You can never be too prepared!

We are in the preparation stages of teaching our first science lesson on changes (solids, liquids, and gases) in a 3rd grade classroom and the more I prepare, the more excited I'm getting!  Although I learned about the changes of matter years ago, I definitely need to make sure I know the ins and outs completely before I venture into the classroom.  Luckily, we are working in pairs, and there are several paris teaching the same unit, so I think my biggest resource will be my classmates!  I have already looked at many of their posts and checked out the awesome information they found.  I also did some searching and found these good websites:

- Hartcourtschool Interactive Demo : This is a brief, interactive example of the changes in matter and how the temperature and movement of particles differs in each state.

-Vision Learning :This upper-level site goes beyond the explanations meant for children, but is still easy to follow and has visual representations you can click on for each state.  

-FOSS Web Change It : This is a fun interactive demonstration of phase changes.  FOSS is another company that does the science kits.  Click on "change it" in the upper left hand corner.

- Chem Purdue Matter :This is a general overview of the states of matter.

I also went back to our trusted friends Moby and Tim at Brainpop, whom I've gotten to know all too well in preparation for the MTELs!  I will be personally thanking them if (and when) I pass =0)!  They have a video on the changes of matter that explains the processes very clearly.

I read the pages in the book Sciencesaurus that deal with matter and changes of matter.  This is also an easy to understand explanation.

Part of our lesson deals with real-life examples of changes.  So I found these websites that have examples of physical and chemical changes and the difference between the two:

-Physical vs Chemical Changes : This is a good description of the difference between physical and chemical changes.

- Examples Physical Changes

- Examples Chemical Changes 

Also, amongst my searching, I noticed that some sites considered there to be actually 4 stages of matter.  Although we are only teaching the 3 (solids, liquids, and gasses), I think it is good to at least know that plasma could be a 4th stage (stars and neon lights are plasma).  That way, if one student mentions plasma, I will have some background knowledge instead of thinking he or she is talking about a tv! =0)

- Plasma - this 3 minute video gives a great overview.  Scroll down to "Watch Videos" and it is the last video on the list.

-Vision Learning - also gives a good description

I also plan on talking through the lesson a few times with my partner, Kathy, so that we are on the same page and confident right from the start!

Although we can't prepare for absolutely everything, with all these resources we will be pretty close! I can't wait!