Welcome back! It's always a bit sad to see summer coming to and end, but I hope that it's balanced with that flutter of excitement about the new year with a fresh start and eagerness to try all the new ideas and resources you've been storing up for the new school year.
It's funny how we always think that no matter how well a unit or lesson went last year, there's gotta be a way to make it even better! We just can't pass up a new idea that we recognize as something our students will love and will learn from. I've been busy this summer creating and uploading some new resources for you, that I hope will give you that moment of recognition that "this is good". Here are a few of them:
This is the latest in my biomes series. Like the others, it contains reading passages about the biome itself and about an iconic animal of the biome. In this case -the timber wolf. It also includes questions with a unique twist - the "answer sheet" is a color-by-number picture of a timber wolf! Students LOVE and stay engaged with learning when you give them a fun way to demonstrate their understanding!Temperate Forest Biome Reading, Mapping, and Color-By-Number
Would you like to create your own color-by-number worksheet for a different unit? Maybe you have a great idea for using the wolf for an endangered species unit. Or perhaps you have an idea for using it with a populations lesson. You can get an editable wolf to create your own color by number activity. Just click HERE to see the editable color by number wolf product. Or see my entire collection of color-by-number products HERE
Another recent addition to my store is this Atomic Structure Flip Book. Each page provides a short explanation of one of these topics:
1. Parts of an atom
2. Atomic Number
3. Atomic Mass
4. Electron Shells
5. Ions and Isotopes
Each page also has a question or two for students to answer. It can be stapled as a flip book, or each tabbed page can be used for bell work or a quick end of lesson assessment. And it goes really well with the companion product Atomic Structure Task Cards
You could get ALL of these new products (or any others you prefer) FREE by winning my $25 Rafflecopter Giveaway. Look below for details.
Entering is easy! To enter my giveaway, just choose one of these options:
1. Leave a comment on my blog about what you think is the toughest concept for your students to understand, or for you to teach.
2. Follow me on Pinterest
3. Follow my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.
You could also get a chance to win $100 worth of science teaching resources. To kick off this new school year, I've joined with some other Teachers Pay Teachers science teacher/sellers to hold Rafflecopter contests. After you enter my Rafflecopter giveaway, go to each blog pictured at the bottom of this post and enter their individual Rafflecopter giveaways. That makes 13 MORE chances to win individual TpT gift cards.
In addition to our individual giveaways, we put together one HUGE blog hop giveaway, just for science teachers teaching grades 6-12 science: Four $100 Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards!
Here's how to enter the $100 giveaway: Each blog post has a secret code word and a number. My clue word is Neil. Is it astronaut Neil Armstrong? Physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson? Or maybe biologist Neil Hammerschlag? - keep collecting clue words and find out! Collect the words from each blog, write them down in number order, and copy the secret sentence into the joint Rafflecopter giveaway. My clue word (Neil) is #14 in the sentence. This Rafflecopter form is the same on every blog, so you only need to enter once from any one of our blogs!
Get started!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Terms and Conditions:
“Giveaway ends August 12th 2016 at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Residents of the US and Canada only. Winners will be selected at random and be notified by email. Winners have 48 hours to confirm their email addresses and respond before a new winner is selected. The gift card offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram are in no way associated with this giveaway. I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.”
My students always have a tough time differentiating between physical changes and chemical changes.
ReplyDeleteYes! And they don't always understand that both physical and chemical changes can be happening at the same time.
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ReplyDeleteSince I teach special education, many science topics are difficult for my kiddos to grasp, so we do tons of hands-on activities & experiments.
ReplyDeleteI so admire SPED teachers who have to also teach science. To be honest, I don't know how you do it. But I hope you'll find some useful resources in my store. In particular you might want to check out my Cell Organelles Reading and Task Cards resource. It's written specifically for struggling readers in secondary grades.
DeleteMy students have a hard time understanding covalent bonding.
ReplyDeleteWell Bond with James can help you with that! He has great task card sets. When you get to his blog during the giveaway, take a minute to go check out his Teachers Pay Teachers store.
DeleteIn New Zealand we teach EVERYTHING and special needs students are completely integrated. So differentiating everything is hard! Most particularly are abstract concepts we can't test in class.
DeleteWaves is the toughest for the kids to get!
ReplyDeleteChemical Equilibrium!
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that (at least in middle school) some of what they have learned in math actually interferes with understanding balancing equations. They just want to add numbers to one side of the equilibrium (i.e. invent atoms and molecules out of thin air). I address that issue in my Introduction to Chemical Equations PowerPoint resource. Check it out in my store. And keep an eye out here because I'm in the middle of writing a blog post about using craft store beads to help teach balancing equations. Works like a charm!
ReplyDeleteMy students usually struggles with AP Biochemistry.
ReplyDeleteMy students have difficulty with stoichiometry; I have difficulty making it interesting or fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're going from blog to blog for the giveaway, take a minute and check out the stores of Science With Mrs. Lau and Amy Brown Science. Both of those folks have some great engaging stoich resources. I'll come back later with some more suggestions.
DeleteAlso take a look at MsRazz ChemClass. You can just click on her store button at the bottom of the post to see what she's got that might help.
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DeleteYour blog is really coming along, and I love your product covers!! Sorry we missed each other at the conference this summer.... hopefully next year!
ReplyDeleteI hope so! I really would have loved to be there, but it was just in the realm of possibilities this year. Thanks for all your support!
DeleteThe most difficult topic for me to teach would be electricity and magnetism. I still struggle with understanding the concept well myself. For chemistry, the topic my students struggle with would be stoichiometry. I am always trying to find more ways to make it more friendly to my students along with relevant.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Brosseau's Binder has domino games you might want to take a look at. Just click on her icon at the bottom of this blog post.
DeleteElectricity and magnetism
ReplyDeleteCheck out Nitty Gritty Science - (just click on the button at the bottom of the blog post). She a lot of magnetism and electricity resources.
DeleteOur entire district has trouble every year on the FCAT with Classification (Taxonomy).
ReplyDeleteOh, I can help with that! Check out my Classification Bundle. It's got activities, PowerPoints, etc. and the most fun activity for introducing Dichotomous Keys you'll ever do with kids. They will BEG you to do it again and again and again. Also, check out this FREEBIE from Science with Mrs. Lau for teaching how to make a dichotomous key with dollar store animals: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classification-Make-a-Dichotomous-Key-using-Dollar-Store-Animals-248625
DeleteMy students struggle with genetics.
ReplyDeleteI love genetics! And so do Mrs. Lau from Science with Mrs. Lau and Amy Brown from Amy Brown Science. My all time favorite genetics activity - which really helps kids understand how four DNA bases can create such amazing diversity of life- is titled simply Genetic Diversity. If you enter my store giveaway, take a minute to check it out at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/DNA-Simulation-Genetic-Diversity-573284 Maybe you'll win the giveaway and get it for free! Also do check Science with Mrs. Lau and Amy Brown Science for lots more genetics resources.
DeleteAlso take a look at Biology Roots. She has a GREAT hands-on activities bundle for DNA. Very engaging stuff!
DeleteAs a new science teacher physics concepts are a little intimidating to me.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. Physics is the hardest thing for me too. Not only intimidating, but hard to find fun ways to teach it. You really should take a minute to look at the physics 5E station labs in Kesler Science. He's really got a lot of great middle school (and intro high school) physics resources. They'll make things so much easier! Also, if you teach high school, take a look at Mrs Brosseau's Binder. She's a high school AP chem and physics teacher with a ton of great physics stuff in her store.
DeleteMy students have a tough time with the genetics unit.
ReplyDeleteMy students have trouble with balancing equations.
ReplyDeleteMine too. I'm not sure if it's a developmental thing or just a complex concept. Watch for a blog post coming up. I'm writing about using craft store beads as manipulatives when teaching about chemical equations. You might also find my Introduction to Balancing Chemical Equations resource to be helpful. I've addressed a lot of the misconceptions that seem to plague my own students when learning to balance equations. I think it's important to have an intermediate step being hands-on models and all-in-your-head practice. The PowerPoint provides that intermediate step.
DeleteThey always get mitosis and meiosis mixed up.
ReplyDeleteI teach them that miTosis is what happens in your TOE. :)
DeleteThat seems to help them remember!
My 7th grade students find Newton's Laws confusing
ReplyDeleteYou really need to check out this Kesler Science bundle: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Newtons-Laws-Station-Lab-Bundle-Kesler-Science-Station-Labs-1492630 (Newton's Laws Station Lab Bundle) He (Kesler) really does a great job with physics for middle school. And hey, if you win one of his individual Rafflecopter giveaways, you could have it for free!
DeleteMy seventh grade students struggle with balancing chemical equations.
ReplyDeleteI'll be writing a blog post about this pretty soon. It took me years to get to the bottom of why this is so hard for 7th graders, but I think I finally did and I'll be writing about how to help them "get it".
DeleteMy students struggle with transcription and translation.
ReplyDeleteOh, you have got to go check out the FREE product for this topic in Biology Roots' store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Protein-Synthesis-Translation-Practice-Using-Jokes-2117174
DeleteIt's both hilarious and effective!
Balancing equations - 8th grade
ReplyDeleteHaving students remember the different types of variables in an experiment--7th grade
ReplyDeleteI know you started doing some drawings and clip art a long time ago, but I didn't know how far you had come. Those are amazing!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I really do love drawing and especially realistic images that are useful for science in the secondary grades. You know middle schoolers like I do... They don't like their work to look like it's for little kids! They need accurate but visually attractive images so that's what I'm working to provide - and loving every minute of it!
DeleteA tough topic related to chemical bonding is electronegativity. It's a tough concept for kids to grasp, but when they do, it's pretty fun to talk about polar, non polar and ionic bonds.
ReplyDeleteI am new to 8th grade this year moving from 2nd. Not sure yet!
ReplyDeleteWOW! That's a big change! I hope the middle school bunch on Teachers Pay Teachers can help you out! Between us we cover everything from physics to earth science, chem, and bio. At least half of the teacher/authors participating in this giveaway are middle school folks so take your time and look around in our stores and if you have any questions about who might have something specific you're looking for, just post a question in any of our store Q/As and we'll point you in the right direction to find what you need! Good luck! Oh - and P.S. - Interactive Notebooks are your friend. Nitty Gritty Science is the INB Goddess but all of us have products especially designed for INBs so that's certainly something to look into!
DeleteThat there are more than 3 states of matter!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and more than three ways to go between them. That's one of those "unteaching" moments in 7th grade!
DeleteI have such a hard time getting my students to understand the metric system!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we ever will, really, until they start using metrics in our everyday lives. Kids all "get" 2 liter bottles. Now if we could just get the U.S. to join the civilized world for the rest of the metric system, it would be so much easier!
DeleteThe 7th graders really struggle with remembering Cells, Organelles, and mitosis & meiosis.
ReplyDeletePhotosynthesis is difficult for 7th graders!
ReplyDeleteMy students struggle with naming compounds.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest things is the scope of geologic time and how that has allowed both the landscapes to change with plate tectonics and the evolution/diversification of organisms to occur.
ReplyDeleteI agree! They have such a hard time understanding what a short period of time human history has been compared to geologic time!
DeleteFor me it would have to be the Mole concept. For some reason they just don't easily grasp the fact that it is a number not a measurement...
ReplyDeleteMy students always seem to have trouble with ocean currents.
ReplyDeleteMine seem to struggle with graphing distance vs time and speed vs time. Taxonomy can also be challenging.
ReplyDeleteI love your clipart! Thanks for joining in on the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteWaves for 6th grade students.
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental Chemistry for 9th grade
ReplyDeleteI am always searching for something new.Loved your site.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! It means a lot to me to hear that.
DeleteI think differentiating between the different types of epithelial cells is difficult!
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience, Diversity of Living Things is the unit that is most difficult to make exciting for the kids.
ReplyDeleteI'm Special Ed, so we do a lot of hands on, but most topics can be hard for them. We like roller coasters and solar ovens.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Jill! You are always so helpful to teachers near and far. I love your color by number resources. :)
ReplyDeleteForce and Motion! We teach on a rotating schedule and end up teaching to students who have not yet had algebra.
ReplyDeleteMy kiddos struggle with different types of cellular transport and tonicity.
ReplyDeleteMy kids have such issues with stoichiometry!
ReplyDeleteI teach 7th grade special ed. We're doing Earth and Space science this year, and students always have a time understanding geologic time!
ReplyDeleteI have a tough time teaching evolution because of the community I teach in and the many misconceptions they come in with. Cladograms are also tough and a big part of our state tests.
ReplyDeleteCovalent vs ionic bonding seems more difficult than I think it should be.
ReplyDeleteI teach Biology, Physics and Algebra 1 to English Language Learners and I am looking for resources on integrating ELA skills into the content area.
ReplyDeleteI teach 7th and 8th grade science and genetics has been the most difficult concept to teach for me in the last 3 years.
ReplyDeleteEvolution is the most difficult unit because a lot of the high school students have preconceived notions about it, some have strong feelings already, and some are against even trying to learn it.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with teaching physics
ReplyDeleteWe home school and every year is new to me. I love science and it is the most difficult subject for me to feel like we are doing quality science at home. Trying to balance (exciting) experiments we can do at home with bookwork and make it all interesting. Just starting middle school grades.
ReplyDeleteWe home school and every year is new to me. I love science and it is the most difficult subject for me to feel like we are doing quality science at home. Trying to balance (exciting) experiments we can do at home with bookwork and make it all interesting. Just starting middle school grades.
ReplyDeleteMy students struggle with dimensional analysis every year. its on my mind because we start with it. Have to find a way to get it better this time!
ReplyDeleteSound waves and light spectrum are the most difficult to make interesting and relevant at the middle school level, based on textbooks at least...it seems these should be some of the easiest and most interesting topics to teach!
ReplyDelete