Chemistry DIY for Your Classroom

In today's post, I'm going to share with you some simple DIY for your chemistry unit.  This is something my teaching buddy and I created this previous school year for our STAAR Review Camp, but I think it's definitely something we will be using during our chemistry unit for years to come.

It's an Atom Building Model that's magnetic.  And the best part is, most of the materials we used were things we already had around the classroom.

In my classroom, I have 2 different atom model sets.  The first one shown below cost somewhere in the $50 range and the second model pictures runs much higher, in the $70 range.  I like both of them for different reasons, but buying more of these for my students just wasn't going to happen.

I wanted some magnetic atom models that had a nucleus, 3 energy levels, and plenty of protons, neutrons, and electrons to allow my students to build atoms for atomic numbers 1-20.  I've noticed that in order for my students to master the structure of an atom and retain this information all year long, the key is to practice, practice, practice.

So, with all of the creative geniuses in my science department, we came up with a much cheaper version, that I actually ended up liking even more.



Many teachers have small dry erase boards in their classrooms to allow students to record an answer and hold it up to show the teacher.

The boards we have are one-sided....until now!  On the back side of each board, we lightly hand sanded, then painted on some magnetic paint.

 

After allowing these to completely dry overnight, we finished it up with a few light coats of the white spray paint.

The next steps were done with my favorite crafting tool, the Silhouette Cameo.  I used it to create an energy level template out of cardstock.  All we had to do was lay it on the painted side of the board and lightly spray paint it with black paint.  I also purchased some printable magnetic pages from Amazon and created all of the magnetic subatomic particles.  And I used the Silhouette to cut them all out.  You could also use a small circle punch to speed up the process (but I couldn't imagine cutting them out by hand - I made a lot!)