5th grade Earth Collection
Wed, Nov 28, 2012 11:21 AM
Teaching Elementary students about the Earth
I found this collection to be very useful for elementary school teachers. It has resources for teachers to use to learn more about how to teach this concept to children and it also has great activities to do with the students. The articles address common student misconceptions as well as even misconceptions that teachers sometimes hold on to. It is important to know about these misconceptions so that we can confront and address them with our students. The article titled, "Scientists at Worth in Earth Science" provides great ideas for classroom teachers to do activities outside of the classroom to teach students about the Earth. It is imperative that teachers create a classroom environment that is hands-on and engaging and taking students outside is a great way to make the class exciting. This collection also has some great trade books that teachers can incorporate into lessons to teach students about earthquakes and characteristics of the Earth. My favorite resources from this collection are the "Take the Eco-Challenge", which is a board game in which students try to “save the earth” and it teaches them about environmental stewardship. My other favorite is "The Earth Day Groceries Project: Students decorate paper grocery bags with messages about the environment", in which students use the internet to decorate brown paper grocery bags with messages about protecting the environment.