All chemistry teachers should start the year by having students and parents/guardians sign a Student Safety Contract. I used this (pdf) Flinn safety contract.
Show this “Lab Safety” video (requires Windows Media Player 10 or above) that was provided by Renee Diamond of the NSTA Listserve. The music in the video is from a band called “rhythm, rhyme, results.” Spaces in the song are meant for students to fill in the blanks with the correct lab safety procedure.
For middle school students, “Science Safety Rules” (pdf) with Sponge Bob will help introduce lab safety rules.
For safety tips on lighting a “Bunsen Burner” this page has videos and good explanations.
Then have students do this “How to use and adjust a Bunsen burner” (doc) lab.
For labeling beakers, flasks, etc., I find printing the labels and taping them with “invisible” tape the easiest for removing later. For permanent labels I use transparent tape. Here is the document I use for making the beaker/flask labels (doc) and the dropper bottle labels (doc) (one example left in tables).
This image of a 24-well microplate grid is helpful for labeling materials in the plate.
All my lesson plans are printed using Word as well. Here is an example and the template.
All the chemistry reviews for Glencoe’s Chemistry: Concepts and Applications (2000) are on http://www.quia.com/ and linked to this page.
This generic graph paper (doc) comes in handy when writing up your own labs.
PowerPoint presentations designed by students are a great alternative to written reports. This (doc) document has written instructions for producing a presentation and this (pdf) is a scoring rubric for the presentation. You will need Adobe Reader to download the rubric. Get it here .
Students and especially parents find having a class page with assignments and other class information very helpful. Here is an example of one of my former class web pages. You can create your own website with the freeMicrosoft Office Live Small Business tools. Just be sure to sign up for the Basic service.
Use these tips for “Teaching 90-minute Time Blocks” (doc).
If you don’t have gradebook program, you might want to try the freeEngrade online gradebook. It allows students and parents to check grades online.
To add color and interest to your worksheets, use some “Chemistry Clip Art.”
Use card stock to print colorful chemistry related borders for your bulletin board with these borders (doc).
Games, Puzzles, Songs, and Labs
How Do I Homeschool has created this list of great math games to try at home or in the classroom)
Peter Lichten has created the online game “ChemGameTutor” to help students refine their chemistry skills. Students can use guest for the Username and Password.
Rosemarie Smith of the NSTA Listserve contributed this idea for a “March Madness Chemistry Tournament” (doc). I have added the “Abreviated Brackets,” (pdf) blank ones along with full “Brackets” and an Excel version of full “Brackets” (xls). Also, Mike Barondeau from the Listserve contributed this blank “Sweet Sixteen Science Tournament” (xls)Excel version.
If you are having difficulty getting the supplies you need, ClassWish.org may be able to help or you can register for an opportunity to win free supplies: http://classwish.org/
QuizStar is a site that allows teacher’s to post their own quizes. This feature is similar to Quia.com, but unlike Quia, QuizStar is presently free for teachers: http://quizstar.4teachers.org/
Mark Rosengarten, a New York chemistry teacher has created a Powerpoint presentation that addresses most high school chemistry topics with nearly 300 pages of information, diagrams, and sample problems. The website also offers a collection of chemistry cartoons: http://www.markrosengarten.com/
Great site for high-quality, FREE, science web interactives from all over the world that is organized by National Science Education Standards: http://www.learningscience.org/index.htm
Abigail Freiberger of the Greater Atlanta Christian School has study guides, practice problems, labs, quizes, and PowerPoint presentations on her site for General Chemistry, Honors Chemistry, and AP Chemistry. She uses Holt’s Modern Chemistry for general and honors courses and Zumdahl for AP Chemistry.
Bank of chemistry questions and problems (You must sent a letter to author on school leterhead to receive password for bank): http://www.boshf.org/chembank/
In New York Science Teacher you will find science labs, demonstrations, lesson plans, activities, movie worksheets, notes, regents review materials, educational related information and much more: http://www.newyorkscienceteacher.com/sci/
Sarah Faulkner of Sedgwick Middle School, in West Hartford, CT contributed this “Science Current Events” (doc) worksheet to assess student readings of science in the news.
Douglas Blane in the UK contributed “What’s New?” on his Real Science website. Each news article includes 5 activities, a word bank, links to free activities, lesson plans, background information, and daily tips for running science class discussions and groupwork.
