Ninja Notes

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Alberta science

Dig Up Dinosaurs in Alberta With These Amazing Activities

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Whether you are teaching students about the different dinosaurs that lived in Alberta, how fossil fuels are created or how they died, these lessons and activities are designed for your elementary science class and only take moments to prep. Come take a look!

Most children go through a phase fascinated by dinosaurs. It only fits that living in Alberta means digging up dinosaurs and learning about fossil fuels. While learning about the specific dinosaurs is not in school curriculums, the result of their extinction is part of our lives today. Come learn about some of the ways we bring dinosaurs into our elementary science lessons. We’ve updated our lessons for the new Alberta science curriculum, but they work for any teacher wanted to roar through science (see what we did there?).

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Make the Best of Your Natural Resources Lessons

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We have written resources to use to teach your students about natural resources. Students will learn how the resources are extracted, which are renewable and how they are used. Come take a look and get the lessons you need.

What do you think of when you think of natural resources? Forests? Oil and gas? Wind power? Teaching students about natural resources is easy when you have them examine all the objects around them. Humans rely on natural resources to make life easier. We use them to make shelter, provide energy and sustain our nutrition. Come learn about some of the lessons and activities we use to teach students about natural resources.

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How to Teach Human Body Systems to Young Scientists

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If you are teaching human body systems to your elementary science students, we've got everything you need to get your unit planned in record time. Come check out these activities, lessons, books, videos and so much more. It's perfect for the new Alberta science curriculum outcomes.

Everyone needs to understand the basic systems that help keep humans alive. The Alberta science curriculum focuses on four main systems: circulatory (cardiovascular), musculoskeletal (bones and muscles), respiratory and digestive. There are many more systems, but this post will focus on teaching these four to your Grade 5 students. Come learn how we teach this unit from beginning to end.

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How to Teach Students About the Earth’s Spheres

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Are you looking for resources to teach students about the Earth's spheres? We wrote some lessons, found some books and videos and put it all together for you in one post. Come have a read and inspire your scientists.

The new Alberta science curriculum asks students in Grade 4 to learn about the Earth’s spheres and how they interact with each other. That meant we got the opportunity to learn about them, too. We pulled together some of the best resources we’ve used to learn about the spheres and the resources we’ve written to help our students.

When we talk about the Earth’s spheres, we refer to the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. We know there are more spheres, but these are the ones focused on in our science curriculum. Learning about the Earth’s spheres helps students understand how our planet survives and thrives.

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Create These 5 Fantastic Devices That Move

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Are you teaching a unit about simple machines or things that move? Use these tried and tested recipes to help get you started with student friendly instructions for devices that your students can build and test as part of their science units or makerspace. Come have a read!

One of the best sciences units includes making devices that move. One of the best things about teaching science is having students create amazing things when they are just left with their knowledge and their creativity. We love to foster this type of learning in our classroom.

If you teach simple machines, then there are so many different opportunities to have students create and build exciting contraptions. We pulled together a list of ideas and a few of our favourite recipes for devices that move to make your search quick and painless.

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Foster Environmental Stewardship in the Classroom

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Teaching students about environmental stewardship comes easily in most science classes, but there are lots of other ways to encourage being a responsible citiizen throughout your day in your upper elementary classroom. Come learn some of the ways we teach students to take care of the planet on a daily basis.

Climate change is a real concern for most young people these days. We have used environmental stewardship lessons as part of our overall science lessons, but there are lots of things that you can do in the classroom to help foster a love of caring for our planet. Little changes can make a big difference over time. Environmental stewardship is more than just taking care of the planet. It is about being a responsible citizen and thinking about how we impact the world. Come learn about how we integrate these lessons directly into the classroom.

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