Classification: A "Handy" Guide to the Kingdoms

This one falls into the category of "I wish I thought of that" - such a clever way to help your students remember the kingdoms. 

The original article appeared in the February 2007 NSTA Science Scope journal. 

I can't really do the article justice, so you'll probably best be served to read it yourself, but I'll try to sum up:

Students trace their left on hand on their paper. 

If you have a green thumb, you're good with PLANTS

When you hold up your index finger while at a sporting event, you're saying ""We're number one".  Make the connection between one and mono and MONERA (bacteria).  (You'll have to combine the two kingdoms of bacteria into the one finger).

Pinky is for PROTISTS.  A small finger for small organisms.  The pinky has three segments, and there are three types of protists. 

The ring finger - if you don't wear a ring, you're not married, so you must be a fun guy.... a FUNGI (...pause for a collective groan...)

And finally, the finger the students have all be waiting for, curious to see how you're going to handle it.... Hold up your whole hand - which finger is the largest?  So that finger will be used for the kingdom with the largest variety of organisms and the largest individual organisms - the ANIMAL kingdom.  And if said finger is used inappropriately, it's called 'the bird'....

Constellation Viewer

These constellation viewers are pretty simple to make, once you've gathered your supplies.  You'll need a Pringles can for each viewer you want to make (ideally, one for each student).  I haven't found any good substitutions for this, but let me know if you do.  Put the word out early that you're collecting the cans, and you'll probably make out just fine.

Use a large nail to punch a hole in the bottom of the can.

 Cut out circles of black paper (and if you don't have any black paper, use another dark color, like blue).  The circles should be the size of the can.

Place a diagram of the constellation you want on top of one of the circles and use a nail to poke a hole at each star.  Some nice diagrams (the same size as the circles you're using) are found here. 

After all the star holes  have been poked, place the paper in the can lid.

Then place the lid on the can (or the can on the lid, which may be easier, as pictured below), sandwiching the paper inside. 

Hold the can up to the light and look through the hole in the bottom of the can to view your constellation.  (Wish I could get a picture of what it looks like, but you'll just have to make one yourself).

You may want to write the name of each constellation on the back of the paper - that way you'll be able to see the name through the lid while it's inside:

Also, unless you're well-versed in constellations, you may want to draw in the lines of the constellation to help you identify what you're looking at.

Graphing: Class Data

A day or two before you want to have the students create the graphs, have the students complete a questionnaire.  Here are the questions I've asked (it provided me with enough data for groups of students in 3 classes):

• In which month were you born?
• How many siblings do you have?
• What's your favorite color?
• Whats your favorite food?
• What's your favorite TV show?
• What's your favorite movie?
• What's your favorite book?
• What's your favorite subject/class?
• What's your favorite sport?
• What's your favorite outdoor winter activity?
• What's your favorite outdoor summer activity?
• What's your favorite season?
• What's your favorite restaurant?
• Who's your favorite musician/band?
• What's your least favorite vegetable?
• What color are your eyes?
• In which state were you born?
• How do you get to school?
• What's your zodiac sign?
• What pets do you have?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?

 

 

Cut the responses apart and put them in groups.

 

Divide students into groups and provide each group with one set of data. 

 

Students sort data and decide on an appropriate way to graph it.

 

Some of the data sets will require more work than others.  Some of it will need to be put into groups before it can be graphed.  For example, you will probably get a large variety of responses for "What is your favorite restaurant?", so the students may need to graph types of restaurants (i.e. Italian, Chinese, fast food, etc.) rather than specific restaurant names.  On the other hand, "What's your favorite season?" is pretty straight forward and easy to graph. 

Website: ide@s

ide@s is a collection of classroom tested lessons, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Extension and the University of Wisconsin System.  You can search for lessons in all curriculum areas, which will interest those of you who teach more than just science. 

For the purposes of this blog (and my own interests), I'll direct you to Science CAP portion.  I haven't counted, but the site claims (and I have no reason to doubt it) over 2000 pages of activities, assessments and resources for teaching middle school science.  Like most things, many of these activities can be adapted up or down to meet students in other grade levels.  In a week or so, I'll provide you with more details about one of the activities from this collection that I've successfully used. 

A few more interesting things about ide@s...

If you currently teach in Wisconsin (any grade, pre-K through 12), you can apply to be part of the ide@s research team. As part of the team, you will test 2 resources per month in your classroom and then provide feedback on the resrouces' effectiveness.  I do not have any first-hand experience with this program, but I think it could be interesting to look into.  For me, it would probably depend upon how extensive the feedback process was and how much time was required to complete it. 

ide@s also offers a nice collection of copyright-free digital images for educators to use for free within their classroom.

Several resources in one place - you can't go wrong with that!

This post is linked up with:

Atoms/Periodic Table: Bingo

Have students fill in a blank bingo card with any numbers between 1 and 50.

You can make up your own clues involving elements' atomic numbers, protons, electrons, and neutrons, or you can use mine:

1 - # of protons in Hydrogen
2 - # of neutrons in Helium
3 - # of electrons in Lithium
4 - # of neutrons in Lithium
5 - # of protons in Boron
6 - atomic number of carbon
7 - # of neutrons in Nitrogen
8 - # of electrons in Oxygen
9 - atomic mass of Beryllium
10 - # of protons in Neon
11 - atomic number of sodium
12 - atomic mass of Magnesium
13 - # of in Aluminum
14 - # of protons + # of neutrons in Nitrogen
15 - # of protons in Phosphorous
16 - # of protons in Sulfur
17 - # of electrons in Chlorine
18 - # of neutrons in Chlorine
19 - # of protons + # of neutrons in Fluorine
20 - # of neutrons in Potassium
21 - atomic number of Scandium
22 - # of protons in Titanium
23 - # of protons + # of neutrons in Sodium
24 - atomic mass of Magnesium
25 - # of electrons in Manganese
26 - # of neutrons in Titanium
27 - atomic number of Cobalt
28 - # of protons + # of neutrons in Silicon
29 - # of protons in Copper
30 - # of protons in Zinc
31 - # of electrons in Gallium
32 - atomic number of Germanium
33 - atomic number of Arsenic
34 - # of protons in Selenium
35 - # of neutrons in Zinc
36 - # of electrons in Krypton
37 - atomic number of Rubidium
38 - atomic number of Strontium
39 - # of protons in Yttrium
40 - atomic mass of Argon
41 - # of electrons in Niobium
42 - # of neutrons in Arsenic
43 - atomic number of Technetium
44 - # of protons in Ruthenium
45 - atomic mass of Scandium
46 - # of  electrons in Palladium
47 - # of electrons in Silver
48 - # of protons + # of neutrons in Titanium
49 - atomic number of Indium
50 - # of protons in Tin
I recommend making up a list ahead of time, to make sure you don't use the same number over and over while completely skipping others.

I wrote my clues on index cards.  Then, for each round I shuffle the deck and draw the cards from the top.

Adaptations: Bird Beaks - Version 2

Sorry, I didn't get all the materials together to take pictures to adorn this post, but I promised it was forthcoming and wanted to share before too much time had passed.  

This version of the bird beak activity has 6 stations.  At each station, students will use 3 different beaks/tools to collect the food featured at that station.  The goal is to determine which beak is the best matched to the food source.   (For a simpler version of this activity, see here). 

Students will try each beak for 15 seconds.  The collected food will be placed in a cup, and then returned to the supply.

Station 1:
Nectar: water in a graduated cylinder
Tools:
--Clothespin
--Medicine dropper
--Pipette

Station 2:
Worms: gummy worms in sand
Tools:
--Straw
--Chopsticks
--Clothespin

Station 3:
Seeds and Nuts: sunflower seeds, etc.
Tools:
--Chopsticks
--Tweezers
--Pliers

Station 4:
Aquatic Plant Life: aquarium plant in water
Tools:
--Pliers
--Tweezers
--Pipette

Station 5:
Insects: rice stuck into a styrofoam log
Tools:
--Tweezers
--Chopsticks
--Pliers

Station 6:
Fish & Water Animals: beads & plastic fish in water
Tools:
--Tongs
--Tweezers
--Chopsticks

Plate Tectonics: Candy Bar Faults

The fastest way to get your students' attention is to break out the candy!

You'll want to use candy bars that have a pliable inside and are coated in chocolate - think Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers.  The chocolate represents the Earth's crust and the filling represents the asthenosphere.

Use your fingernails to break up the chocolate crust - creating the fault.

Demonstrate tension by pulling (slowly and only a small amount) on the two ends of the candy bar.  Notice how some of the asthenosphere is revealed.

To demonstrate shearing (strike-slip faults), push the two sides of the candy bar back together.  Then slide one half forward while pushing the other one back.

Finally, to demonstrate compression forces, push the two ends of the candy bar together.  You'll see the pieces of chocolate crust colliding and maybe even sliding over each other, creating mountains.