First Twenty Periodic Table Elements

Have your students create their own periodic table by researching the first 20 elements and creating a chart that contains key information like their symbols, atomic numbers, atom diagrams, and mass. Students should also include a visualization of the use of the element.

It is important to remind them that if the symbol for an element has two letters, then the first letter will be capitalized and the second will be lowercase. For example, the symbol for helium is He, not HE or he. The elements are arranged by order of atomic number (which is the number of protons and electrons), not the atomic mass.

This is a great activity to check concept understanding at the end of teaching the elements and periodic table. Alternatively, have your students complete this activity at the start of the topic and use the resource they made as a personalized study guide. You can make this less challenging for students by giving them more information at the start or by asking them to include less information. For example, students could just include the symbol and the atomic number. To stretch your more advanced students, get them to research properties and uses for each of the first 20 elements. They could then include this information on their storyboards.

Please note in this activity, we have used the atomic mass of the most abundant isotope for each element. You may find that the average atomic mass is listed on some periodic tables.