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Resources for Elementary Science

ABC Teach

This site includes lesson plans, units, and activities for the classroom but then goes beyond that. It offers templates for awards, "fun activities", labels, word wall tools, and general worksheets. The huge advantage to this site is that it has many free printouts for different things. 

A to Z Teacher Stuff

This site includes lesson plans, thematic units, teacher tips, downloadable teaching materials, printable worksheets, and emergent reader books. 

Asian Longhorned Beetle

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed an educators’ guide that meets all core curriculum standards to help elementary, middle and high school understand and prevent the spread of a devastating invasive pest, the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). “Beetlebusters: An Educators Guide to Stopping the Asian Longhorned Beetle” offers lesson plans aimed at guiding students to become good stewards of the earth. The materials are located at http://asianlonghornedbeetle.com/educate-kids/ It takes approximately 10 minutes to check your trees for signs of the ALB. The educator’s guide is an effective tool in helping kids protect the trees in their communities. The public has played a significant role in helping USDA in spotting the signs of the ALB, and now kids can learn about this invasive pest while helping to save trees. The Asian longhorned beetle has led to the loss of nearly 130,000 trees combined in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Ohio. Up to 70 percent of the U.S. tree canopy is at risk of being lost to this pest, as all states have trees the beetle can attack and complete its life-cycle in. If ALB were to become established in the United States, it could have a severe impact on the timber, maple syrup, tree nursery, and tourism industries, as well as the environment. In addition, public spaces, yards, and neighborhoods would take decades to recover.

CanTeach

This site includes elementary resources and links. There are many available lesson plans. 

CK-12

CK-12 has content searchable by topic or by NGSS standard. This resource also includes Math materials. Users can create their own Tech Book to use with classes. Everything is free. 

Clear into the Classroom 

Clear into the Classroom, part of the DuPont Clear into the Future® Initiative, is an educational outreach program for teachers, students, and parents to learn more about both national and global habitats that we can all work to protect. Clear into the Classroom promotes hands-on science through engaging educational materials including lesson plans, readings, games, and activities. These materials are designed to nurture environmental stewardship in children as young as kindergarten.

Experiland 

This site offers fascinating hands-on science projects in a variety of subjects that is suitable for elementary and middle school kids.

Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program

In the Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER program, teachers learn about and initiate ecology research in their classrooms and schoolyards. Students learn to collect data on important long-term ecological issues and processes. Student data are then shared on the Harvard Forest website. Research Projects. Students participate in authentic, field-based research projects that address important, current environmental issues. Professional Development Workshops and Online Resources. Teachers are given direct access to Harvard Forest ecologists. Schoolyard LTER Database. Download and graph data online. Participating schools can also log-in to submit new data. Contact Pamela Snow at psnow@fas.harvard.edu for more information.

Into the Outdoors

Into the Outdoors is an educational website that offers free science videos and companion lesson activities for expanded learning in classrooms. It is an online version of the television series. Teachers can select a category and find a lesson guide for multiple levels. The goal is to inspire the next generation to think for themselves about nature, the environment, and their role as future stewards of their world. 

Junior Duck Stamp 
Connecting Children with Nature Through Science and Art 
The Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program is a dynamic arts and science curriculum designed to teach wetland habitat and waterfowl conservation to students in K-12. Using scientific and wildlife observation principles, the program helps students to visually communicate what they have learned by creating an entry to the state’s Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest. Curriculum for students, educators, home school and non-formal groups is designed to spark youth interest in habitat conservation through science, art, math and technology. Curriculum & registration information may be downloaded at www.fws.gov/juniorduck.  

Life Lab

This summer, we partnered with classroom teachers and garden coordinators to highlight all of the connections between the activities in The Growing Classroom garden-based science and nutrition activity guide, Common Core Math and English Language Arts Standards, and Next Generation Science Standards. The result? An online database where you can:
  • Search for any lesson from The Growing Classroom and see all relevant academic standards
  • Search for Common Core or Next Generation standard and find relevant lessons from The Growing Classroom
Find more resources to connect garden-based learning with the new content standards at our content standards page

LinkEngineering
The National Academy of Engineering has launched LinkEngineering, a new website to support implementation of preK–12 engineering education in the United States. LinkEngineering aims to provide high-quality resources and build a professional community for three groups: educators working in preK–12 classrooms and out of school settings; those engaged in preservice teacher education and professional development; and school, district, and state administrators.

NEED Project

The National Energy Education Development Program is a non for profit organization which is a great resource for K- 12 educators.  The NEED Project’s mission is to promote an energy conscious and educated society. NEED is the nation’s leading provider of energy education programs and materials to schools. All NEED learning activities are correlated to state education standards.

NGSS Videos

The Office of STEM is excited to announce that four NGSS videos are now available online through the Teaching Channel. Achieve and Teaching Channel collaborated to produce videos that present an overview of key innovations in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and a deeper dive into each of the NGSS' three dimensions. The videos are intended to help educators and community members become familiar with the three dimensions of the NGSS and how they will benefit students. For more information, check out this blog post written by NGSS Writing Team Leader Brett Moulding.

The four video topics are:
Next Generation Science Standards: A Vision for K-12 Science Education
Crosscutting Concepts
Science and Engineering Practices
Disciplinary Core Ideas

The North American Conservation Education Strategy (CE Strategy)
An array of tools developed by state fish and wildlife agencies support conservation educators who offer fish & wildlife based programs that guide students in grades K-12 on their way to becoming involved, responsible, conservation minded citizens. The CE Strategy delivers unified, research-based Core Concepts and messages about fish and wildlife conservation, translated into K-12 academic standards to shape students’ environmental literacy, stewardship and outdoor skills. Resources included in the tool kit include: landscape investigation, schoolyard biodiversity, field investigation, fostering outdoor observation skills, applying systems thinking, and much more. Download resources at www.fishwildlife.org (focus area, conservation education) or www.masswildlife.org

NSTA Resources on NGSS

The NSTA offers short courses, forums, and a lot more to members on NGSS.

PBS Learning Media

This site offers access to thousands of digital resources including video, audio, documents, lesson plans and much more! The content is aligned to national and state standards. You can save, download, and share resources and discover local content. The site also includes access to storyboard, quiz maker, and lesson builder tools. Participants can also take advantage of exclusive events, sweepstakes, and giveaways. Resources are available for K-12. 

PBS Learning Media Presents: Easy Ways to Incorporate the Design Process into Science Instruction.

Hear from two highly-skilled Massachusetts educators who have tips for working the Engineering Design Process into your science instruction, and we'll review student-tested, hands-on activities and digital media resources that support the design process and the new Massachusetts science standards

This webinar is a collaboration between the Massachusetts Science Teachers Association (MAST), WGBH Education, and PBS LearningMedia™. Led by educators Kristen MacDonald, Northborough, and David Kujawski, East Walpole.

Peep and the Big Wide World - New Bilingual Website and STEM Curriculum
WGBH presents the Emmy Award-winning series that teaches science and math to an early childhood audience has an all-new bilingual website in Spanish and English--including an extensive science curriculum and video-based professional development about teaching science to young children.

PEEP Science Curriculum: The greatly expanded website features 6 curriculum units in Spanish and English. Each provides three weeks of exploration and features hands-on activities, videos, and book recommendations.

Resources for New Audience of Family Child Care Educators: While childcare centers have used PEEP activities for a decade, PEEP now acknowledges the unique demands of family child care providers in its curriculum.

Teaching Strategies: PEEP now also offers professional development videos hosted by English- and Spanish-speaking family child care educators and English-speaking classroom teachers. These videos model strategies needed to effectively teach science to preschool children, including the use of Science Talk, Individualized Instruction, and Documentation and Reflection, and setting up Learning Environments.

For Families: PEEP also has bilingual resources for parents--tips, activity ideas, games for children, and animated episodes at peepandthebigwideworld.org

Project Learning Tree

This site has curriculum resources about energy and other topics. It includes classroom activities, background materials, science fair project information, and extensions. 

Project WILD and Aquatic WILD
A wildlife-focused conservation education program for K-12 educators and their students. It is based on the premise that young people and educators have a vital interest in learning about our natural world. Emphasizing wildlife because of its intrinsic value, Project WILD addresses the need for human beings to develop as responsible citizens of our planet. From the tiny minnow to the majestic grizzly, wildlife and humans are integrally connected. Project WILD links students and wildlife through its mission to provide wildlife-based conservation and environmental education that fosters responsible actions toward wildlife and related natural resources. Through the use of balanced curriculum materials and professional training workshops, Project WILD accomplishes its goal of developing awareness, knowledge, skills, and commitment. This results in the making of informed decisions, responsible behavior, and constructive action concerning wildlife and the environment. Linking K-12 students to aquatic wildlife & habitats through Aquatic WILD. Water in all its forms is one of the most dramatic of today’s arenas in which informed, responsible, and constructive actions are needed. The emphasis of Aquatic WILD is on aquatic wildlife and aquatic ecology with activities that cover issues in urban water quality, water as a shared resource, the accessibility of water as a habitat component, and field investigation. What’s new to the 2013 edition of Aquatic WILD? Field investigation activities, In Step with STEM activity extensions, ‘Working for Wildlife’, Wild Work Careers, Fish Conservation and Angling, and new reference information.www.projectwild.org  

RE-SEED

Retirees Enhancing Science Education through Experiments and Demonstrations
Since 1991 the RE-SEED program at Northeastern University has trained over 750 retired scientists and engineers in fourteen states to assist K-12 science teachers in the classroom. Today there are over sixty volunteers assisting science teachers in the greater Boston area. After taking part in a comprehensive training program, participants are asked to assist in science classrooms one day a week for one school year (there is no obligation to continue and volunteers may select their assignment). Most volunteers serve over three years (the retention rate is seventy percent), and are very satisfied with the experience (see survey results for details). Click here for more information about becoming a volunteer or having volunteers come to your school. 

Science Bug

Catch the Science Bug Traveling Programs, has been teaching science programs to students in New England for seven years. Four awards have been received for this work. The non-profit foundation was created to produce Catch the Science Bug television series enabling us to reach a larger audience and be a valuable resource for children, parents, and educators. The intent of the television series is to get children, especially girls and minorities, excited about science, give an understanding of the variety of scientists and their work, and to spark the self-revelation that through an understanding of science, they too could make valuable contributions to society whether it be discovering a cure for cancer or installing a low-flow shower head.

SciLinks

This is a resource page supported by NSTA. You can search by topic or textbook to find many lessons, labs, activities, and other resources. The search locates resources for teachers to use and for students. 

Smokey Bear

Bringing the message of environmental responsibility to children can be a difficult task. The information must be passed on in a way that is both engaging and easy to understand. And for teachers there the additional hurdles of curriculum requirements, time, and expense. Fortunately, there are several organizations out there to help.

The U.S. Forest Service has recently produced a short DVD titled A Day in the Forest with Smokey Bear which teaches kids the importance of fire safety and what they can do to become a Junior Forest Ranger. And the best part? This DVD is absolutely FREE if you order fewer than 100. Larger orders than that require a small shipping charge. This DVD is geared toward 1st and 2nd graders, but the downloadable resources included on the DVD cover K-12.

STEM Smart
Between 2011 and 2014, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), a non-profit research and development organization in MA, received funding from the National Science Foundation for a series of eight national and regional meetings for educational stakeholders across sectors. This series, which became known as STEM Smart, initially focused on communicating and disseminating the findings of the report, Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, generated through work of the National Research Council (NRC) Board on Science Education and the Board on Testing and Assessment Steering Committee. Postings from these meetings are available at www.successfulstemeducation.org.

Easy-to-read briefs, bringing together research and practice of interest to educators, policy-makers, funders, and STEM thought leaders, accompanied the meetings. Topics included: connecting informal and formal STEM education; preparing and supporting STEM educators; college and career readiness; specialized STEM secondary schools; increasing STEM achievement; engineering; early education (prek-3); and CTE pathways/middle-skills education. 

Through my Window


Through my Window is a free engineering curriculum for grades 4-8 developed by Smith College and Springfield Technical Community College and funded by the National Science Foundation.  Through My Window integrates STEM and literacy and consists of three flexible components:

  • young adult STEM mystery novel Talk to Me
  • interactive online learning adventures (modules) about engineering topics
  • teachers’ curriculum guide
We are accepting applications from formal and informal programs interested in implementing this spring, summer or fall.  Programs selected through this process will receive a $500 stipend in addition to free educator support, including free customized lesson plans and professional development offerings as they implement.  Application is quick and easy at goo.gl/forms/LcFmambLBHpk8Lmi2.

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