Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

This was definitely an odd week! Due to the weather, we had off of school more than we were in school! Monday brought a lot of snow (I believe the measurements were around a foot), so that called for a snow day. It was such a sure thing that school was canceled already on Sunday. That time on Monday allowed me to catch up on some grading as well as get a quiz made for the 8th graders. I would like to say that Tuesday was business as usual, but there was an impending Polar Vortex that would be settling into our area on Tuesday night, so by lunchtime school had already been called off for yesterday and today. Needless to say, that definitely gave the students something else to think about other than what we had going on in class, but we made it work! I can't say they were too disappointed that the quiz scheduled for Wednesday was now postponed until tomorrow :-) Well, since I've had the last couple of days at home, that gave me more time to catch up on some things (although to b...

Talk about great timing! So, if you weren't aware, there was a lunar eclipse on Sunday night, and you'll never guess what I had planned to teach this week! That's right...chemistry! Just kidding :-) This week the 8th-grade students were learning about the lunar phases and solar/lunar eclipses. On Monday we learned about what the different phases are and how they happen, and Tuesday was spent learning about eclipses. On Wednesday we reviewed what we had learned, and then I introduced a short project the students would be creating. Our science standard states that the students should "Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of the lunar phases and eclipses," so the students were given the task of problem-solving with a flashlight and golf ball in order to create a model of the phases of the moon and eclipses. They needed to snap pictures of the lit golf ball from different perspectives to get the necessary phases and ecli...

I've made it to the halfway point of my first year of middle school, and I couldn't be happier! I have been very lucky (once again) to work with some outstanding people in my new position and having the opportunity to work in the new building! If you would have told me 10, 5, or even just a couple of years ago that I would be teaching middle school, I probably would have told you that you are crazy. But I am a believer in the idea that things are the way they are meant to be, and this is where I am meant to be! It has been an exciting, crazy, exhausting first semester feeling like a new teacher again, and I'm sure the second semester will feel the same way! But it will all be worth it, and I can't wait! The 7th graders had a busy and fun week! We spent the last few days designing and testing out air filters. The students were provided with some basic materials (pipe cleaners, cotton balls, cheesecloth, Kleenex, and tape) and were tasked with trying to filter out pepper...

It's been a whirlwind of a week, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I am beat (though much of it may be due to the cold I was fighting). But it's also been a fun week! The 7th graders have been giving presentations on their Science in the News articles (which I believe I wrote about last week) and they have been doing a pretty good job! In addition to the presentations, we are also wrapping up our earth science unit on severe weather, climate change, and human impacts on the earth. We are looking into air pollution, and this week the students made pollution detectors. It is a 3x5 index card with a hole cut into it and packing tape covering the hole. Then we hung the detectors around the inside of the school for a couple of days to see what sort of particles we could catch. In the meantime, the students also had a visit from the school district's facilities manager, Kevin Dulmes. Mr. Dulmes told the students about some of the ways that the school district tries to mana...

I think one of the hardest things about winter break is readjusting to the regular sleep schedule once school starts up again. To be honest, yesterday morning (the first day back) wasn't an issue probably because of adrenaline, but this morning was rough. It was one of those mornings that I wanted to just keep hitting the snooze. It was one of those mornings where I would have rather cuddled up in bed next to my daughter rather than trying to wake her up. But, alas, we had to get over our sleepiness and get on with the day. Today was a day that I have been looking forward to because it was the first day for presentations on semester-long projects for the students. The seventh-grade students were working on Science in the News projects. At the beginning of the year, the students were introduced to Newsela, a website that has a huge library of articles on a variety of topics, including a section on science-related articles. So the students got to peruse the articles that interested ...

That's been me for most of the last few days of winter break. It's just really hard to wake up on any given morning of break and know what day it is! So, yeah, maybe I kind of forgot that today was Thursday and that I needed to work on my blog (although once I did realize it, I seriously thought about not doing it). Nevertheless, I figured I would at least do a short post. I can't really say I have a lot to report on since last week, as this has been some much-needed rest and relaxation time during the holidays. I've had some nice time with family and friends so far, as well as some additional get-togethers scheduled in the coming days. Winter break has also been a good opportunity to take care of some "to-do" items around the house. And, of course, there is grading and planning to do. Those projects that my classes wrapped up prior to leaving for the break are waiting to be graded, so I am carving out some time to solely focus on them. So, seeing as how I...

It's been a whirlwind of a week leading up to Winter Break, but the students have been kept pretty busy this week to keep their minds occupied and not distracted by the coming vacation. Both the 7th and 8th-grade classes have been wrapping up some projects. Of course, there were still occurrences that drew their attention away from their work, but I have to say how proud of them I am that they were able to hold things together and be productive. The 7th graders have been working on group projects related to natural hazards, in which they got to select a weather-related natural hazard to learn more about and then create a presentation. The students needed to research what causes the hazards, where the hazards are typically located, the frequency and strength of the hazards, the effects of the hazards, and what technologies have been developed to mitigate the effects. The students were given a few ideas for how they would like to give their presentations, and most of them chose to m...