The fall is my favorite season — the colorful leaves, the cooler weather, the different position of the sun that gives everything a slightly different look. For most of us, it’s also the beginning of a new school year and a good time to explore new ideas for our classrooms.
Our colleagues in the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and IRA (International Reading Association) have a great resource to help students with reading and writing: ReadWriteThink. I used the menu in the left margin to search on “Standard Lessons” and the theme “Science” and found a list of 54 lessons that relate science and language arts on topics such as vocabulary, reading nonfiction texts, informational writing, and critically evaluating Internet resources. You can further finetune by grade level. Many lessons have intriguing titles such as Digging Up Details on Worms: Using the Language of Science in an Inquiry Study, Digital Reflections: Expressing Understanding of Content Through Photography, and Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts. Most of these are for K-8, although if you have high school students who are English language learners or have difficulty with high school text, you may find some helpful lessons here.
The bonus here is that if you enter a keyword, the site also accesses resources from the Verizon Thinkfinity partners. This list can be futher finetuned by grade level. I entered the keyword keyword “cell” and filtered with 9-12, science, and lessons. I got a list of 21 results, although not all were actual lessons (some were “updates” which are podcasts).

The folks at Edutopia, one of my favorite sites, have a new Home to School Connections Guide. This free document (you do need to register) has many suggestions for involving and communicating with parents and other caregivers. You may also be interested in a blog entry on the Edutopia site How to Teach Students to Think Like Scientists.

I always find something interesting and relevant in the Educational Leadership journal. For example in the October 2010 issue I found articles such as The Words Students Need, Reviving Reteaching, and Cell Phones as Teaching Tools. You don’t have to be a member to access these articles. (Thank you, ASCD!).

The SciLinks webwatchers are continually expanding the database with new resources. Check out some new entries on topics such as Ciliophora, Stoichoimetry, Chemical Safety, or Lunar Eclipses. And you can always review the Reasons for the Seasons this fall.
Photo by MLB: Central Park in the Fall.