Mega Disasters

MegaDisasters is awesome.  Have you seen it?

It is the perfect show for the students who ask the "What if?" questions in science.

Mega-disasters shows are designed around the question, 

"It's happened before; will it happen again?" 

The show uses past natural disasters as examples to examine what disasters 

(tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, asteroids, global warming, etc.) 

could come our way if history repeats itself.

It uses computer animations and re-creations to dramatize 

the potential "worst case scenario" catastrophes. (Scary stuff!)

My first few years teaching as a 6th grade earth science teacher, I fell in love with this show and downloaded many of the episodes on my personal laptop.

But I just found 10 episodes on DVD for about 10 bucks...

                                                      *Asteroid Apocalypse                                     * New York City Hurricane

                                                      *Atlantis Apocalypse                                      *LA's Killer Quake

                                                      *American Volcano                                       *Yellowstone Eruption

                                                      *The Next Pompeii                                        *Mega Drought

                                                      *Windy City Tornado                                   *Mega Freeze

Score!

Mostly I just show clips from the shows, but sometimes 

I may show a whole episode as a special treat if a group is really interested in a unit.

Webquest #4

I'm on a roll making webquests....

Here is the newest! 

Weather Map Web Quest Freebie!

This week's webquest is a follow up to Weather Webquest 1.

The goal is for the students to be able to navigate a weather website to locate and analyze weather data.

Not sure if anyone is looking for more Weather Fronts and Air Masses study & assessment tools.... 

if you are, here are a few things I made:

1. Jeopardy Game

2. Study Notecards (Also a Game)

3. Test

Weather Patterns Web Quest

I love webquests.  {Have you heard?}

Here is my newest webquest hot off the press...

Weather Patterns Webquest

Haven't used a Web-Quest before? 

 The students follow the directions of the packet to navigate websites 

and interactive activities, as well as complete the packet.

All YOU need to do is print the packet for each student...

 head on over to a computer lab (or use it as a station within your classroom...)

and the students will do the rest!

Like the Web-Quest above? 

Check out my other web quests on TpT too!

In my experience, the students really enjoy the web-quests.

(For younger students, I might recommend bookmarking the sites in advance to avoid typos in the URL...)

I'm looking for feedback.....

Do you use Web-quests?

Please comment and share any great websites, online activities, or Web Quests you have used!

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.

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! :)

Science Sentence Frames

Today I was thrilled to come across a great blog post that put a name to something that I love to use in my science classroom.  It was refreshing to see another teacher's philosophy on using the sentence starters in the science classroom.

She calls it "Sentence Frames".  I had always called it "Sentence Starters". 

Tomato. Tomahto.

(though i do think i like calling it "frames" better...)

Above is a picture of our recent "Gobstopper Conclusion" with sentence starters 

pasted above the paragraph...(and also written in red marker!)

Sample Conclusion Sentence Starters for Conclusion-Writing-Beginners:

The original hypothesis was  ________________

The procedures of the lab were ____________________

The data was ___________________________

The hypothesis was found to be (true OR false?) __________________because ______________

An error that may have affected our results was _____________

At the end of the lab, I learned ______________________

As a 6th grade (and even in 7th!) science teacher, I began using "sentence starters" to guide my students to write effective conclusions.  As an end result, I have found that the students' ability to communicate what they have learned has improved dramatically.  They just needed the "frame" as the guidance to show them how to think and speak about science and then they can insert their own thoughts and ideas! 

A Teachable Moment.

Sure, Hurricane Irene is just about to tear up the east coast...but she's also a teachable moment!

Check out this lesson with worksheets and resources to track hurricane irene.



PS- Check out Megadisaster's Season I: New York City Hurricane
(Available on itunes for $1.99. So worth it. I loooove me some megadisasters. )

Clip from Megadisasters is above.  I know it is a long one, but it gives you the general idea of Megadisasters shows if you've never seen one.  Gotta admit, it is kinda eerie to see this after watching tonight's news projecting the "worst case scenario" for NYC this weekend. Let's hope Irene goes easy on us!

i survived the 2011 earthquake.

Today as I was standing in Rite Aid printing out pictures at 1:52 pm, I survived my first earthquake.  And let me tell you, Rite Aid is not where I would want to be if the real-thing happened here in New Jersey.  The floor and walls were moving, all the lights were swaying, and about 20 shampoo bottles toppled off the nearby shelf.

My first thoughts during my near-death experience?
1. I CAN'T WAIT to talk about this with my science class!
2. I wonder where the epicenter is.  I hope it wasn't under my house (It wasn't, obviously.)
3. I am NOT in an earthquake-safe structure right now.



Try a mock earthquake with your own students.

1. Download "Large Earthquake" sound effects on i-tunes.
2. Use this script to walk the students through an Earthquake drill, as done in California.
3. Then to get a little bit more dramatic, show clips from: "megadisasters: la's killer quake", which talks about worst case scenario earthquakes.