Middle School Science Blog

Free lesson plans and resources for grades 5-8 by Liz Belasic (Liz LaRosa)

Chemistry

Please note – all ppt slides on this website are in “Read Only” format, after you download the ppt, click on “Read Only” to access the ppts. No password is needed to view the slides.

Properties of Matter

1. Mass, Volume, & Density (page)
2. Buoyancy (page)
3. Phases (page)
4. Physical & Chemical Change (page)

Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures

1. Meet the Elements Song (link)
2. Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures Classification Group Activity (blog entry)
   • Includes an interactive activity where students can guess if a substance is an Element, Compound, or Mixture
3. Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures: Reinforcement & Quiz, Quiz, Trade Activity (blog entry)
4. Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures Cut & Paste Activity (pdf)
   • Students will cut out and match atomic models with their formulas
5. Element, Compound, or Mixture – worksheet to practice identification (pdf)
6. Lego Activity: Using Legos to represent Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures (Blog Entry)
7. BBC Bitesize: Interactive Video for Compounds and Mixtures (link)
8. Read About it: BrainPOP – Earth, Air, Fire, and Water
9. BrainPOP: Mixtures and Compounds Quiz
10. Rainbow Lab: Students will make the colors of the rainbow using food coloring and test tubes (blog entry)
11. Chromatography Lab (pdf)
    • students will separate the dyes found in markers
12. BBC Bitesize : Interactive Video for Solutions (link)
13. Matter Vocabulary – Cut & Paste (pdf)
14. Properties of Matter Study Guide (ppt)

Atoms

1. Atoms Vocabulary – Cut & Paste (pdf)
2. Mystery Sock (blog entry) – student will practice using indirect evidence
3. Atomic Theory Timeline: How do we make a model of something we can’t see?
4. BrainPOP Activity Sheet: Atoms Adv. Activity
5. FYI: BrainPOP Gold Foil Experiment
6. FYI: BrainPOP Niels Bohr
7. “Atoms Family” – practice finding Protons, Neutrons, Electrons, Atomic Number, and Atomic Mass (blog entry) (notebook handout)
8. Adopt An Element – create an advertisement for your favorite element (blog entry)
9. Periodic Table Reference Handout (pdf)
   • Links
     1. Chem4Kids
     2. Chemicool
     3. Los Alamos
     4. Royal Society of Chemistry
     • LOVE this website, they have videos for each element and the kids really enjoy them

     Atomic Bonding

     1. Ionic & Covalent Bonding – Students will learn how atoms form Ionic & Covalent bonds
     2. Ions “Cut & Paste” vocabulary words – worksheet (pdf)
     3. Ionic or Covalent Bonds – learning how to determine bond types (blog entry)
     4. Making Molecular Models Activity – (updated lesson and blog entry) students will practice how to read formulas, practice Ionic and Covalent bonding, create models to show atomic structure, and have a better understanding of basic chemistry – Old version: handout (pdf) and answer key (ppt)
     5. Counting Atoms – students will practice reading formulas and counting atoms (pdf)
        • Worksheet #1 or Worksheet #2
     6. Bond with a classmate activity – an active way to practice bonding and naming binary compounds, each student is an element and has to partner up with another element to create a bond and name the newly formed compound (blog entry)
     7. Naming Binary Compounds Study Guide – students will practice on their own after completing the in class activity for Bond with a Classmate – worksheet (pdf)
     8. Balancing Chemical Equations Activity – one of my long time favorite activities. Students will learn how to read formulas, count atoms, create and read chemical equations, and balance chemical equations using a hands on activity with color coded formulas.

     Atomic Bomb

     1. Einstein’s letter to President Franklin Roosevelt (Link)
     2. FDR’s letter to Einstein (Link)
     3. BBC Documentary – Einstein and Atomic Weapons (Link)
     4. BrainPOP FYI: Robert Oppenheimer
     5. BrainPOP FYI: Radioactivity and Comic Books
     6. Youtube video of every nuclear detonation – shortened version or (longer version here)
        • this is a fascinating video that I show to my students as part of our unit on the history of the Atomic Bomb
     7. “Fat Man and Little Boy” – Movie clips

     pH, Acids, and Bases (updated 1.28.15)

     1. Acids & Bases – Cut & Paste Vocab handout(pdf)
     2. Acids & Bases Venn Diagram: What are the properties of Acids & Bases? (blog entry)
     3. BrainPOP Acid/Bases Video, Activity Pages, & Quiz
     4. BrainPOP pH Video & Quiz
     5. Cabbage Juice Lab (blog entry) – students will use Cabbage Juice as a pH indicator to test the pH of various household items. How to make cabbage juice (link) or (link)
     6. “Alien Juice Bar” -(blog entry) a great interactive site where students have to serve juices to aliens, if they give them the wrong juice, the aliens get sick, or worse!
     7. Does Gas Have Mass? Students will observe a chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar, observe a balloon inflate, observe a visible change in pH, feel an endothermic reaction, and find the mass of the gas produced – worksheet (pdf)
     8. Mystery Powder Labs – student will complete a series of tests (pH, heat, vinegar, iodine) to identify different mystery powders – worksheet (pdf) and flow chart (pdf).

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