What are science starters?

Science Starters are used as class starters or warm-ups. I set up this section of my website to share those with all of you. The starters typically take 5 minutes or less to complete and provide students with a focused activity to start class. I also like to use the starters to review material we have covered in class. It helps me gauge what they have remembered from previous lessons or lets me know that additional lessons are needed. Instead of checking each one individually each week, Every three weeks, I have students complete note quizzes using their starter pages, which helps to hold students accountable for completing each day's challenges.  I also throw in a Fun Friday reward day after the quiz is finished, which they enjoy and allows them to enjoy the treats they earn from the classroom challenge (behavior/effort points).

Paper Versions - I provide students with a Science Starters answer sheet (quarter format) that has room for nine weeks worth of answers. The answer sheets are collected every Friday to be graded and then I return them on Monday for the new week. I also have an answer sheet with room for four weeks worth of answers or a weekly Science Starters bookmark (weekly format) available as an alternative to the standard answer sheet.

Digital Notebook Versions -  Last year I created slides for Science Starters- Semester 1 to provide answer pages for an entire semester of challenges, which worked well and was much easier than assigning a new slide every week.  I create PDF versions of the challenges to share on my classroom website at mrstomm.com, which is helpful for students who are absent or want to "see" the day's challenge up close. I use the Master Slides Digital Template (PPT Download) to create the daily challenges along with the answer key.  I have added directions on the side of the slides to help you. 

• Another option I've used in the past - Student Master - Quarter 1 Week 1 (Google Slides) are assigned in Google Classroom for the following week on Fridays using the "make a copy for each student option."  Students were required to have the day's challenge completed before coming to class.  They were allowed to do them all at once or day by day.  Teacher Master- Quarter 1 Week 1 (PPT download)  has the same slides as the student one, but it also includes the answer keys. (Check out the notes to the right of each slide for details.) The first slide is set up with hyperlinks so I can quiclky jump to the different days. The great thing about using my old PPT Starters is being able to merge five days into one file.  I can duplicate slides to edit for student notebooks and save the entire set as PNGs that will be used as backgrounds.  Go to my ISN FAQ page for details on how I create my digital notebooks.

• Another bonus with digital versions... students who are absent are able to complete the challenges.

Also available ... Check out my Digital Interactive Science Notebook page for more resources and examples!  I will update the page as I learn new tricks and find more tools to help me make the switch to digital. 

Other sources for Sicnece Starters ...

Loehman's Bell Ringers - Check out the great bell ringers available at her DropBox site.

Middle School Science Blog - Check our her freebies for science starters and writing prompts!

Thanks to Helen Cleveland for sharing her "create your own" template ... Her students create their own word scramble Science Starters to challenge their classmates! 

Links for more ideas ...

About.com - Science Warm-Ups - This site is a good source for questions to use as your class warm-up activities.

Awesome Stories - Explore this website for videos and audioclips that can be used to create starters for your classes.

How Stuff Works Videos - Use the site search to find video clips on topics you address in your science classes.

Internet4Teachers - Daily Doses - Scroll down this page to find the science section with links to websites with ideas for class challenges.

JLab Videos - Visit the Frostbite Theater to find videos you can use to create warm-ups for your physical science classes or incorporate them into a science lesson.

PBS Wired Science Podcasts - Create a warm-up using one of the podcasts available from this site. Listen to the podcast and then challenge your students to answer questions about the material.
More podcasts:  Science Friday, Dragonfly TV, Bytesize Science, All Science Videocasts

RadioLab - Browse this site for podcasts that can be used for warm-ups for your science classes. Use their site search to find podcaasts on the topics you need!

Space.com Videos - This site provides a huge collection of videos for an assortment of topics in astronomy!