After posting my last post, even though it wasn't much, I found something that may be able to turn our teacher jobs into more of what things would be like the first day of school. The Washington Post has a really interesting article...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/24/teacher-spends-two-days-as-a-student-and-is-shocked-at-what-she-learned/
This article has really made me think about my classroom and my teaching style. Yes, my ideal room would be having my students sit down and not say a word so I can talk the entire time....
However, that may always be the best solution. I want to encourage all teachers whether you teach middle school or high school to read this! It may put a different perspective on teaching! :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Despicable Me
http://giantgag.net/teachers-be-like-minions/
Despicable Me is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. I mean come on...who doesn't love the minions!? :) As teachers, we all have had the despicable moments of our career or even of our week. We love seeing our students everyday and love seeing their smiles each morning (well after a skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks) but mostly seeing them grow throughout the year. Anyways, now that it is the end of October, I think/know we all feel a little burnt out and a bit despicable. So, I want to let you, teachers, know that you are not alone in your job! Everyday counts and does makes a difference in your students life...even the days that can feel a bit despicable!
Sunday, October 19, 2014
6th Grade Science- 3D Animal Cells
My 6th grade class just finished learning about plant and animal cells! I really wanted to do a hands on activity with cells, so this past week we created 3D-models of an animal cell out of jello and candy. My kids LOVED IT! In my opinion, they looked okay and I probably would make a few adjustments for next year, but like I said the kids had a blast! I mean come on, what 6th grader doesn't like artificial colors, sugar, and getting a bit messy!? So here is what I did before we completed this lab.
Materials: (A great project to do around Halloween!)
Before lesson:
Over the weekend, my oh-so-kind sister helped me make the jello and put the liquid jello in each snack sized plastic bag. We figured that about 3/4 cup of jello was a good amount for each student. I bought 8 packages of jello for my 30 students and it worked perfectly.
After making the jello and putting them in the individual bags, we put all the little 30 zipped bags in the fridge to fully gel. Then, we distributed all the candy the students would need in bags (dixie cups would work well too) so there wouldn't be 30 hands in the nerds box, skittle bag, raisin bag, etc. After placing all the candy/material in individual bags, we took a break and ate some of the left over candy! Please, don't forget that step! ;)
Here are a few pictures of the prep work!
Lesson:
After going through an example, I passed out the individual jello bags and then had a student pass out the candy bags. After passing out the bags, I had a poster and we went through the names and functions of each part of the cell. I was really surprised how much the students remembered the functions and the names of each part of the cell. Once we got to the golgi body, I had students all take their twizzlers out and fold them like a wave to really make the golgi body stand out. Finally, I had my students write a lab report and examine their 3D animal cell! I did not let them eat it in class, but would have to wait till they got home to eat it! Hope this is helpful and make's your students smile too!
Pictures soon to come!
Materials: (A great project to do around Halloween!)
- Snack Sized Zip Plastic Bags = Cell Membrane
- Yellow/Orange Jello = Cytoplasm
- Nerds = Ribosomes
- Skittles = lysosome
- Jelly Beans = centrosome
- Gopstoppers = vacuole
- Peel and Pull Twizzlers = Golgi Body
- Raisins = mitochondria
- Gummy Worm = Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum
- Sour Gummy Worm = Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum
- Palmer Wrapped Eyeball Carmel Chocolate = Nucleus, Nucleolus, and Nuclear Membrane
Before lesson:
Over the weekend, my oh-so-kind sister helped me make the jello and put the liquid jello in each snack sized plastic bag. We figured that about 3/4 cup of jello was a good amount for each student. I bought 8 packages of jello for my 30 students and it worked perfectly.
After making the jello and putting them in the individual bags, we put all the little 30 zipped bags in the fridge to fully gel. Then, we distributed all the candy the students would need in bags (dixie cups would work well too) so there wouldn't be 30 hands in the nerds box, skittle bag, raisin bag, etc. After placing all the candy/material in individual bags, we took a break and ate some of the left over candy! Please, don't forget that step! ;)
Here are a few pictures of the prep work!
Lesson:
After going through an example, I passed out the individual jello bags and then had a student pass out the candy bags. After passing out the bags, I had a poster and we went through the names and functions of each part of the cell. I was really surprised how much the students remembered the functions and the names of each part of the cell. Once we got to the golgi body, I had students all take their twizzlers out and fold them like a wave to really make the golgi body stand out. Finally, I had my students write a lab report and examine their 3D animal cell! I did not let them eat it in class, but would have to wait till they got home to eat it! Hope this is helpful and make's your students smile too!
Pictures soon to come!
Saturday, October 11, 2014
A Bug in the Drawer
Bugs are totally gross...I get it! Trust me! If I mention the word "bug" in my classroom, I have more students (yes...boys too) on the desks than I have ever seen before! It's so crazy how we are so BIG and yet afraid of something SO small. This past week, I noticed that when I open the top drawer in my desk, there is this small beetle like bug sitting on my reward tickets! Every time, I try to inch my way into the drawer and move my hand to pick up the reward ticket (with the bug sitting there), this little stinker goes back under the drawer where I can't get to it! I have attempted to remove this bug for three days and have had no luck. You are all probably thinking, why don't you just empty your drawer and take the drawer out? Yes, I could empty everything out of the drawer and remove the drawer and then get this bug, but I have realized that this has turned into a game and one day I will win this game and put this bug in a better place for him which will be outside!
Now almost finished with the first quarter, this bug got me thinking. We all have bugs or little aggravations or little moments in our school days that we don't expect. Lesson plans don't go as well, a last minute meeting scheduled, common core standards that need to be taught, curriculum maps that don't quite match to today's date, or basic concepts/topics that need to be reviewed which takes time that should have been mastered the first week of school! Good grief, where's the bag of chocolate!? :) But yet, we still make it through each school day and school year seeing students/teachers succeed, smile, share, learn, and grow!
Hebrews 10:24 KJV
Now almost finished with the first quarter, this bug got me thinking. We all have bugs or little aggravations or little moments in our school days that we don't expect. Lesson plans don't go as well, a last minute meeting scheduled, common core standards that need to be taught, curriculum maps that don't quite match to today's date, or basic concepts/topics that need to be reviewed which takes time that should have been mastered the first week of school! Good grief, where's the bag of chocolate!? :) But yet, we still make it through each school day and school year seeing students/teachers succeed, smile, share, learn, and grow!
Hebrews 10:24 KJV
"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works"
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