Take a journey through the human body or study birds’ flight patterns with Life Sciences. Teach about different rock types or awe students with the power of natural disasters and weather patterns using Earth Sciences. Unlock the secrets of electricity and machines through Physical Sciences. This three-volume set holds everything you need to develop integrated and exciting thematic science units. Providing educators with thousands of science-based activity ideas, labs, teaching resources, and reading selections, these books ensure a vibrant and well-supported science curriculum. Excellent for creating lesson plans and syllabi and organized according to popular science topics, these guides provide specific ways to explore key concepts that are central to core science studies. Educators can look up whatever subject they are about to present to the class (e.g., polar regions, machines, pollution) and choose from a variety of related activities and resources. Each book is divided into sections exploring broad, key concepts, then further into chapters dealing with more focused topics. Each chapter follows the same easy-access organization with teaching resources (nonfiction children’s literature with grade levels indicated) and reading selections (fiction) given at the beginning, including short book descriptions. The extensive resource lists are followed by hands-on science activities and then separate sections containing creative writing and art activities. Activities can be ongoing for days, but most range in duration from 5 to 45 minutes. Here’s a small sample of the enormous array of activities offered: For life science: * Invertebrate traps * Food menu for caterpillars and butterflies * Build a bird mobile * A Bill of Rights for monkeys * Endangered animal dioramas For earth science: * Solar-powered hot dog cooker * Create you own cloud * Make a volcano erupt * Grow your own crystals * Sand art * Make a tornado in a jar For physical science: * Learn Morse code * Shoe box symphony * Create electric circuits * Use a string telephone * Test magnetic force * Make your own goo The assignments and activities are not only meant to teach about science, but also to hone the critical thinking, comprehension, artistic, and writing skills of the students. For further explorations, the ‘Additional Resources’ sections at the end of each key concept section list experiment books, addresses of agencies and related organizations, names of magazines, videos, and Web sites that provide more information on the same theme. These resources provide the perfect inspiration for research paper or extra credit project ideas. Developed for elementary and middle school teachers, library media specialists, and parents of home-schooled children, these versatile guides can be used as the basis of your science classes or entry points for disenchanted students. Bring these books into your classroom or media center and you’ll be bringing the fun and wonder of the scientific world into your students’ lives.
