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Texas Science Teacher Resource Hub

Free scope and sequences, TEKS breakdowns, phenomenon ideas, and engagement activities for the 2024 Texas science standards.

Chris Kesler
I'm Chris Kesler, a former award-winning Texas middle school science teacher. This is the site I wish I'd had in the classroom. One hub with TEKS breakdowns, scope and sequences, phenomenon starters, engagement ideas, and resources, all aligned to the standards you actually teach.
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Pick your grade level and go straight to your TEKS standards, aligned resources, and teaching tools.

All standards updated for the 2024 TEKS revision
TEKS Details | Texas Hub Module

6th Grade TEKS Standards

Click any standard to see what it means, how to teach it, where students get stuck, and aligned resources.

Matter & Properties (6.6)
6.6A Matter & Kinetic Energy 6.6B Pure Substances & Mixtures 6.6C Classify Elements 6.6D Comparing Density 6.6E Evidence of Chemical Changes
Force, Motion & Energy (6.7)
6.7A Forces in the Real-World 6.7B Calculating Net Force 6.7C Newton's Third Law of Motion
Energy (6.8)
6.8A Compare & Contrast Energies 6.8B Energy Transformations in Systems 6.8C Energy of Waves
Earth & Space (6.9)
6.9A Model Earth's Tilt & Seasons 6.9B Predicting Tides
Earth's Structure (6.10)
6.10A Differentiate Between Earth's Spheres 6.10B Modeling Layers of Earth 6.10C Processes in the Rock Cycle
Resources (6.11)
6.11A Resource Management 6.11B Managing Energy Resources
Ecosystems (6.12)
6.12A Biotic & Abiotic Competition 6.12B Ecological Relationships 6.12C Hierarchy of Ecosystems
Organisms (6.13)
6.13A Development of Cell Theory 6.13B Comparing Organisms 6.13C Variations & Survival
TEKS S.6.6C • Matter & Properties

Classify Elements

The Standard

"Identify elements on the periodic table as metals, nonmetals, metalloids, and rare Earth elements based on their physical properties and importance to modern life."

💡 What This Standard Actually Means

The Key Verb

"Identify". Students are using physical properties to put elements into the right group on the periodic table: metals, nonmetals, metalloids, and rare Earth elements. The newer addition for this standard is rare Earth elements and their importance to modern life, so kids need to know more than just where the element sits, they need to connect it to real uses (phones, batteries, magnets, screens). Instruction can take many forms, such as periodic table coloring activities, real-object sorting, technology-teardown research, and short videos on how rare Earth metals are mined.

The periodic table groups elements with similar properties together. Metals sit on the left side and middle. They tend to be shiny, conduct heat and electricity well, and can be bent or hammered without shattering. Iron, copper, aluminum, and gold are classic metals. Nonmetals sit on the upper right. They tend to be dull, don't conduct electricity well, and are brittle when solid. Many are gases at room temperature. Oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur all live here. Metalloids run along the stair-step line that separates metals from nonmetals and show a mix of properties. Silicon is the famous one because it's used in computer chips.

Rare Earth elements are a newer focus for this TEKS. They're a set of 17 elements (the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium) that aren't actually that rare in Earth's crust, but they're hard to find in concentrated deposits and difficult to separate from each other. The reason students need to know them is because they're hidden inside the technology kids use every day. Smartphones, laptops, electric car batteries, wind turbines, MRI machines, and LED screens all rely on rare Earth elements like neodymium, europium, and lithium.

The big idea students should walk away with is that the position of an element on the periodic table tells you a lot about how it behaves and where you'll find it in the modern world. Metals do the heavy lifting in construction and electricity. Nonmetals make up most of the air, water, and living things. Metalloids quietly run our electronics. Rare Earth elements power the devices in our pockets.

💬 From Chris's Classroom

The thing that clicked for my kids was treating the periodic table like a neighborhood map. I'd project a big version on the board and literally draw fences around the metals, the nonmetals, and the stair-step border. Then we'd play a game called "Who lives here?" I'd call out an element and a student had to walk up, find it, and tell me the neighborhood. After a few rounds, they stopped memorizing random elements and started seeing the pattern. The table went from scary to a tool they could actually use.

⚠️ Misconceptions Your Students May Have

These are some of the most common misconceptions. Knowing what to look for can help you get ahead of them.

×

"The periodic table is just a random list of elements to memorize"

✓

Students often see it as a wall of squares they have to memorize. The organization itself is the lesson. Elements in the same column have similar properties. Reading position left to right and top to bottom gives information about what an element is likely to do. It's a map, not a list.

×

"All metals are hard and solid"

✓

Students picture iron or steel and assume every metal is rock-hard. Mercury is a metal that's liquid at room temperature. Sodium is soft enough to cut with a butter knife. Gallium melts in your hand. The common properties (shiny, conductive, malleable) hold for many metals, but hardness and state of matter can vary a lot.

×

"Nonmetals are all gases"

✓

Because the obvious nonmetals (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen) are gases, students assume all nonmetals are. Carbon is a nonmetal and it's solid (think of the graphite in pencils). Sulfur is a yellow solid. Bromine is a reddish-brown liquid. Nonmetals can be solids, liquids, or gases at room temperature.

×

"Metalloids are just a weird in-between category nobody really uses"

✓

Metalloids show up everywhere in modern life. Silicon is the backbone of computer chips and solar panels because it sits between "good conductor" and "insulator." Boron is in borax and Pyrex glass. The split personality of metalloids, part metal and part nonmetal, is exactly what makes them so useful.

📓 Teaching Resources for 6.6C

These resources are aligned to this standard.

Complete 5E Lesson
Classify Elements Complete Science Lesson
The full unit for 6.6C: differentiated station labs, editable presentations, interactive notebooks (English + Spanish), student-choice projects, and assessments. Built on the 5E model.
⏱ Best for: Full unit coverage • Multiple class periods
Preview → Buy →
Station Lab
Classify Elements Station Lab
9-station hands-on lab covering metals, nonmetals, and metalloids using the periodic table, with input stations (Explore It!, Watch It!, Read It!, Research It!) and output stations (Organize It!, Illustrate It!, Write It!, Assess It!). Print and digital. English and Spanish.
🔬 Best for: Core instruction • 1-2 class periods
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Student Choice Projects
Classify Elements Student Choice Projects
Choice board with nine project options plus a "design your own" pathway. Students demonstrate their understanding of metals, nonmetals, and metalloids through writing, building, illustrating, presenting, or digital formats.
🎓 Best for: Project-based assessment • 2-3 class periods
Preview → Buy →

🌎 Phenomenon Ideas for 6.6C

Use these real-world phenomena to anchor your lesson. Show students the phenomenon first, let them wonder, then build toward Classify Elements as the explanation.

🔎
Phenomenon 1

Why Silicon Runs Your Phone

The chip inside every smartphone is made largely of silicon, which is extracted from plain sand. Silicon isn't a great conductor like copper, and it's not a strong insulator like rubber. It sits in the middle, and that's exactly the point. Engineers can tune how well it conducts electricity, which makes it the backbone of modern computing.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"Why would engineers want a material that's kind of a conductor but kind of not? What does silicon's in-between behavior have to do with where it sits on the periodic table?"

🔎
Phenomenon 2

A Penny That's Not Really Copper

Most pennies made after 1982 are mostly zinc with a thin copper coating. Both zinc and copper are metals. Both are shiny, both conduct electricity, both can be shaped without breaking. But if you scratch deep into a modern penny, the inside looks different from the outside. Different metals can look and feel similar and still be distinct elements.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"Zinc and copper are both metals, but they're different elements. What properties do they share because they're both metals? Where do you find them on the periodic table, and what does that tell you?"

🔎
Phenomenon 3

Why Skyscrapers Aren't Made of Sulfur

Skyscrapers, bridges, and cars are built from metals like iron and aluminum. They're strong, can be shaped, and hold up under pressure. Sulfur, a nonmetal, is a yellow solid that crumbles when you hit it. Both are pure elements, but nobody builds a bridge out of sulfur. Where an element sits on the periodic table predicts what jobs it can do.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"Why are buildings built from metals and not from nonmetals like sulfur? What properties of metals make them good for construction, and which properties of nonmetals get in the way?"

💡 Free Engagement Ideas for 6.6C

01

Shine, Bend, Conduct Test

Set up three test stations. Give groups samples of safe elements and common materials: aluminum foil, a copper wire, a pencil (graphite core), a chunk of charcoal, and a piece of tin. At each station they test for shininess, ability to bend without breaking, and conductivity with a simple battery-bulb circuit. They fill out a property chart and classify each as metal, nonmetal, or metalloid.

Materials: Aluminum foil, copper wire, pencil, charcoal, battery and bulb circuit, property chart
02

Color the Periodic Table

Hand out blank periodic tables. Using three highlighters or colored pencils, students color metals one color, nonmetals another, and metalloids a third. Draw the stair-step line in a bold color. The physical act of coloring the boundaries locks in where each group lives. Hang finished tables on the wall as a reference.

Materials: Printed blank periodic tables, colored pencils or highlighters
03

Mystery Element Bag

Put 6 to 8 samples (paper clip, pencil lead, aluminum can tab, copper penny, sulfur sample from a science kit, small zinc washer) into numbered bags. Students pass the bags around, note properties, and try to classify each before you reveal what the element is and where it lives on the periodic table.

Materials: Small bags, element and material samples, property observation chart
04

Build-a-City Element Match

Show a slide of a city street. Students identify parts of the scene (car body, window glass, copper wiring, concrete, rubber tires) and work backward to ask which elements are in each and why. They classify each element as metal, nonmetal, or metalloid and explain why that category fits the job.

Materials: Photo of a city scene, element classification chart, periodic table
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Year-at-a-Glance Pacing Guides

Practical, week-by-week scope and sequences for grades 4-8. These tell you what to teach and when to teach it. Updated for the 2024 TEKS.

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