Simple Stuff
More Time-Saving Support
We’d prefer to sell only books, and let you add your own simple materials to keep your costs as low as possible. But it seems that teachers get busier by the year, and you may need to budget your time even more carefully than your wallet. And some activities require special items that may be easiest to purchase directly from TOPS. Below are simple things we can list at reasonable prices to make your professional life easier.
Contents
#104 Hand Lenses 3X @ $1.25 each
A basic tool of scientific discovery. You'll use these again and again.
(Need two per lab group for #17 Light and #42 Focus Pocus .)
#100 Triple Magnifier Kit @ $6.00 each (grades 3-12)
You'll get a 3X hand lens (available separately, above) plus a 25x lens and a 36X lens, along with simple materials and easy instructions to let your students build their own nifty TOPScopes. The small lenses make surprisingly powerful, delightfully portable magnifiers for little more than pocket change.
We provide a sheet of starter activities for exploring the world of small, indoors and out. You supply scissors, hole punch, packaging tape, specimens, small jars and curious students. One kit with three magnifiers will serve up to three students at a time.
#100 Triple Magnifier Kit for $6.00
Order extra lenses separately and provide clear plastic from deli cartons plus a few very simple extras for more students to make additional magnifiers with even greater economy.
Small dome lenses with instruction to make TOPScopes, plus starter activities.
#100S6 Six 36X Lenses for $12.00
Larger gumdrop lenses with instruction to make TOPScopes, plus starter activities.
#100L6 Six 25X Lenses for $6.00
#105 Ceramic Magnets @ 40¢ each
Rectangular magnets measure approx. 1 inch by 3/4 inch by 3/16 inch. These "refrigerator magnets" are educational, versatile, and just plain fun. Order extras!
(Need two per student for #19 Electricity , #20 Magnetism , and #33 Magnetism . Need 12 per class for #71 Lentil Science (K-3), and #72 Lentil Science (3-6).)
#108 Pyrex Beakers (50 mL) @ $5.00 each
These are heat resistant glass beakers suitable for boiling liquids and heating solids to dryness--the containers of choice for book #10 Analysis.
#SS109 Graduated Cylinder, 10 mL @ $3.50
A 10 mL plastic cylinder on a stable base, just right for #10 Analysis, and a nice tool for independent investigations.
#SS110 Graduated Cylinder, 100 mL @ $4.25
A 100 mL plastic cylinder, used in #23 Rocks & Minerals, and handy for all sorts of experiments involving liquid measurement.
#106 Box of Sugar Cubes @ $3.00 each
These 1 tsp. cubes (not bricks) are used to teach about length, area, volume, and mass. They may be hard to locate in eastern states. Each 32 oz. box contains 252 sugar cubes.
(Need 1 box per class for #35 Metric Measuring.)
SCALES AND BALANCES:
We're pleased to offer a new electronic digital scale to our list of student-built scales and balances, below. This is an amazing value that we're passing on to our TOPSciencers, and we can't be sure that we'll be able to restock at this price. And of course we continue to offer wonderful books that will let your students improvise their own hardy and accurate lab scales and balances. Building and interacting with these instruments, your students will experience the delight and empowerment of doing while they learn about measurement, science process, and experimental error.
#SS111 Digital Gram Pocket Scale, $14.50
This small scale with lightweight plastic shell will weigh items up to 500 grams, plus tare weight of a container. With lid closed, the scale is about 9 cm x 6 cm x 1.5 cm deep, and very lightweight (yes, you can carry it in a pocket!). Durable, but not child-proof or waterproof, so use with reasonable supervision. The scale is sensitive ± 0.1 gram, less precise than the student-built balance from Weighing #05, but suitable for use with #10 Analysis and #23 Rocks & Minerals. A sheet of superb TOPS starter activities is included, as well as a weighing pan and 2 demonstration button batteries from the factory with enough juice to get you started.
#05 Weighing
20 lessons / grades 6-11, for $9.50Using simple materials and recycled junk, construct a GRAM BALANCE accurate enough to support any TOPS activities requiring mass measurement (a balance is needed for one activity in #12 Floating & Sinking; also useful for several activities in #10 Analysis and #23 Rocks & Minerals). About half of this book details making the balance and gram masses - these lessons can be compressed into perhaps three hours of class time. You can also go on to build a SPRING BALANCE that measures in Newtons, providing the conceptual framework for distinguishing mass from weight (this instrument is not requisite for other TOPS titles).
#36 More Metrics
20 lessons / grades 6-10, for $15.00In addition to playful and creative lessons giving plenty of practice using metric measurement, your students can create an astonishingly accurate MICROBALANCE. While not required for other TOPS books, it is a wonderful tool for independent investigation.