Chemical Reactions Doodle Notes | Middle School Science | Cornell Notes

These scaffolded Chemical Reactions Cornell Doodle Notes combine two effective note-taking strategies and can be used to introduce the indications of chemical reactions (color and change, gas production, precipitate formation, and energy emission) and the 5 main types of reactions (synthesis, decomposition, single and double replacement, and combustion).

These notes use lots of visuals and analogies to help students to understand how atoms are rearranged during chemical reactions and that reaction types follow characteristic patterns. Students will practice using different colors to circle types of atoms to aid in identifying the type of chemical reactions. These notes contain lots of analogies and are meant to be an introduction to identifying the types of reactions!

The concepts align with NGSS MS-PS1.B (Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical process, the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties form those of the reactants.) and HS-PS1.B (The fact that atoms are conserved, together with knowledge of the chemical properties of the elements involved, can be used to describe and predict chemical reactions.).

Cornell Notes are a note-taking strategy in which topic questions are written in a narrow left-hand column and definitions, explanations, and diagrams are filled in in the right-hand column.

Doodle Notes are another note-taking strategy for which pictures and graphics activate the visual pathways of the brain, which helps with retention of information when compared to standard note-taking. Your visual learners will really benefit from seeing and coloring in the pictures aside the main points of the notes!

What's Included (please see the preview also!):

• The Cornell Doodle Notes are 4-pages each and there are 2 scaffolded versions plus the answer key
• Two presentation options: Powerpoint AND Google Slides
• Google Slides digital version of the notes with student directions and Google Tools and Fonts sidebar

Here are some ways that I suggest using this resource:

✎ Whole-Group lesson with scaffolding : Decide which students should receive which level of the notes. Hand out the notes to the students. Use the Powerpoint or Google Slides as a presentation and talk aloud through the lesson while the students take notes OR If you have a document camera (an ELMO), you can fill out your own notes and the students can follow along with you as you discuss the concepts aloud! Stop throughout the lesson to have the students pair-share and discuss what they are learning. Allow them to color/doodle further during and at the end of the lesson.

✎ Scaffolded Small-Group lesson : Separate your students into groups by learning level. Give each student group sets of the appropriate notes for their level. Make sure each group has a device to view the presentation. Post the Powerpoint or Google Slides to your Google Classroom or other online learning platform, or email the Powerpoint version to one ‘student leader’ in each group. The students would view the Powerpoint/Slides together on one device and fill in the notes. Encourage them to add color/further notes.

✎ Individual Note-Taking or Flipped Classroom : Post the Powerpoint or Google Slides presentation to your Google Classroom or other online learning platform. Hand out the appropriate-level notes to each student. Students can work at their own pace to view the presentation and complete their notes. Encourage them to add color/further notes. Could also be assigned for homework or as a “half & half lab” for which one group of students is taking notes at their desks while another group is performing a lab.

✎ Distance Learning Scenario: Create a screencast lecture using one of the presentation options, or you could record audio clips over each slide that your students will play as they view the presentation.

Options for Digital Note-taking:

• Assign the Google Slides version of the notes (please view the Preview for images of what this version looks like!)
• Assign this resource using TPT's Digital Activity Tool
• Assign these notes digitally using the Kami Extension for Google Classroom. Learn about this option by downloading THIS FREEBIE!

Please note that this resource is not editable due to font and clip art licensing agreements and also to protect my work. However, you can always add additional text boxes to the presentation, as well as insert new slides with images/text/video clips, etc. to customize the lesson for you and your students!

Doodle notes is a trademarked term used with permission. Please visit doodlenotes.org for more information.

If you are teaching a unit on chemical reactions, you may also be interested in these resources:

Counting Atoms in Chemical Formulas Magic Pixel Picture Review

Endothermic Exothermic Cornell Doodle Notes

Balancing Chemical Equations Cornell Doodle Notes and Powerpoint

Conservation of Matter Lab

Thanks for looking!

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