Coweta County School System's focus is on the well being of our students, their families, and our employees. The resources I'm sharing below are not designed to maintain student progress or prepare for a test. They are designed to help parents engage their children in learning activities when possible. Where possible, I have aligned them to our curriculum maps. The statement below is directly from our superintendent's office. You can see the full document here. Please keep it in mind as you share these or any activities with your students.

How are we handling continuity of learning?

Schools are communicating with students and families regarding optional learning activities digital learning as well as learning activities using other formats in some situations. Students and parents should understand that teachers and school officials know that this health crisis is affecting students and families in different ways. We understand that some of our students are caring for family members or taking on additional responsibilities during this situation. We also understand that in some cases internet access is limited and that each home environment is unique. Therefore our digital learning efforts are being provided to assist with learning during this cancellation, but they will not be used in a punitive manner and will not hurt student’s final grade determinations. This health crisis has many unknown variables, and is stressful to varying degrees in homes. As a school system we want to provide support for families during this time, rather than add to their stress.

This lesson comes from Once Upon an Earth Science Book by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen. Students explore how heat from the Sun drives weather like wind and hurricanes. Students also explore the specific heat of water and its importance in weather related phenomena. The lesson includes some brief reading and writing activities. Students can view YouTube videos of the experimental parts of the lesson. The lesson plan is linked here: Fury in the Water Lesson Plan.

The links for the experiments are Fire Water Balloon and Heating Water vs. Heating Dirt. Students can use the data from the heating water vs heating dirt video to fill in the data chart.

This lesson is from the free lesson shared by STEMScopes for 6th grade. In this lesson students read an article about different models of the universe and practice some claim, evidence, and reasoning. The link takes you to a Google Drive folder with all the materials. It includes teacher directions (Linking Literacy_STEMScopes document) plus teacher keys are student black line masters. Students can print them out or complete them as Google Docs. I suggest having students paste images instead of drawing them.

STEMScopes Linking Literacy Models of the Universe

This lesson centers on an invasive species of green crabs. Students have to use data to calculate the best areas to plant new marsh grass to restore the marsh. Student analyze data and use that data as evidence for their decision.

Editable Student Response Sheet

PDF Version of Student Sheet

Teacher Guide

Adapted from ReadWorks, this lesson includes an article from the American Museum of Natural History. Students are asked to view their bodies as a biome rather than a system of tissues. Students answer multiple choice and short answer questions. An answer key is included in the Google Drive folder.

This lesson from STEMScopes allows students to explore lenses while practicing reading, writing, and higher order thinking skills. The Google Drive folder includes Google Doc versions of the answer sheets so students can do them online.

This simulation from PhET allows your students to explore energy transformations. The "Systems" simulation allows students to examine the transformations that happen during different methods of electricity production. This lesson plan frames their exploration and ends with the students developing an experiment to determine which type of light bulb is most efficient.

The Georgia Virtual School offers its resources to all Georgia Public School educators for free. Most of the high school science classes offered in Coweta County have at least some resources available. The resources are designed to engage students in science virtually with simulations and other activities. Below are a list of courses that Georgia Virtual School offers.

HHMI's Biointeractive website is a great place to find activities for lesson for your classroom. This interactive lesson on trophic cascades is a great example of the types of lessons you can find for your students. When looking for lessons students can do at home, be sure to sort for "interactive" activities

Georgia Public Broadcasting's Chemistry Matters website offers video lessons and support materials for those lessons. The lessons often include visits from scientists sharing how the work the students are doing aligns to the "real world". This unit on kinetics includes a virtual air bag lab that students can complete. You can request a teacher toolkit that includes answer keys and other resources to help you navigate the program.

This unit on radioactive dating techniques from Georgia Virtual school includes a modeling radiometric decay lab. It's a great way to kick your geologic time scales unit.

The resources offered by Georgia Virtual School for Environmental Science include many interactive lessons that will help your students work towards mastering the GSE in Environmental Science. Try this one on Earth's Capacity.

This unit on Waves from Georgia Virtual School includes an assignment for a student to create a learning resource for a 3rd grader that explains the speed of sound is different depending on the medium it is traveling through. It also includes a Ghostbuster activity!

Georgia Public Broadcasting's Physics in Motion website offers video lessons and support materials for those lessons. The lessons often include visits from scientists sharing how the work the students are doing aligns to the "real world". This unit on radioactive decay includes a practice problems and a virtual radioactive decay lab that students can complete. You can request a teacher toolkit that includes answer keys and other resources to help you navigate the program.

Free Virtual Museum Tours

Smithsonian Virtual Tours

30 Plus Field Trips: Mars, Critter Cams, and More!

Please contact Dr. Donald White with any questions or comments.

Email: donald.white@cowetaschools.net
Website: bit.ly/CCSSScience
Location: 167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA 30263
Phone: 770-254-2800
Twitter: @dwhitesciguy