The student sheet is included as a digital version, too! #3: Metals, Non-metals, and Metalloids Lab The students enjoy looking at the pictures and seeing the elements in a “fresher” way! You could also have your students simply go to the website where the table is located and use this activity more like a webquest. I print a colored class-set of the table front/back (there is more information on the back of the squares), and a worksheet for each student.

These include the number of valence electrons, atomic radius, number of electron shells, reactivity, boiling and melting points, electron affinity and electronegativity, and more! My most favorite activity to jump-start a unit on Atoms and the Periodic Table is this Periodic People activity. The Periodic Table is an amazing tool because it has SO MANY patterns embedded in it. I love this unit because the growth in my students’ understanding is so significant and they undergo a transformation before my eyes! With the exception of the occasional chemistry-obsessed student, most of my students start out this unit thinking that the Periodic Table is some sort of super complex graphic for brainiacs and mad scientists, or they simply think it’s an absolute bore.īut after a few weeks of study, they can navigate the families of elements on the table, interpret atomic structure based on an element’s position on the table, and glean information about how different atoms will interact with one another! Experiencing my students fall in love with the Periodic Table is amazing every year! In this post, I’m sharing some of my favorite activities to teach my middle school students about the Periodic Table.

The unit that I most love to teach is Atoms and the Periodic Table.

Color coding a periodic table