Forums

Looking for any ideas about fun, exciting, engaging science lessons for the 3rd grade, that I could start the new year with?! What has been a success for some of you seasoned teachers?

You may want to consider applying for the Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers and fund your professional development trip to the Chicago conference. This would connect you to hundreds of elementary science educators and give you the opportunity to participate in hands on science lessons with other elementary science teachers. We give 25 scholarships to attend the national conference. You can't win if you don't apply. Go to our webpage at www.nsta.org/awards and review the application.

Wonderful! Thank you for your help!

Hi Katrina,
Do you know what science units you will need to cover next year? That would help to narrow down suggestions. You can usually find that information on your school district's web page under curriculum for third grade.
In the meantime, great resources that can be found in the Learning Center are the book chapters by our Picture Perfect Science Lessons authors, Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry. Here are a couple that I have used before to whet your appetite:
Turtle Hurtles
and
Sounds of Science
I hope it all works out for you for the fall :-)
Carolyn

Have you ever used thinking maps? I would start by giving students an overview of the themes or topics for the entire year. Let them make thinking maps to show what they already believe regarding these topics. This will serve as a pre-test and allow them to compare at the end of each unit the new information and better understanding that they have acquired. Also choose a focus for the year that you use in each lesson. example could be that.. [size=200][color=purple]Science is Magic, Science is Everywhere, Protecting our Environment, etc.[/color][/size]This way all of your lessons will be tied together. The concept can help you to integrate science into other content areas as well. This is not a LESSON as you asked for but to me, the framework comes BEFORE the lesson so that the students have some consistant focus to attach their new knowledge to... Think about it! Muid

Have you ever used thinking maps? I would start by giving students an overview of the themes or topics for the entire year. Let them make thinking maps to show what they already believe regarding these topics. This will serve as a pre-test and allow them to compare at the end of each unit the new information and better understanding that they have acquired. Also choose a focus for the year that you use in each lesson. example could be that.. [size=200][color=purple]Science is Magic, Science is Everywhere, Protecting our Environment, etc.[/color][/size]This way all of your lessons will be tied together. The concept can help you to integrate science into other content areas as well. This is not a LESSON as you asked for but to me, the framework comes BEFORE the lesson so that the students have some consistant focus to attach their new knowledge to... Think about it! Muid

I have started the year with a lesson on observations vs. conclusions. I take a potato and use an apple corer to create a candle looking object. I take a sliver of almond to use as a wick. In front of the class, in ask them to write down all observations of the lit object in front of them. After a minute, I blow out the "candle" and take a bite. It gets a great reaction, and we can begin separating observation from conclusion. Warning: it doesn't taste good!