Thursday, August 23, 2012

First Day Back

Today was surprisingly quiet.  No hiccups and very little disruption made for a great first day back. I attended a very helpful professional development yesterday and hope I can really use what I learned this school year. Although I do hate that the district put earth science first this year, physical science is always so much fun at the beginning of the year.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Back to School Already!

I can't believe it's time to go back to school already. Another year of teaching 7th and 8th grade science, Hip Hip Hooray!

Last school year when I first started teaching middle school science I put all of my lesson plans, worksheets, etc. for each unit into separate binders, which I am so happy I did. So I spent the summer working on updating and upgrading my unit binders, I have about 10 now. The task has been quite tedious, especially since I have two kids under 4 who require a great deal of attention. So out of the 10 binders I am still working on 4 and with school staring on the 22nd you can imagine how anxious I am feeling about not being fully prepared. But I'm sure I'll get done in time (fingers and toes crossed).

For this school year I've decided there are a few things I really want to focus on.
      The first being getting a better handle on my life science units. There are only about 5-7 standards and for me personally they seem a bit ambiguous and too broad. So I'm going to try to find some other teacher(s) to work with so I can do a better job on that this year.
      Secondly, I really want the students to do a lot more with their science notebooks. I started out really good last year, I promise I did, but fell off in the middle of September and got preoccupied with the other "company" crap. But this year we are going to be deep into our notebooks, lots of writing.
      Lastly I have diligently spent all summer working on updating my foldable collection. Last year the students really enjoyed the foldables we made for our Earth and Space science units. I've even gotten the Math teacher hooked and she's purchased a couple of Dinah Zike's books. This summer I purchased Dinah's Life Science Notebooking Foldables along with the two Physical Science books about Forces/Motion and Energy. They are inexpensive and worth the investment. I was so happy when they came in the mail. I also purchased the Plate Tectonics Geoblox book. It cost a bit more but it's made by a teacher in Texas, gotta support his entrepreneurial spirit. The book includes paper drawings that can be folded into 3-D models On the website you're even provided with sample pages so you can try some of the models before you buy.

Consider checking out these resources this year as you enhance your student's learning with hands-on activities that keep them engaged and help them retain information. I will be sure to post pictures of my foldables as the school year progresses.