Well, that was a first...

So, having taught 3rd grade for all the years prior to this one, I've never really had to teach about Human Growth and Development. Being in middle school now, things have changed. You see, as you get older, your body will begin to go through...just kidding.
Earlier in the year at a science meeting, the other 8th-grade science teacher and I were informed that due to 8th graders not having health class, they would be having "the talk" during science. Well, we put our heads together and determined that the best time to do it would be to include it with our unit on body systems. And, to be honest, it worked out perfectly! The class is learning about cells, and the main Human Growth and Development topic for 8th grade is STDs. There were quite a few connections between the two! Some of you may be thinking, "Well, didn't you make them connect so well because you planned it that way?" Nope. At this point, I should state that I didn't actually have to plan out or teach the lessons--the gym/health teacher took care of it. I was mainly there to help support the classroom management and answer questions as needed. The gym/health teacher did a fantastic job meeting the kids at their level and not making it too cringy for the students. I was actually surprised how well the students handled everything--I thought there would have been more snickers, but I think the subject matter of STDs had them in more of an "I didn't know that!" state-of-mind.
In 7th grade this week, I got to throw in my love of math by having the students collect data and plug their data into the formula for kinetic energy. We had an online simulator that has a skateboarder on a half-pipe ramp that is six meters high. At each meter, the students needed to collect data on how fast the skater was traveling. The simulator had the ability to change the mass of the skater, so that allowed us to be able to collect data in a way that we would be able to compare the relationship between mass, velocity, and kinetic energy. Once they had their data and calculated the kinetic energy using the formula, they needed to graph their data in a triple-line graph. It was definitely a good activity for them to do because many of the students needed to be refreshed on how to make a graph.
All in all, though, they turned out pretty well! (Now I just need to get them graded...along with a few other things!)

Mindfulness thought for the week: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  --Aesop

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