Hands On Labs & Lessons with Ward’s World

I remember walking with my new principal to my first classroom. She showed me to my room and then the book closet. “This is what we have for science! Feel free to use whatever’s in here!” With that, she told me to let her know if I needed anything and was off. 

I was so overwhelmed! Where do I start? How do I make this engaging for the middle schoolers walking into my classroom next week? How badly I wish I had a resource like Ward’s World all those years ago! 

Ward’s World hits the nail on the head by giving teachers a great balance between rock solid information and engaging classroom activities. Everything you need is right here without having to spend hours searching for content and even more time searching for or creating hands-on activities that make learning real. 

Making Science Relevant Right Now

How Vaccines Take A Big Shot Against Viruses is excellent! Check it out and read for yourself! Students reading this learn what a vaccine is and how it works with their immune system to prevent disease in language they understand. Bring learning to life with Ward’s World Science Take-Out® Pathogens, Antibodies, And Vaccines. Students actually create models to see how vaccines work for themselves. 

Getting kids to do is so critical to their learning. This Looks Like A Moon activity does just that, and again provides students with foundational information that helps them understand what happens as we see different moon phases. As I always look to increase my student’s content specific vocabulary, I love how words are introduced: easy and non-threatening for even the most hesitant learners. Understanding how moon phases work is an abstract concept for some students, but Modeling The Moon’s Motion helps them really see the Sun, Moon, and Earth relationship. This is one of the coolest models to bring moon phases to life, and it builds right into the Looks Like A Moon activity. 

Rainbow Respiration & Photosynthesis

If you teach photosynthesis and respiration, you need Ward’s World Green Glucose Production Kit. It is so cool. All the supplies you need for 15 lab groups to complete the experiment are in the kit. 

Photosynthesis and respiration are easy to talk about in a science class, but really hard for kids to grasp because they can’t see it. They have the opportunity to interact with the process with this kit! Whether the algae is in the process of photosynthesis or respiration determines how much CO2 the algae is releasing. When students add algae beads to the bicarbonate indicator, the pH of the liquid changes based on how much CO2 is released by the algae! 

Students do this by placing one vial under a light to start the process of photosynthesis and they wrap one vial in foil to block out light and start respiration. 

If you’re teaching this while you’re distance learning, do the experiment at home! Take a time lapse video and stop at certain intervals. Or take photos and add them to a digital presentation with an elapsed time underneath each photo. 

(Side note: it’s easy to share digital media with a wide audience. Make sure any digital activities you create with Ward’s World science content is shared with your classroom only!)

When you’re ready to do the lab with your class, you can make or buy algae beads through Ward’s World.

Get A Little Creative

With so many of us participating in distance learning right now, what and how we are teaching is different than what it may have looked like in the classroom. With a little bit of flexibility and creativity, you can still use Ward’s World to teach engaging lessons. 

The Looks Like A Moon activity says it requires cookies. Ask students to make their model out of cookies if they have them. Otherwise, you can ask them to create it out of household items. Or maybe you have them make a model out of recycled objects. Get creative! Have a show and tell on Google Chats (maybe for a little bit of extra credit… I know how hesitant some of them are). Or create a collaborative presentation with a slide for each student where they can add a photo of their model and explain the moon phases next to it. 

Take a look at The Periodic Table of Candy. It is a great in-class activity, but with a little tweaking, you can make it a great digital activity also! Find images of all those candies and create a presentation to share with students where they can drag and drop the images to organize them. Be sure there’s a space to explain why they organized the candy the way they did. Take a few of the most creative or thoughtful, copy those slides onto a separate presentation, and screen share as you discuss them in your Google Chat or digital class meeting. 

For The Bold

If you’re feeling like you’re up for a challenge, use Ward’s World activities to create video lessons. Trust me – when you have students absent for labs or activities next year, you’ll be so thankful you made these. 

A super simple example, again with an awesome article, is their Greenhouse Effect Activity. Record a simple video after your students have read the article so they can see the experiment and record data, creating their own conclusion.

Check out Ward’s World Science Take Out Kits! These are labs and activities are ready to use without needing extra lab supplies. Don’t forget to purchase the class set so you can actually use them in class next year with students! Use your webcam or cell phone to create digital experiments for your students. 

To help navigate distance learning, visit the Resources Page. 

Whether you’ve been teaching for 20 years or 20 minutes, you will find content that helps students engage with, and hopefully, fall in love with science at Ward’s World! 

If you decide to make a purchase on Ward’s Science, be sure to use my promo code SUPERSASS15 for 15% off of your entire order.

Pro Tip: Your administration has money designated to spend on curriculum and supplies. Talk with them about purchasing class sets. If they don’t have the funds available, chat with PTO. They want to support teachers in any way they can.