Tag: mysteries

Geo Mysteries

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Geo Mysteries1924 views

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What it is: Geo-mysteries are fun interactive mysteries about rocks, fossils, and minerals from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.  Students can choose one of three Geo-mysteries to solve: The Mystery of the Floating Rock, The Mystery of the Broken Necklace, and The Mystery of the Golden Cube.  Students work to help Rex the dinosaur solve the geography mystery by watching a short video clip, and then going through simulated experiments to solve the mystery.  These are great short activities that will help your students understand properties of rocks, fossils, and minerals.  Kids will have fun working as a detective to solve the mysteries.

How to integrate Geo Mysteries into the classroom: Geo Mysteries is a fun twist to learning about rocks, minerals and fossils.  What I love about the site, is the way it makes students problem solvers and guides them through using clues and critical thinking to solve a mystery.  This is a good site to use as a center during science, two or three students could visit the center at a time working to solve a mystery.  After each group of students has been through the center, the whole class can come together and share their findings.  If you have access to a projector or an interactive whiteboard, you can complete the mystery as a whole class.  Invite students up to the board to interact with the material.   This is also a great site for students to work through individually in a computer lab setting.  In the computer lab setting, students can work through the material at their own pace.

Tips: The Geo Timeline on the Geo Mysteries site is fantastic, make sure to check it out and point it out for your students to explore.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Geo Mysteries in your classroom.

The Great Plant Escape

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on The Great Plant Escape3794 views

 

What it is: The Great Plant Escape is a wonderful interactive website created by the University of Illinois Extension for fourth and fifth grade students.  Every school that I know of teaches a plants unit at some point in the curriculum.  This is a great way for your students to interact with their learning in science class.  Each lesson in The Great Plant Escape introduces students to plant science.  Activities engage students in math, science, language arts, social studies, music and even art.  The Great Plant Escapeincludes six mystery cases that students must help solve.  They do this in a variety of ways depending on the activity.  This site can be played in English or Spanish making it great for your ESL or ELL students as well as those kiddos learning Spanish as a second language!

 

How to integrate The Great Plant Escape into the classroom:  The Great Plant Escape offers a lot of flexibility depending on your classroom setup and student abilities.  Students can work individually in a lab setting or in groups as a center in the one or two computer classroom.  This site would also be appropriate for whole class instruction with a projector or interactive whiteboard.  Each activity has an accompanying teacher section that will familiarize you with the material covered in that “case”.  Be sure to check out the Links page for some excellent resources for additional lessons and websites dedicated to teaching kids about Plants and life cycles.  This site is sure to add a lot of interest to your plant unit in science.  My students have really enjoyed it!

 

Tips:  Visit the Teacher’s Guide for a free poster for The Great Plant Escape for your classroom.  

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using The Great Plant Escape in your classroom.

 

SuperThinkers

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on SuperThinkers4086 views

What it is: SuperThinkers is a website that encourages students to become thinkers as opposed to memorizers. The goal of SuperThinkers is to teach children how to think by creating connections, look for meaning behind facts, and analyzing in order to understand. Even reluctant readers enjoy using this site to read for meaning. The Peetnik Mysteries are stories that the students read and interact with. In the mystery game, students use common tools such as maps, phones, and phone directories to follow up on hunches to solve the mystery.

How to integrate SuperThinkers into the classroom: SuperThinkers includes quality mysteries from author Peter Reynolds. Use SuperThinkers as part of a larger mystery unit or as a reading activity that encourages logic, problem solving, critical thinking, cooperative learning, analysis, pattern interpretation, mystery solving, writing, observation, sharing, discovery, imagination, self determination, reflection, and opportunities for self expression. The mysteries take about 30 min. to solve and would be best utilized in a computer lab 1 to 1 setting or as a whole class with a projector. The mysteries are popular with students, even the most reluctant readers enjoy working with the mysteries. The Peetnik Mysteries can also be used to teach students how to create a time line, compare and contrast skills, and as story starters.

Tips: Be sure to visit the Educators section of SuperThinkers for curriculum tie-ins, lesson plans, and posters.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using SuperThinkers in your classroom.