Middle School Science Lessons

Objectives:

• Students will practice making models of elements and their valence electrons 
• Students will determine the oxidation number for each given element
• Student will identify elements as either metals or nonmetals
• Students will determine how each element will bond with other elements
• Students will learn that when atoms lose or gain electrons, they become either positively (cation) or negatively (anion) charged ions
• Students will learn how oppositely charged atoms are attracted to each other to create Ionic Bonds 
• Students will learn that when atoms share electrons, they create Covalent Bonds

This is a modified version of Tracy’s Bonding Basics 2010 Activity that I used with my 6th graders as a guided lesson. We spent one day on Ionic Bonds, and the second day on Covalent Bonds. Students worked in pairs and practiced making Lewis Structures, finding Oxidation numbers, identifying elements as either Metals or Non-Metals, and determining what each element would do when bonding with another element.

Instead of candy, I used pennies as electrons along with the element cut outs she provides on her website. This was a great hands-on activity to have students ‘see’ how the atoms bond together, and after a few slides, they were able to quickly determine how each element would bond.

Lesson Materials:

• Ionic & Covalent Bonding Notes: This is a guided lesson and we did each problem together before moving on to the next. (Google Slides, view only)
• Student Handout – I modified the handout for use with  my students (Google Doc, view only)