Science Bell Ringers for Grades 6–8
This page collects every science bell ringer we have posted for grades 6–8: 2 bell ringers so far, newest first, with a new one added each school day. Each is a 3–5 minute warm-up for middle school students covering predict-and-explain questions and short problems from life, earth and physical science. The answer and teacher notes sit in the collapsed box under each prompt, so you can project the page without giving anything away.
Why ice floats
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 and teacher notes
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.
Extension: why does it matter for fish that lakes freeze from the top down instead of the bottom up?
Why the Orionid meteor shower returns every October
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 and teacher notes
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.
Source: NASA: Orionids Meteor Shower
Free to use. Copy, print, project or adapt any of these for your students. If you share them online, please credit Daily Bell Ringers with a link. Not for resale. License: CC BY-NC 4.0.
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Want more? See our ready-made list of science bell ringers and how to run bell ringers in middle school, or make a custom one with the free bell ringer generator.