The mass number provided isn't a whole number because it is a weighted average of the naturally occurring isotopes of the element. I'll talk about the math related to that weighted average in another posting.
There are a lot of videos about the Periodic Table on the Internet, several produced by students -- it's your choice to review them.
This movie is older, but it's one of my favorites and I used it for several years -- btw, it's 25 minutes long. It's a fun overview, and the animation at the end amused many of my students. (I know the beginning is a little warped, but once it starts, it's just fine.)
The table below is a basic overview -- it doesn't have all of the information I would share, but it's a start:
Different numbering systems are used for the groups, right now I'm just opting to use 1 - 18, keeping it simple.
Another aspect students are responsible for are the trends in atomic radius, ionization energy and electronegativity (noted as electron affinity in the picture below).
This diagram summarizes the trends:
http://faculty.sdmiramar.edu/fgarces/zCourse/All_Year/Ch100_OL/aMy_FileLec/04OL_LecNotes_Ch100/03_AtomsElements/306_PeriodicTable/306_PeriodicTrends.htm
Here's one worksheet to use as a class:
Here are a couple:
http://www.kwanga.net/chemnotes/periodic-trend-graph-lab.pdf
http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/chempdfs/PeriodicTrends.pdf
*I'd love to hear from you -- tell me about your lab experiences, ask your questions, or share your ideas for other topics for this blog!
For other lab ideas, check out my lab book "Chemistry on a Budget" at amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget
Each lab is presented with two possible report formats -- both with the same procedure -- one with 10 questions to be answered as a conclusion, the other with a full laboratory report required. This was to give the teacher the option of what type of report is desired!
Have a good week!