable that will stand the the test of time. 

The at the end of the week we published our fables as picture story books and read them to our junior school.  The kids loved the process and it was a nice change in their narrative writing schedule at their age.

This planning tool includes a storyboard, examines characters and, setting and includes a large range of morals to get children in the right frame of mind. 

You can download theFable Planning Toolhere.  Enjoy.

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Finally if you would like to purchase a completely editable version of this document to alter without any restrictions you can purchase it for $10.00 simply byemailing us.