Normally volcanoes form at plate boundaries, but hot spots are an exception. Hot spots are areas in the mantle that are exceptionally hot, and form plumes that break through the crust. They are great evidence of plate tectonic movement because they form island chains. Take Hawaii for example- the big
Bored of teaching the carbon, nitrogen, water, or rock cycles? Spice things up by having students take a ride through each of the cycles with these interactive games! In these games, students will roll a die at stations throughout the cycles and pick up paper tokens along the way. For
When I moved to my current school the department chair made it clear that we should “teach bell to bell.” I understand the logic in this, and sometimes class does last exactly 50 minutes. But if EVERY teacher taught bell to bell EVERY period, students would never have time to
Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) can be so fun and rewarding. They are some of my favorite students to work with. They tend to be hard working and driven. (You may want to check out my blog post with 10 tips for teaching ELLs in the science classroom). The main
Fall is by far my FAVORITE time of year. Seeing the leaves change color is truly the highlight of my year. Are you looking to bring some fall or thanksgiving themed activities into your science classroom? Here are some ideas! Thanksgiving Science Lesson Ideas 1. The best part of thanksgiving
Have you ever tried out choice boards with your students? I love them because they give students some voice and choice in their learning. Choice boards provide a variety of ways for students to demonstrate they have mastered a concept. Your students that love to write can choose to answer
Previously, I wrote a blog post on how powerful guest speakers can be and where to find them. I wanted to do a follow up post on how to prep your students so the experience is meaningful. Nothing is worse than having a student make an inappropriate comment or putting
It doesn’t matter what age you are, glow in the dark experiments are a blast! Did you know that tonic water glows under a black light? It has a chemical in it called “quinine” that causes it to glow. You can substitute out tonic water for regular tap water in
Forensics is a topic students LOVE to learn about, so even if you don’t teach an entire course on it, throwing in a few lessons at the end of the semester is always fun. There are a ton of labs you can do ranging from blood spatter, fingerprinting, analyzing hair
Students often struggle to understand what aquifers are and how they work. Since they are located underground we can’t see them, so it can be hard to visualize in our minds what they look like. In this quick video you can see how I built a model of an aquifer.
Are you a podcast lover? Once I find one I like, I get hooked (cough, cough… Serial). You may have students who have never listened to a podcast before, and given the opportunity would really enjoy them! Especially for your kiddos who love to learn but don’t love to read.
Getting to use microscopes is the highlight of the school year for many biology students. They love to learn how to use them and explore the microscopic world. But purchasing a class set of microscopes can be pricey. Also, as many schools are currently doing distance learning, microscopes aren’t an