Apologia Chemistry: Periodic Trends

Years ago, I went to a Chemistry conference and another teacher brought a styrofoam model of Periodic Trends.  Genius!  She mentioned Flinn Scientific's Plotting Trends Activity, which uses straws and reaction plates.  I took the idea and adapted it into more of an inquiry based exercise.  I assemble a variety of materials, such as toothpicks, straws, markers, clay, etc. and distribute paper plates and copies of a periodic table shrunk to fit a paper plate.  Next, each group gets a different trend to model and may use color, toothpicks, etc. to model the trend.  Students must be able to define and explain their trend, their choice of materials, and a key.  Friendly Chemistry has a similar exercise using playdough, spaghetti, and a periodic table.  This time, my kids are getting reaction plates, clay, and straws to model these trends: atomic radius, electronegativity, electron affinity, metallic and nonmetallic character, and first ionization energy, with a summary of the trends.  Here is a fun game  to reinforce the trends.  I have a set of Flinn's Periodic Chart Lab; NASA has a set of cards which are part of a unit on the Periodic Table, which students can arrange into groups, if your students needs a bit more study of the Periodic Table.  Our next class is going to be packed!