A good week...long...but good!
That pretty much sums it up. As I sit here typing this, I have that hazy feeling of, "Wait, Monday was only a few days ago...why can't I remember it?" This was just one of those weeks that was chock-full of stuff. But even though I can't remember Monday, I know it was a good day. Because if it was a bad day, I would know.
Okay, I shook off some of the cobwebs , and now I am remembering Monday (actually I cheated and looked at my lesson plans). My 7th graders this week started our next unit on extreme weather, climate change, and human impacts. We took a look at one of the standards and broke it down into a more student-friendly language so that we can relate to it more. I like doing this with the class and then writing the standards & translations next to each other on the window so that the students can see the scientific terminology along with the personal meanings. We then discussed what we know about climate change and then filled in some of the gaps with guided note taking along with a video and a few other resources. With the science community pretty much in agreement that humans have had the greatest impact on climate change as of late ("as of late" when you consider at the long history of the earth), we then turned the table on ourselves. We looked into what is trying to be done about climate change by doing some leveled readings of a science article from Newsela in small groups, and next up we are going to be working on a project for raising awareness about climate change for our peers through the use of some choice activities (public service announcements, advertising campaigns, game creation, models of Earth in the future if we don't change, etc.). I'm looking forward to the finished products on those. But along with the learning, I also had to throw in a little fun. The students had the opportunity to play the online game Offset. In the game you need to try to counteract carbon dioxide emissions. Here's a link...the kids really liked it! Offset
My 8th graders this week were playing the roles of paleontologists trying to determine what fossil they were unearthing (okay, not actually unearthing, but pulling bone sets out of envelopes). Each day this week they got to "dig up" a few more bones and then try to piece them together. Tomorrow is our last day and the big reveal! Each group was digging up the same animal, but they were only able to dig up portions of the whole animal, so they need to collaborate with other digging teams to fill in the gaps. Some of the students were making some pretty good guesses (along with finding some key bones) after just a couple of days! Along with their fossil explorations, the students were also going on a WebQuest through an interactive site. They learned about how fossils are able to not only tell about past animals but also give clues to the environment and climate, as well as identifying connections between fossils and present-day life. Today the students did some small group science article analysis on extinction events and the data that gives clues to when it happened. Lots of good learning this week!
Today was a big first for me this year--it was my first day with a sub and being out of the room for a science department meeting! I know that this probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but with me not having this experience at the middle school level yet, there was a little nervousness there as to whether or not everything would go as planned--which it did! I was able to check in with my sub at the end of the day, and she said the students did a great job! There was definitely a big difference in making sub plans at the middle school level than at the elementary level (easier, if I can be honest). It felt really nice to write, "For this class, just do the same thing as the last class." :-)
Now we just need a good Friday to finish out the week!
Mindfulness thought for the week: Every day can't be the best day, but it doesn't have to be the worst either. This thought came once again from the Pro You Podcast, but not from Tom...this one was from Kyle Clark. Thanks Kyle! My students got a lot out of that thought and had a good discussion!
Okay, I shook off some of the cobwebs , and now I am remembering Monday (actually I cheated and looked at my lesson plans). My 7th graders this week started our next unit on extreme weather, climate change, and human impacts. We took a look at one of the standards and broke it down into a more student-friendly language so that we can relate to it more. I like doing this with the class and then writing the standards & translations next to each other on the window so that the students can see the scientific terminology along with the personal meanings. We then discussed what we know about climate change and then filled in some of the gaps with guided note taking along with a video and a few other resources. With the science community pretty much in agreement that humans have had the greatest impact on climate change as of late ("as of late" when you consider at the long history of the earth), we then turned the table on ourselves. We looked into what is trying to be done about climate change by doing some leveled readings of a science article from Newsela in small groups, and next up we are going to be working on a project for raising awareness about climate change for our peers through the use of some choice activities (public service announcements, advertising campaigns, game creation, models of Earth in the future if we don't change, etc.). I'm looking forward to the finished products on those. But along with the learning, I also had to throw in a little fun. The students had the opportunity to play the online game Offset. In the game you need to try to counteract carbon dioxide emissions. Here's a link...the kids really liked it! Offset
My 8th graders this week were playing the roles of paleontologists trying to determine what fossil they were unearthing (okay, not actually unearthing, but pulling bone sets out of envelopes). Each day this week they got to "dig up" a few more bones and then try to piece them together. Tomorrow is our last day and the big reveal! Each group was digging up the same animal, but they were only able to dig up portions of the whole animal, so they need to collaborate with other digging teams to fill in the gaps. Some of the students were making some pretty good guesses (along with finding some key bones) after just a couple of days! Along with their fossil explorations, the students were also going on a WebQuest through an interactive site. They learned about how fossils are able to not only tell about past animals but also give clues to the environment and climate, as well as identifying connections between fossils and present-day life. Today the students did some small group science article analysis on extinction events and the data that gives clues to when it happened. Lots of good learning this week!
Today was a big first for me this year--it was my first day with a sub and being out of the room for a science department meeting! I know that this probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but with me not having this experience at the middle school level yet, there was a little nervousness there as to whether or not everything would go as planned--which it did! I was able to check in with my sub at the end of the day, and she said the students did a great job! There was definitely a big difference in making sub plans at the middle school level than at the elementary level (easier, if I can be honest). It felt really nice to write, "For this class, just do the same thing as the last class." :-)
Now we just need a good Friday to finish out the week!
Mindfulness thought for the week: Every day can't be the best day, but it doesn't have to be the worst either. This thought came once again from the Pro You Podcast, but not from Tom...this one was from Kyle Clark. Thanks Kyle! My students got a lot out of that thought and had a good discussion!
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