I hear from a lot of teachers that teaching rocks and minerals is booooring (I beg to differ!)
I have two blog posts for you- this one with resources to help you teach minerals and a second to help you teach rocks.

Side note: I want to point out that there are topics we all don't personally enjoy teaching  (for me, that is photosynthesis and cellular respiration). I've learned during times like these you need to fake it. If you act like you don't enjoy the content, students won't either.

Alright- here are some resources to help you teach minerals!

1. First off- what is a mineral? And what is the difference between a rock and a mineral? Here is a Youtube clip you can show your students. 

2. Want to introduce mineral crystal structure? If you have access to microscopes or hand lenses, have students observe salt in three different sizes- table salt, rock salt, and halite. Students will see that they have cubic cleavage no matter the size. This is a great lesson to do before you teach properties of minerals- let students uncover this property on their own.

3. Want to dive deeper into mineral crystal shapes? You can find FREE paper foldable mineral shapes here from Ellen McHenry's basement workshop. You could also try having students build the 3D structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows. Yum!

4. If your school pays for a Gizmo account, they have a virtual mineral identification lab. It is great but not free.

5. Another fun idea- give students some minerals and have them figure out their names using this free chart from Suburban Science. It's really easy to use (especially if they know how to read a codon chart from biology).


​6. Teaching virtually or don't have access to a mineral collection? Check out this virtual mineral box from Illinois Central College.

7. How do we use minerals (and rocks) in our every day lives? This industrial use card matching activity allows students to pair a mineral or rock with an industrial use card.




​
8. What is the difference between transparent, translucent, and opaque minerals? Here is an easy way to demonstrate the concept:

9. Interactive Diagram: This interactive diagram allows students to click and learn about properties of minerals. This is a great supplement to a lesson, or you can assign it to absent students. Following the activity there is a self-grading Google form quiz. 

10. This website has digital mining activities and a virtual mine field trip. 

Looking for lessons on rocks? Check out this blog post. 
​Rock on,

Geologic time is one of the last topics I cover in my biology class. We discuss it briefly throughout the year when we learn about ecological succession and evolution, but we don't take a deeper dive until the end of the  year. I absolutely LOVE any excuse to get out my fossil collection!

​Here is a roundup of helpful resources you can use during your geologic time unit:​

1. DINOSAUR QUARRY INVESTIGATION: Students LOVE learning about dinosaur fossils, and this virtual investigation from the Natural History Museum of Utah is sure to be a hit. Students explore a real dinosaur quarry and work through a series of investigations that will meet a TON of your learning targets. Even better is the fact that all the investigations help students practice forming evidence based conclusions (a skill they really need to work on!) 

The three investigations include:
a) What dinosaur did these bones come from? Students meet a paleontologist, explore mystery fossils, and determine the species they came from. Perfect for earth science teachers. 
b) What happened at Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry? In this portion of the investigation students will see how disruptions in an ecosystem cause shifts in a population. This particular investigation really makes students think critically and is a great place to throw in some CER (claim, evidence, and reasoning) practice. 
c) What physical features helped a dinosaur survive? This investigation is a great tie-in with your evolution and adaptation unit. Student will build a dinosaur and determine which physical features help (or inhibit) the dinosaur's survival. 

All of the investigations from Research Quest are completely free! You will need to create a teacher login, students will not- you just share a code with them. It is super user friendly and many portions are self-grading. 

2. TIMELINE PREDICTIONS: You can begin the unit with this free timeline activity. Have students make predictions on the order organisms appeared in the past and during what era. Students tend to guess things came way before they actually did. It's a great discussion starter! 

3. VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP: Have students take a virtual field trip to the Smithsonian's "deep time" exhibit. Super fun! 

4. VIDEO CLIP: This Youtube clip scales Earth's history down into the size of a football field to put things in perspective for students. 

5. INTERACTIVE DIAGRAM: If you are looking for more digital resources, check out this geologic time interactive diagram. Students will learn about events in Earth's history and what caused major mass extinctions. The activity also comes with a self-grading Google form quiz. 

6. ADDING MACHINE TAPE TIMELINE: Check out this activity from SERC where students create an adding machine tape timeline. (Don't have adding machine tape? Grab some sidewalk chalk from the dollar store and have students create it outside!) 

7. HALF LIFE DEMO: This activity uses pennies to show students the concept of half life, which they need to understand in order to learn the age of fossils. Tip: While this website uses pennies, I've also used puzzle pieces. Head to a thrift store and pick up a 1000 piece puzzle for a few dollars. If you divide them into bags of 100 you have 10 sets ready to go!) 

I hope you enjoy these activities! 
​Rock on,

I'm a big fan of using models to demonstrate science concepts. When students can visually see a concept, it makes it significantly easier to understand. For example- if you ask students about the components of the atmosphere, they tend to think oxygen is the most abundant. Here is an easy way to show them which gas is the most abundant in a very visual way! 

Legos can be used in a lot of different ways to demonstrate science concepts. You may be thinking that Legos are expensive, but that's only if you buy Lego brand or special kits. They sell off-brand Legos at Dollar Tree, and you can also find used Legos at children's stores. (You can also bug your friends with older kids to donate their old sets to your class). 

Once you have a collection of Legos to use, divvy them up into containers. Again, hit up the dollar store. Purchase enough Tupperware containers to have one kit per group (I tend to break my class into 8 groups, so I have 8 kits). Dollar tree also sells the flat Lego baseplate you can build on. I hot glued them onto the top of the Tupperware so students can build directly on the container and hopefully pieces don't get lost. They also stack easily in the cupboard this way. 

3. MIT CHEMICAL REACTIONS: MIT has created Lego chemical reaction activities that use different colored bricks for different atoms. Check out their website that has activities for photosynthesis, atmosphere, ocean acidification, and chemical reactions. These lessons are AWESOME, but the only drawback is they use very specific pieces. 
​​
4. PRECIPITATION TOWERS: This NASA website uses Legos to model weather data. (Note: This specific lesson is for younger grades, but could be modified for middle school). 

5. STOP MOTION MITOSIS: Provide students some lego "chromosomes" and have them create a stop motion video showing the process of mitosis. The more pictures the better! To turn the pictures into an animated video or gif, try apps like iMovie, stop motion studio, or videoshop. ​

6. AGE STRUCTURE DIAGRAMS: Provide students with population data and have them create a scaled age structure diagram out of Legos. 

​7. TROPHIC PYRAMIDS: Provide students with a food chain, and have them create a pyramid of numbers and a pyramid of energy or biomass for that particular food chain. A great way to visualize the different types of pyramids! ​

8. LIQUIFACTION: How do soils affect the stability of buildings during earthquakes? In this activity, students build a tower out of Legos and test the stability on different types of soil. Maybe you have some budding structural engineers in your class! 

9. PLANET SIZE AND SCALE: Provide students with data on the size of the planets in our solar system. Have them create a scaled model of the planets- a great way to sneak in some dimensional analysis! 

10. DNA REPLICATION: Check out this blog post from Science with Mrs. Lau on how she uses legos to model DNA replication! 


11. K&P ENERGY: If you have wheels and axles in your Lego tub, have students build Lego cars and measure the amount of kinetic and potential energy they have as they roll down ramps. 

I hope your students have fun building!
​Rock on,

Dendrochronology is the study of tree rings. Tree ring data can provide us information from the year they formed, including what the climate and atmospheric conditions were like. Scientists most commonly use living trees to collect data, but data can also be taken from archeological sites and even sunken ships. 

Since it's December, you may have a Christmas tree that's about to make its way to the curb. Before you dispose of it, cut off some of the trunk and slice it into "tree cookies" that your students can analyze. (Don't buy a living tree? Head to a local tree lot- they will give them to you for free). 

Here is a video clip that shows how to make your own tree cores and tree cookies, and what you can have students do with them:

If you'd like to check out the lab activities mentioned in the video, you can find them HERE. 

Pro Tip: If students are having a hard time counting rings, cover the tree cookie in saran wrap and give them an expo marker. Have them draw a dot on every 5th ring and then easily count by 5's and add them up at the end. 


Here are some other dendrochronology resources I have come across. Check them out! 

1. If you'd rather not take the time to make tree cores using straws and play doh, you can use paper cores instead. You can find the lesson here. 
2. Here is a fun simulation where students can analyze tree rings and make inferences about the climate.
3. Here is an activity from the National Park Service.
4. Here is a Sci Show video on the world's oldest tree. (Anther pro tip: We all love Hank, but he does talk awfully fast, especially for our ELL kiddos. You can slow down the speed of the YouTube clip in the settings!) 

I hope your students enjoy learning about past climate conditions through tree rings! 
​Rock on,

If you have some spare time before Christmas break and want to do something fun, first off- congrats! I always seem to be squeezing everything in before finals and barely have time to review much less throw in some fun activities. 

One fun thing you can do with your students is create science-themed holiday ornaments. Even if you have students that don't celebrate Christmas and have a tree at home, they can still make a keepsake (although it would be polite to check with them first and make sure that is something they are comfortable with).

​Here are some inexpensive ideas:

COFFEE FILTER CHROMATOGRAPHY: If you teach chemistry and cover chromatography (or biology and discuss pigments during photosynthesis) this is a fun one. Have students get a piece of filter paper, add some marker ink, and do paper chromatography. Lay the filter paper out to dry. The next day have students come in, grab some scissors, and turn them into snowflakes. Super easy and super fun. 


SILVER ORNAMENTS: If you teach chemistry, here are directions on how to make a genuine silver ornament. ​

DNA MODELS: If you are learning genetics around the holidays, have students create a model of DNA with pipe cleaners and pony beads to hang on their tree. 

BIRD SEED PINECONES: This one isn't for your indoor Christmas tree, but is perfect for birds outside! If you live around conifer trees, go pick up some free pinecones off the ground. Tie a piece of string to the top so you can hang it later. Roll the pinecone in peanut butter, and then roll it through some bird seed. Hang it outside around campus and let the birds enjoy. 

BORAX ORNAMENTS: This experiment is easy and fool-proof, which is why it's often done during elementary school. Have students bend a pipe cleaner into the shape of their choice- a heart, snowflake, snowman, etc. Then give them a beaker and fill it with around 250 mL warm water and roughly 3T borax. Stir the water until the borax is completely dissolved. Tie one end of a string to the pipe cleaner and the other end to a pencil. Lay the pencil across the top of the beaker so the ornament is hanging in the solution. Within 24 hours students will come back to find beautiful crystals on their pipe cleaner. 

SHRINKY DINK ORNAMENTS: While you can buy shrinky dink plastic, it's free if you collect it through the year. Any plastic with a #6 on it will shrink up when baked (often found on take-out containers). Provide students a piece of plastic and some sharpie markers. Allow them to add their design (you can have requirements that it needs to be cell themed, ecology themed, etc.) and cut them out. Use a hole puncher to add a place for string to be inserted later for hanging. Place them on a piece of parchment paper and bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-3 minutes. (Note: If you see them start to curl up, don't panic. They will uncurl). Once they have flattened out and shrunk to about 1/3 their original size, remove them from the oven. 

ATOMIC MODELS: A fellow science teacher on Facebook, Heidi Rushing, shared these atomic models she had her students make and they turned out amazing! Provide students with a clear ornament and assign them an element (or you can allow them to choose). Use pony beads to represent protons, neutrons, and electrons. Have students figure out the number of sub-atomic particles for the given element and place them in the correct location. Electron beads can be slid onto pipe cleaners representing the different orbitals. 

SALT DOH: You can easily make salt doh using flour, salt, and water. (You can find a recipe here). Again, you can choose to assign a theme or just let them get creative. Once hardened, provide students with glitter or paint to decorate them, and a ribbon for hanging. 

I hope you have fun celebrating the holiday season with your students! If you are looking for more non-ornament holiday ideas, check this blog post. 
Rock on,

Teaching the cell theory? If you just throw a bunch of names at your students, chances are they aren't going to remember them. How can you make this topic more interesting?

I like having students actually SEE what these scientists discovered (yes, you will need microscopes). In this cell theory microscope activity students will observe cork cells like Hooke, pond water like Van Leeuwenhoek, plant cells like Schleiden... you get the idea. 

For this lab you will need the following:

• A minimum of 5 compound microscopes.
• Prepared slide of cork, or make your own. (Tip: if you are making your own, make sure to shave off a VERY THIN slice). 
• Prepared slide of animal cells (any type), or make your own wet mount of cheek cells.
• Prepared slide of plant cells (any type), or make your own wet mount with elodea or onion skin.
• Prepared slide of cells undergoing mitosis, or make your own wet mount with onion root tips.
• Pond water sample, or make your own by using a hay infusion method.

To carry out this activity, you have two options depending on the materials you have available. 
OPTION 1: Have students travel around the room 
This option is for teachers that have limited materials (ie: you don't have a class set of microscopes or time to make a ton of wet mount slides). Prior to students entering the room, you will need to set up 5 stations around the room, one for each scientist. When students begin the activity they will be assigned a station to begin at, so only a few students will start at Hooke. If you have the microscopes already set up and pre-focused, students won't need a ton of time at each station. All they will have to do is observe and complete their drawing before rotating to the next station. 

OPTION 2: Have students stay in their seats and work through the scientists chronologically 
For this option you will need a class set of microscopes and slides. This option is ideal because students get to start at Hooke and work their way through. Students will first view cork cells (Hooke), pond water (Van Leeuwenhoek), plant cells (Schleiden), animal cells (Schwann), and dividing cells (Virchow). If your students know how to make wet mounts, this option is a breeze to set up since they will do most of the work for you. Students will observe the slides under the microscope, make drawings of what they see, and write down observations about each cell type. 

While this lab can take a bit of prep work, it is WAY more engaging than simply having students take notes on each scientist. YOU CAN FIND THE LAB ACTIVITY HERE. 

Following the activity you can show students this Youtube clip titled "The Wacky History of the Cell Theory." It's a fun one. If you follow up this lesson with the topic of "why are cells so small?" you might want to check out this lab. 

Hope your students enjoy! Rock on,

1. When I introduce the topic of cellular respiration, I usually use bromothymol blue as a demo. Fill a beaker with roughly 150mL of water and 2mL of bromothymol blue. Discuss with students that bromothymol blue is a pH indicator and will change from blue to green as the solution becomes more acidic. 
Call up a volunteer to blow through a straw into the beaker. Time how long it takes to change from blue to green. Then repeat the experiment, but before allowing them to blow into the straw, have the student do some jumping jacks, pushups, or something to get their heart going. Ask the class- do you think it will take more time or less time for the color to change from blue to green? Why? 

2. If you have access to some aquatic plants and bromothymol blue, this carbon cycle lab is fun with easy set-up. Students place some aquatic plants (elodea works great, but any aquatic plant will work) in test tubes and fill with water and bromothymol blue, which is a pH indicator. Placed in the light, the plants will produce oxygen and students will see the color change from green to blue in one test tube. If the test tubes are wrapped in tin foil to block any light, the plants will only do respiration and the color will change from blue to green in one vial. If you'd like to read more about how I set up this lab, head to this blog post. ​

3. Here is a free "barf bag" activity from Suburban Science. Students mix cereal, yeast, and water in a ziploc bag and observe the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the bag. 

4. Similarly, here is a "sourdough starter" respiration activity. This is a great tie-in with food science! 

5. Speaking of food science, this lab has students make root beer while learning about cellular respiration. 

6. This interactive diagram has clickable slides for both photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Students can click on each step and learn about what occurs, as well as watch video clips and try out some interactive websites. Also included is a google form self-grading quiz students can take following the activity. You can find it here. 

7. Do you have access to probeware? If so, you can have students measure the rate of respiration in different organisms. You can purchase crickets inexpensively and have students measure the respiration rate in a cold water bath vs warm water bath. If you would prefer to not use invertebrates you can use germinated peas or beans. Here is a lab worksheet you can use. 

8. This station activity was created with the intent to give students an opportunity to understand and apply big picture respiration concepts, not memorize biochemistry steps. Stations include things like observing yeast cells undergoing respiration, reading about the 1980's Tylenol killer, and comparing the respiration rate of crickets in warm and cold temperatures. High interest and low prep! You can find it in my TpT store here. 

9. In this virtual lab activity from Biology Corner, students measure the impact of temperature on the rate of respiration in a goldfish. 



10. ​Here is another virtual lab activity you might want to check out that uses yeast. 

11. If you want something students can glue into an interactive notebook, you might be interested in this respiration flip book. Students cut out the 6 flaps, staple them together, and identify the major components of glycolysis, krebs cycle, and electron transport chain. ​

I hope one (or two) of those resources are helpful for you!
Looking for photosynthesis resources? Head over to this blog post!

​Rock on,

1. You've probably seen this spinach disc lab floating around the internet. It is fun and produces good data... when students set it up correctly. You can find a summary of the lab with pictures here. 

It can be difficult for them to get all the spinach discs to sink in the syringe. Sometimes after students finally get them to sink, they get terrible data (and often times the discs won't rise at all). Tip: ​I tell students if they don't get the discs to sink after 3 tries, dump them and start over with new discs. 

2. If you have access to some aquatic plants and bromothymol blue, this carbon cycle lab is fun with easy set-up. Students place some aquatic plants (elodea works great, but any aquatic plant will work) in test tubes and fill with water and bromothymol blue, which is a pH indicator. Placed in the light, the plants will produce oxygen and students will see the color change from green to blue in one test tube. If the test tubes are wrapped in tin foil to block any light, the plants will only do respiration and the color will change from blue to green in one vial. If you'd like to read more about how I set up this lab, head to this blog post. 

3. Similar to the lab above- algae beads are a great option. As you place the algae beads with a pH indicator under a light source, students will see a color change as carbon dioxide is converted to oxygen. While you can make your own, it is easier to just order them. The kit pictured is from Wards. 

​4. Here is a photosynthesis relay race activity that can be downloaded for free from Ellen McHenry's site. 

5. This interactive diagram has clickable slides for both photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Students can click on each step and learn about what occurs, as well as watch video clips and try out some interactive websites. Also included is a google form self-grading quiz students can take following the activity. You can find it here. 

6. This station activity was created with the intent to give students an opportunity to understand and apply big picture photosynthesis concepts, not memorize biochemistry steps. Stations include things like observing stomata under the microscope, learning about why leaves change color in the fall, and learning about some animals that are able to photosynthesize. High interest and low prep! You can find it in my TpT store here. 

7. Here is a virtual (non-flash!) lab that students can complete. They are able to change the light intensity, light distance, and  light color to see the impact on the rate of photosynthesis. 

8. Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue wavelengths really well, and does no absorb green (which is why it appears green). In this "bloody chlorophyll" demo, students can see how chlorophyll appears red under a black light. Check out a video here, and an explanation of how it works here. 

9. Want to try some fall leaf chromatography? Here is a site that includes lab directions. 

10. Want students to see what stomata look like under the microscope? Head to this blog post to learn how! 

11. This photosynthesis modeling activity from Cal Academy uses ping pong balls and egg cartons. While it takes a while to set up, it helps students visualize how molecules move through the processes of photosynthesis (and respiration). 

12. If you want something students can glue into an interactive notebook, you might be interested in this photosynthesis flip book. Students cut out the 6 flaps, staple them together, and identify the major components of the light dependent and light independent reactions. 

I hope one (or two!) of those activities help you with this tough topic!
Looking for cellular respiration resources? Head to this blog post.

​Rock on,

Moon phases. Some students catch on right away, while others seem to NEVER get it. (Heck, sometimes I even second guess myself). You've tried worksheets, the flashlight and styrofoam ball demo, video clips, and it still isn't sinking in. 

Here is something new you can try: make a moon phase poster they can stick their head in, spin around as the Earth would, and PHYSICALLY SEE what the phases look like from each point of view. So many "ah-ha!" moments with this one! 

How to assemble:
1. Begin by tracing a large circle in the center of the foam board. Flip a small trash can over or a large mixing bowl. Cut out the hole with a pocket knife so you have a large round hole in the center. (Tip: the bigger the hole, the better. Your students will be sticking their head through here eventually, and you don't want their eyes to be right up next to the ping pong balls). 
2. Grab 8 white ping pong balls and color or paint exactly half of the ball black. These will represent the moon. 
3. Glue the "moon" balls around the circular hole to represent its orbit. Make sure the white sides of the balls are all facing the same end of the board, where sunlight would be shining from. 
4. Optional: Glue on a yellow or orange ping pong ball to represent the sun. This will need to be on the side of the board where the white sides of the moon balls are facing. If you don't have another ball to use, you can draw in big arrows with a silver sharpie to represent the direction of the Sun's rays. 

Time to play!
Have students stick their head into the hole. As they turn the board slowly, they will notice the white (visible)  part of the moon changes. Below are some images of what students would see:

All in all this board cost me around $6 to make and will last for many years. I think it is really worth the investment! 

​Rock on,

Hi! If you've been following for a while, you might have noticed I have A LOT of blog posts and it can get difficult to find what you need. I compiled a complete list of blog posts broken down by content that I will keep updated. You can refer back to it at the top of the categories on the right hand side of the page. I hope this saves you some time and avoidance of the endless scroll!

LIFE SCIENCE
Intro to Biology / Characteristics of Life
· Teaching the characteristics of life
· Scientific method labs for biology teachers
· How to set up a bacterial culture lab

Ecology
· Supplemental materials for The Serengeti Rules
· Ecology Population Growth resources
· Teaching resources for the biogeochemical cycles
· Keystone species and trophic cascades
- Human impact on ecosystems
· Invasive species teaching resources
· Video clips for teaching symbiosis
· Everything you need to teach food chains
· Resources for teaching ecological succession
- Owl pellet dissection tips
- Biomes teaching resources
​
Biochemistry
· Macromolecules- making biochemistry fun again

Cells
· How to view stomata under the microscope
· Carbon cycle lab- photosynthesis and respiration
· Cellular organelles working together
· Cell size lab: examining surface area to volume ratios
· Transforming your microscope unit from good to great
· Microscope alternatives
· A better way to teach cell division
· 10 resources for teaching cell membranes
· Why we should STOP teaching the nucleus is the control center of the cell
· Setting up a hay infusion for your microscope unit
· How to use an onion for your osmosis lab
· Animal hair microscope slides
- Photosynthesis resources
- Cellular respiration resources
- Homeostasis teaching resources
- Cell theory microscope lab 

Genetics
· Protein synthesis blueprint activity
· Teaching protein synthesis just got easier
· Karyotype station activities
· GMO and CRISPR teaching resources
· Blood type pedigree lab
​- Codon bingo
- Epigenetics teaching resources

Evolution & Classification 
· Not sold on evolution? Let me explain what the term means…
· Human evolution teaching resources
· Resources for teaching cladograms
· Build your own candy cladogram
· Teaching natural selection and evolution
- Dichotomous key resources


EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE
Atmosphere
· Atmosphere model in a bottle
· Air pollution experiment
- Dendrochronology lesson plans

Hydrosphere
· Water cycle resources for secondary grades
· Teaching climate change with ice cores
- How to build an aquifer model
- Ocean acidification lab

Astronomy
· My 3 days at NASA
- How to build a 3D constellation
- Moon phase poster

Geosphere
· Rock and fossil classification labs
· Urban heat islands
· A case study of lake Nyos
- Plate tectonics activities
- Hot spot island formation
- Fossil lesson plans
- Rock cycle activities


PHYSICAL SCIENCE
· Introducing diffusion with smelly balloons
· States of matter and phase changes
· Polarity and electronegativity teaching resources
· Lab ideas for teaching density
· Physics lab- build a parachute
· Pendulum lab
· Motion graphing made easy with Pasco
· Metric system teaching hack
· Teaching pH in a snap
- Conservation of mass experiments
- Periodic table bingo
- Periodic table teaching resources

LITERACY and ASSESSMENT
· Teaching vocabulary without the worksheet
· 4 reasons you should be using exit tickets
· Increasing science literacy with writing prompts
· The dog days of April testing…
· Hey ELL teacher, you matter!
· Recommended summer science reads
· 10 tips for teaching ELLs in the science classroom
· Why I believe in Cornell notes
· Crazy for card sorts
· Puzzles and games in the science classroom
· Where to find free science articles
· Practice writing procedures
- Digital choice boards
- Activities you can use for bellwork
- Alternative forms of assessment 
- Graphing practice
- Metric system teaching resources

PBL
· PBL 1: Project based learning- what is it?
· PBL 2: Getting started on a project
· PBL 3: The product and student led inquiry
· PBL 4: Beyond the classroom
· 10 tips for effective group work
· Tips for making and using rubrics
· Teaching students to give effective peer feedback
· Guest Speakers Part 1: Why you should utilize guest speakers and where to find them
- Guest Speakers Part 2: What to do during, before, and after the presentation

SEASONAL / BACK TO SCHOOL
· End of the school year ideas for secondary science
· March madness- science edition
· Christmas Holiday science activities
- Science themed holiday ornaments 
· Show your coworkers some love! Teacher appreciation day
· Must-Do end of the school year tasks to save yourself time
· Halloween science ideas
- Glow stick science
- Glow in the dark science experiments
· April Fools jokes for the science classroom
· Summer science activities
· Valentine’s day science ideas
· Earth day science resources
- Thanksgiving and fall science resources
- Interactive bulletin boards
· Scientific speed dating


GENERAL SCIENCE TEACHING TIPS
· Citizen science projects
· Increase student engagement with whiteboards
· Finding a teacher mentor
· How to handle lab absences and make ups
· Class finished 5 minutes early… now what?
· Why I don’t teach lab safety the first week of school… and other back to school science teacher tips
· Secondary science extra credit opportunities that are actually worthwhile
· Train your students so your classroom runs like a well oiled machine
· Increasing parent teacher communication in a secondary classroom
· Thinking like a scientist: Using CER
· 5 tips to quickly learn student names
· Why I let students use notes on tests
· Accommodating for both high and low level learners
· Please, just give the kid a pencil
· 10 tips for teaching in the inner city
· Tips for a first year science teacher
· How to get students to ask for help when they need it
· Students shutting down? 3 teacher behaviors you need to stop doing
· Building a caring classroom culture
· Classroom décor on a budget
- Brain breaks for secondary students
- Ideas for early finishers
- Low prep sub plans
- Student voice and choice
- 20 must-have lab supplies for science
​- Student prize ideas

TECHNOLOGY
· Virtual field trips
· 5 low prep ideas for distance learning
· Utilizing live stream webcams
· Video clips for CER practice
· Great movies for the science classroom
· STEM- Making animated videos
· Using infographics for assessment
· Secondary science virtual labs
· Tips for building relationships virtually
- Science podcasts for teens
- Tech tools to support ELL students
- Interactive diagrams

MISCELLANEOUS
· Making class fun again… reflections after 10 years of teaching
· Twitter science bulletin board
· Free science posters
· Comparing the amount of carbonation in different brands of soda- an inquiry lab
· Consumer science experiments
- Forensics- How to grow maggots for an entomology lab
- Science experiments with 2 liter bottles
- National park teaching resources