Calling All Science Teachers--Common Core Lesson Plan Round-Up!

When you're thinking through the best ways of engaging your students, communicating and reinforcing concepts, helping them achieve mastery of new ideas and ways of thinking, and just plain getting excited about learning, it can help to have a little inspiration. Seeing what other teachers have done to develop creative, CCSS-aligned lesson plans, or looking through resource libraries to find interesting lesson plans can give your own planning an energy boost.

Here's a round-up of some websites that provide science teachers with CCSS-aligned ideas for the classroom. Look for other subjects/disciplines in future posts!

Check out these FREE SCIENCE LESSONS from AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). You can filter your search by grade and content to find what you want more easily!

Who doesn't love cookies? This series of blog posts by science writer Bethany Brookshire is called COOKIE SCIENCE! She takes educators and students step-by-step through applied science, all in the name of finding cookies that taste better. If you're looking for student-friendly science news, don't miss the website, hosted by Society for Science & the Public.

MIT BLOSSOMS is a wonderful website with a focus on videos for classroom use. You can do a very focused search, including by content standard, and locate science video lessons--each of which is a complete resource, with teacher's guide and supporting materials. CLICK HERE to search by education standards!


Got students who are into sports? Then GO HERE to the Connect A Million Minds website to find science-friendly learning activities and games for kids. These would make great additions to lesson-plans.

Engineering and applied science lessons are free and searchable on TeachEngineering.org! You can browse across multiple categories or search by content standard. There are hands-on activities, lessons, and supporting materials!

For a big-picture look at how real science educators are making CCSS work in their classrooms, check out this Edutopia.org blog post, "Common Core in Action: How Two Science Teachers Are Implementing Common Core." Get tips, ideas, and best practices!

Finally, take a look at the Utah Education Network. They have easy-to-browse, free lesson plans that are aligned to Utah's Core (based on CCSS). CLICK HERE for K-6 science lessons. CLICK HERE for 7-12 science lessons!

Kick Off the New School Year--Fun Ideas to Get Off to a Good Start!

In some parts of the country, students have been back in the classroom for several weeks, while for others, the new academic year is just beginning. To help get you started, check out these articles, posts, and pins, and get inspired for the new school year! Make sure to remember not to lose sight of your own professional and personal development in the midst of the many demands and excitement of the new year.

Check out this Education World post on "Fun Activities to Get the School Year Off to a Good Start." Pick up some great ideas to help you set the tone in your classroom this year!

Take a look at this great article from Edutopia.org, and start "Preparing for your Best Year Ever"! The first tip on the list? "Dive deep into your own professional learning." Take advantage of the amazing professional development that Pepper has to offer!

Finally, just for fun, head to Pinterest.com for a fantastic collection of "Back to School Teaching Ideas"--you can find resources, materials, and fun activities for your students!

Good luck, and have a great year!

LET’S COLLABORATE!

We’re excited to give you even more opportunity to communicate, be social, and stay informed with our new notification alerts!

Log into your Pepper Dashboard and look for the conversation bubble on the top right.  The number indicated in the bubble will alert you that a peer or a coach is reaching out.

Receive and View Notifications About:

·        Any new personal messages

·        A new post to one of your discussion topics

·        Collaborative activity in your coursework portfolio

·        You’ve been added to a personal Pepper network 

Receive and Send Messages in Pepper:

·        Communicate and collaborate directly with other Pepper participants!

·        Within the People search, click on the message bubble icon to open up an individual dialogue with an instructional coach or peer.

·        You will receive a notification when they respond and can continue collaborating.

ALSO – please don’t forget that Google Hangouts are included in each course, and a great place to collaborate live!

Please contact Pepper Support with any questions, we hope you find these new tools helpful in your Pepper teaching and learning adventure.