We’re off to the races! The second week into the term, our students are all doing a fabulous job getting their feet wet in the fascinating world of chemistry. This week, we focused on getting a little more oriented to the Periodic Table, as well as introducing a basic model of the atom, including protons, neutrons, and electrons and how each part together makes up a single atom.

One great resource I happened upon in preparing for my class (comprised of mostly 6-7 year olds) is a coloring book that features most of the elements on the periodic table. One side of each page gives some visual cues about things the particular element is found in or uses it might be utilized in, and the back side (or second page if you don’t print double-sided) gives a list of helpful information about that specific element. My class is completing a few of these each week and keeping them together in a notebook along with some of the lab notebook pages we’ll be adding in the next couple of weeks. You can purchase it as a bound coloring book for a single student, or if you are wanting to use it for a classroom/multiple students as I am doing, it is also available as a PDF for easy reproduction.

While the weather is nice, we’re doing as many activities outside as we can, both with our older students and pre-schoolers. I love Seattle Septembers.