Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are...

Watch your classroom turn into an arcade. Pupils work in groups to build pinball machines from boxes and other found objects. Gamers must incorporate a variety of obstacles and launchers into the machine to see their designs in motion.

Become a pinball wizard by understanding acceleration. Mia and Sam define acceleration for the audience and touch on the property of inertia. Get your physical science class up to speed by showing this little video, reviewing the...

Students explore a website to practice math skills. In this algebra instructional activity, student go to Carol Fisher's web-page where there are explanations and games to follow along with an entire year of algebra. 

Need some activities to go along with your unit? A collection of hands-on activities from PBS offers opportunities to add to your electricity, sound, and force units. The electricity activities revolve around building a...

Students explore the world of stars. They see that the color of a star tells how hot or cold it is, that stars come in different sizes. and that stars are moving through space. They draw lines connecting start to star.

Students participate in a lesson that illustrates the concept of spending and how it effects the economy. Technology is integrated in this study with the use of a computer simulation of a pinball game that shows how fast money can be spent.

Third graders analyze the effects of force on an object in motion and its relationship to a change in speed. This lesson plan uses a pendulum to demonstrate the principle.

Young scholars learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students spin separate colors into a new color just as the Magic School Bus kids did.

In these reading comprehension worksheets, 8th graders read a passage about the brain. Students then answer 5 reading comprehension questions about the text.

Seventh graders explain how things moving relate to energy.

Students play a version of water tag under close adult supervision. In waist high water, several students are "it" and the remaining class members have to get to the other side of the pool without being tagged. The first student to...

This site contains an article about Betsy Byars' life, as well as information about her books. There are also links at the end of the article to reviews of two of her books.