Introducing the Periodic Table Lesson Plan – 4 Awesome Middle School Ideas!

Are you introducing the periodic table lesson? First of all, how awesome is the periodic table of elements? A group of scientists over time have discovered a bunch of elements in our world, maybe most of them, but not all of them, and after a while and a few scientists later, Dmitri Mendeleev just decides to organize them in an amazing fashion.

Years later, in our middle school classroom, we are learning how these elements are organized by their molecular structures and chemical and physical properties.

Sometimes, teaching the periodic table can be a little dry, but who says it has to be? I’d love to share some WOW Factor ideas with you to make this a lesson your students won’t forget!

Before Teaching the Periodic Table Lesson

There are many ways to go about introducing the periodic table lesson. Here are some ideas!

Organization Discussion

As always, I think you should hype up your students and get them interested in whatever topic you are about to teach. The Periodic Table is all about organizing the elements found in our world. So before teaching you should start with introducing the periodic table lesson.

Don’t bring anything up yet, but start talking about organizing, ask students how they organize their binders, their shoes, their food, whatever their interested may be. It’s easier to understand things and find things when they are organized right?

Periodic Table Inquiry Activity

After discussing how many different things are organized in our lives, now it’s time to give students a chance to organize some elements, an inquiry-based activity. Give your students several element cards. It definitely doesn’t have to be all of the elements but may just a few of the ones that they are mostly familiar with, or should be familiar with by the end of the year.

Just tell them to organize them! Don’t tell them how, just see what they come up with. Maybe they’ll notice the atomic number and atomic mass. They could notice the color. Maybe they’ll even start to compare some of the properties of the elements. It’s amazing to see what they come up with.

After you have given them time, give them a chance to see how other students in the class have organized them.

Then, give your students a copy of the periodic table! Ask them:

• What’s different about the elements in this table? Yes, there are more!
• Are there any similarities in how these are organized and how you organized them?
• Is there anything that surprises you about the periodic table?
• What questions do you still have?

Introducing the Periodic Table Lesson – What Words Can You Make?

Do you have some extra time in this lesson before you get to actually teaching the content?

This is always a fun activity just to introduce students to element symbols and element names.

1. Tell students to get out a piece of paper and make sure they have a copy of the periodic table. Explain what the element symbol is.
2. Tell students that their task is to create as many words as they can using the elements on the periodic table. They can mix and match but can’t take letters away or add to them.
3. The student that gets the most in 5 minutes get a prize!

For example, students can make the words:

• bay with barium and yttrium symbols
• pose with polonium and selenium symbols
• think with thorium, indium, and potassium symbols

It’s a win-win situation! The students will have a blast with it, and they are becoming more familiar with the periodic table in the process.

Teaching the Periodic Table

Now that students have started looking at how things are organized and possibly becoming familiar with element names and element symbols, it’s finally time to get down deep into the content and learn about how the periodic table is organized and how it displays information about elements and the elements are arranged in a specific pattern that assists with showing element similarities and differences.

Teaching the periodic table with the periodic table digital interactive lesson is a great way to share information with students while reducing their cognitive load. This will help them remember things more effectively and make learning easier!

This lesson will help students to understand atoms, elements, atomic mass, atomic number, chemical symbols, element names, the pattern of the periodic table, metals, metalloids, nonmetals, and so much more! You can learn more about it here!

Digital interactive lessons reduce cognitive load by presenting information in chunks and asking students to apply their knowledge after each chunk with engaging drag-and-drop activities, typing in the textbox, and more!

They can be used with direct instruction and adapted to use with Nearpod and Pear Deck. They are great for independent (my favorite) and partner learning, used in science centers and review, and more!

How will you be introducing the periodic table lesson?

After Teaching The Periodic Table of Elements

It’s hard to find a engaging and effective activity, so I created this one!

This activity allows students to dive into some data and information about certain elements and the categories that they belong to.

The trick is, they will not know what category they belong to, so their job is to figure it out!

This is a great group activity!

To learn more:

Check it out in The Bright in the Middle Shop or on TPT.