{
    "name": "Daily Bell Ringers Library",
    "description": "Free bell ringers (3–5 minute classroom warm-ups) for grades 6–12, with answers and teacher notes.",
    "url": "https://dailybellringers.org/bell-ringer-library/science/grades-6-8/",
    "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
    "credit": "Daily Bell Ringers (dailybellringers.org)",
    "filters": {
        "subject": "Science",
        "grade": "Grades 6–8"
    },
    "generated": "2026-10-13T16:31:03+00:00",
    "count": 2,
    "items": [
        {
            "id": 81,
            "date": "2026-10-13",
            "grade": "Grades 6–8",
            "subject": "Science",
            "topic": "Why ice floats",
            "prompt": "Most substances get denser when they freeze, so the solid sinks in its own liquid. Water is different: ice floats. Explain why, and predict about how much of an ice cube sits above the water line.",
            "answer": "When water freezes, its molecules line up in a regular pattern (a lattice) that holds them farther apart than in liquid water. That makes ice about 9 percent less dense than liquid water, and anything less dense than water floats. Because ice's density is about 90 percent of water's, roughly 10 percent of an ice cube or iceberg sits above the surface.\nExtension: why does it matter for fish that lakes freeze from the top down instead of the bottom up?\nSource: USGS Water Science School: Water Density",
            "sources": "https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-density",
            "url": "https://dailybellringers.org/bell-ringer/science-bell-ringer-grades-6-8-why-ice-floats/",
            "set_url": "https://dailybellringers.org/bell-ringers-grades-6-8-2026-10-13/",
            "pin": "https://dailybellringers.org/wp-content/uploads/pins/lib-science-bell-ringer-grades-6-8-why-ice-floats.png?v=845cf051"
        },
        {
            "id": 71,
            "date": "2026-10-12",
            "grade": "Grades 6–8",
            "subject": "Science",
            "topic": "Why the Orionid meteor shower returns every October",
            "prompt": "Every October, Earth passes through dust left behind by Halley's Comet, and we see the Orionid meteor shower. Why does the same meteor shower show up around the same dates every year?",
            "answer": "The comet's dust is spread along its orbit. Earth's orbit crosses that dusty path at the same point each year, so we run into it around the same time every October. The Orionids are active from early October to early November, peaking around October 21–22.\nSource: NASA: Orionids Meteor Shower",
            "sources": "https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/",
            "url": "https://dailybellringers.org/bell-ringer/science-bell-ringer-grades-6-8-why-the-orionid-meteor-shower-returns-every/",
            "set_url": "https://dailybellringers.org/bell-ringers-grades-6-8-2026-10-12/",
            "pin": "https://dailybellringers.org/wp-content/uploads/pins/lib-science-bell-ringer-grades-6-8-why-the-orionid-meteor-shower-returns-every.png?v=90ba29d1"
        }
    ]
}