Chocolate Anyone? (Highlights from the Repository)

[tweetmeme]Leave it to Curriki contributors to submit such a thorough, integrated unit on chocolate! Geared for 5-6^th graders, this unit can be modified to intrigue many grade levels. A Matter of Chocolate exposes students to the history and science behind chocolate.  Teachers will be grateful to have ready made worksheets that outline the history of chocolate, and webquests that further knowledge.  Students will enjoy tasting chocolate from different countries, and trying out recipes for chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered popcorn. Of course, this is all has a scientific basis outlined in experiments of physical and chemical changes.  No matter what, you can’t go wrong enticing students to savor the delicacies of chocolate while having them embark on the scientific process.

Kathy Duhl

Lead Reviewer

http://www.Curriki.org

Note: The image above was created by André Karwath and was originally posted on Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 2.5 License.

New and Noteable: Interactive Math Lessons to Remember (Thanks, Winpossible!)

Calling all elementary school math teachers! If you plan to teach number sense, measurement, patterns, functions or algebra this year read on…

New to the Curriki collection are these interactive math lessons and resources from Winpossible!

The unit description states:

This is a collection of interactive lessons from a Grade 4 Math course developed by Winpossible – the course uses an innovative instruction format by combining an engaging animated character’s visual and voice with Winpossible’s unique ChalkTalk™ technology (patent pending) in order to replicate the “classroom experience” for students. The course matches with the Grade 4 correlations of most states in the US.

For a sneak peak of this unit’s contents, take a look at the following video links:

• Number, Number Sense and Operations
• Measurement
• Patterns, Functions and Algebra

This is a great resource to recommend to students and parents as a supplement to in-classroom activities! Make sure to direct them to the practice questions embedded within each lesson!

Enjoy and feel free to pass along!

 

 

New and Noteable: Oceans Alive! and Other Elementary Ocean Activities

Teaching young students about the ocean is an exciting way to start your year since many children have spent time at these large bodies of water during their summer break. If they haven’t, learning about the ocean at a young age will encourage them to be better stewards of our earth.

Curriki Summer of Content award winner Melissa Webber has put together a fantastic unit titled Oceans Alive! which is geared for new teachers. It gives an overview of the oceans, introduces new vocabulary and provides hands on experiments to learn about density. In these eight lessons, students will gain an understanding of the basic scientific principles of tides, ocean zones, animal/plant life, and the food chain.

 

Other sites to visit to make your Ocean unit even better are:

• Ocean Writing Activities
• Mrs. McGowan’s First Grade Ocean Activities
• Attention All Beach Goers: The Ocean Needs Your Help!
• Experiments: Why Don’t Big Ships Sink?
• At the end of your studies, students always love to make fish prints on T-shirts or on rice paper. Here is a link that will show you how.

Have fun. Ideas are endless when it comes time to study the ocean!

Curriki

The image above was taken by 708718 and was originally found on Flickr under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.