Description
What our Elements: Magnesium lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Elements: Magnesium is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will learn about one of the most common elements in the Periodic Table of Elements. This lesson is for students in 5th grade and 6th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Teacher Notes
The paragraph on this page provides a little more information or guidance on what to expect from the lesson. It explains that you can teach this lesson in a whole-class setting or as an independent, small-group activity. You can use the blank lines to record any thoughts or ideas you have as you prepare.
ELEMENTS: MAGNESIUM LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Discovery and Practical Applications
The Elements: Magnesium lesson plan contains two content pages. Magnesium was first discovered in the late 1700s. A Scottish chemist named Joseph Black realized that a white powder called magnesia had special properties. Later, in 1808, a British scientist named Sir Humphry Davies isolated magnesium from two chemicals, magnesium oxide and mercury oxide. He did this by using electricity (a process called electrolysis) to break it apart from the other substances.
This cool element is used in bicycle frames and car parts because it’s strong but light. This helps make vehicles like bikes and cars lighter and faster. Magnesium is also used in fireworks because it burns with a very bright white light. People even take magnesium as medicine! Milk of magnesia is a medicine that helps with stomach aches by calming down the extra acid in your stomach.
Magnesium Facts and Why the Element Matters
Magnesium is the eighth-most common element on Earth. It is found in the ocean, rocks, and our bodies. It’s vital for plants because it’s a key part of chlorophyll, the green pigment that helps plants make food from sunlight. Magnesium is used in smartphones and laptops as well because it helps create strong but light casings.
One amazing fact is that magnesium can catch on fire and burn underwater! It’s a potent metal that reacts with the oxygen in water instead of being put out by it. Astronauts use magnesium alloys in space equipment because magnesium’s properties work well in extreme conditions. Alloys are a mix of two or more metals that are melted to make a new, stronger material. Magnesium is also used in flares that help rescue teams find people at night or in storms.
Magnesium is super essential for our health and for the world around us. Our bodies need it to help muscles work and to keep bones strong. We get it from foods like bananas, spinach, and nuts. Without enough magnesium, people can feel weak or tired. Besides our bodies, this element also helps machines, vehicles, and plants do their jobs. Magnesium is even used in camera equipment and power tools because it isn’t easily damaged. Some plants need extra magnesium added to the soil to grow well, especially if the soil is old or worn out.
ELEMENTS: MAGNESIUM LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Elements: Magnesium lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a review worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson. You can refer to the classroom procedure guidelines to know when to hand out each worksheet.
USES OF HYDROGEN ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity, students will research each example and fill in the missing information on the table. The first one is done for students to get an idea of what they should look for in their answers.
REVIEW WORKSHEET
The review worksheet lists 5 questions based on the content. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.
Worksheet Answer Keys
At the end of the lesson plan document is an answer key for the practice worksheet. The correct answers are all in red to make it easier for you to compare them with students’ responses. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
