I recently used Tracy’s Bonding Basics 2010 Activity (link) 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.
Resources:
- Ionic & Covalent Bonding: Google Slides (Public link)
- Handout – I modified the handout for use with my students (link)
- Tracy’s lesson plan for this activity (link)
- Tutorial on Lewis Structures video:
Middle School Science Blog 