I have students construct Lewis structures on the board starting at the noble gases and working backwards to the group 14 elements.  We talk about both second period then heavier elements.  As we move across the period we transition from molecular solids to extended solids.  

This is a nice transition from molecular chemistry to extended compounds.  I use this as a bridge into the solid state portion of the course because it allows me to review Lewis structures, trends in bond energies, and provide some descriptive chemistry information. 

It’s very surprising how little students remember from general chemistry.  This assignment helps students make connections between the macroscopic properties of solutions and what happens at the molecular level.  This activity serves as a bridge between sections on acid-base chemistry and coordination chemistry.

Students are solicited for their models of the behavior of different chemical compounds in water in class and asked to put these models on the board.  We then look at the properties of these solutions (color, acid-base) and refine these models in class.

I find that students get a better understanding of solid state structure by playing with models.  I give students two fifty-minute class periods to look at the structure types that we discuss in class.  This is an old in-class activity that needs massive updating.

In this activity,  students look at the holes in different lattice types (simple cubic, ccp, hcp) and the CsCl, NaCl, CdI₂, ZnS, and spinel structure types.