8 Things you didn’t know about Spiders

Are you afraid of spiders? Is it the 8 legs? The sticky web? The antennae? The 6-8 eyes? Here are 8 things you didn’t know about spiders. I bet your students didn’t know them either.

  1. Spiders have either 6 or 8 eyes. The pattern of the eyes8 fascinating facts your middle school students probably didn't know about spiders varies among the different species of spiders. Most spiders don’t see very well, with the exception of the jumping spiders which have excellent vision.
  2. There are more than 45,000 species of spiders. The smallest spider, the Samoan moss spider, is 0.011 inches long. The largest spider, the Goliath Bird-eater, is 4.7 inches long. Female spiders are usually larger than males of their species.
  3. If an animal is poisonous, like the pufferfish or the monarch butterfly, you die if you eat it. Spiders are not poisonous and are eaten safely in many parts of the world. Spiders are venomous which means that they inject prey with poison.  Spiders have fangs which they use to inject their venom. All spiders have venom but most are not harmful to humans. Spider venom may cause allergic reactions similar to a mosquito bite.
  4. In North America, the only spider venoms that are dangerous to humans come from the black widow spider and the brown recluse spider. Black widow spiders are black with a red hourglass shaped pattern on the underside of their bodies. They live in areas where debris accumulates such as undisturbed wood piles. They also like to live anywhere flies live because flies are their primary food source. A black widow bite leaves two puncture marks on the skin. Their  venom contains a neurotoxin which causes pain at the site of the bite and may spread to the rest of the body is rarely fatal.  Brown recluse spiders are also called violin or fiddle spiders because of their shape. Brown recluse spiders like to live in secluded dry sheltered areas like rock piles. They can not bite humans unless they are pressed up against the human’s skin such as when they are trapped. Bites sting and hurt. They eventually develop into a small white blister. Their venom contains cytotoxins which can cause tissue damage and infection.
  5. 8 fascinating facts your middle school students probably don't know about spiders Spiders can’t eat their food whole. First, they inject their prey with venom to paralyze them. Then, they wrap the prey with silk to keep it immobile. Finally, spiders inject the insects with digestive fluid. After the insect is digested into a liquid, the spider can suck up the digested insect.
  6. Not all spiders build webs but all spiders produce silk. Silk is a strong protein fiber which spiders use to anchor themselves, to catch prey, or to wrap up their prey before they eat it. Silk is extruded by the spider’s spinnerets which are modified appendages on the spider’s abdomen.
  7. Small spiders secrete long strands of silk that act like a parachute and can be carried by the wind and carry the spiders great distances. This behavior is called ballooning or kiting and helps the spider species spread to new geographic areas and islands. Ballooning spiders travel between 10 and 2600 feet above the surface of the Earth. While ballooning, spiders can stay aloft and alive up to 25 days.
  8. Some scientists are researching ways to use spider venom as a pesticide to control insects in crops. Since most spider venom is not dangerous to people or other vertebrates, they theorize that it can be safely sprayed on crops to keep away insects that would otherwise destroy the crops.

Still scary? I think spiders are incredibly fascinating creatures, at Halloween time and always.

Check out my blog post on Halloween science activities for middle schoolers here.

Photo credits:

Spider eyes Photo by Егор Камелев on Unsplash

Brown spider Photo by Ed van duijn on Unsplash

Tarantula Photo by Nareeta Martin on Unsplash

8 things you probably didn’t know about vampire bats

At Halloween time, or any time, students are fascinated by vampire bats. Maybe it’s  because vampire bats seem so scary and dangerous. But here are 8 facts you, and your students, probably didn’t know about vampire bats. I bet they’ll love learning about them.

  1. There are 3 species of vampire bats, all living in Central and South America. The average vampire bat weighs 2 ounces and is 3-4 inches long with a 7 inch wingspan. A bat’s lifespan is about 9 years.
  2. Vampire bats, unlike other bats, can walk and jump.
  3. Vampire bats do drink blood. This is called hematophagy and it technically makes vampire bats parasites. Most animals that drink blood also eat or drink other things, but vampire bats are the only mammal whose only food supply is blood.8 things you probably didn't know about vampire bats
  4. Vampire bats have special thermoreceptor cells on their noses which are able to feel warmth. These help the bat locate the part of the prey where blood is closest to the skin.
  5. Vampire bats have highly developed hearing and are able to detect the breathing sounds of sleeping animals. When vampire bats locate a sleeping animal, they land on the ground near the animal and sneak up toward it in what looks like a crawl.
  6. Vampire bats have very sharp front teeth so that they can cut into the skin of their prey, usually horses, pigs, or cows but also sometimes birds. Once the skin is pierced, the birds lap the blood from the wound. This is different from mosquitos which such the blood from their prey. The bat’s saliva contains chemicals that prevent the mammal’s blood from clotting, allowing it to feel for a longer time, up to 30 minutes. Mosquitoes also have these chemicals.
  7. Vampire bats live in groups in very dark places such as caves and hollow trees. They really do sleep upside down with their wings wrapped around themselves.
  8. Bats within a vampire bat colony share food. A bat who didn’t find prey one night might receive a gift of regurgitated blood from another bat in the colony. This behavior is more common between colony members that are related to each other. Vampire bats also groom each other.

You absolutely want to watch this video on Youtube. Amazing footage of vampire bats hopping and drinking blood.

 

Check out my blog post on Halloween science activities for middle schoolers here.

Photo credits:

Sleeping bat Photo by Yannis H on Unsplash

Bat on the ground Photo by White on Unsplash

Starting a compost pile

Autumn is the best time to start a compost bin. First, when you make a compost pile in the autumn, you get a quick start on your compost with leaves which decompose quickly. Secondly, if you compost now, you’ll have beautiful black gold (that’s what my mother, the most amazing gardener I know, calls it) by springtime.

Every spring, I dream of a fantastic vegetable garden, filled with ripe produce I can pick and cook the same day. Peas, green beans, tomatoes, peppers – my whole kitchen will be overflowing with the bountiful harvest of my labor.

But reality sets in. I’m not a good gardener.  Even during the spring of quarantine, my efforts were spotty at best and my rewards were slim. But, that shall not prevent me from dreaming!

Compost reportedly improves the taste and nutrition of the vegetables you grow in your garden. Using a compost pile also reduces garbage which saves space in landfills (which reduces methane production which reduces greenhouse gases).

Here are some simple tips to making a great compost pile:
  • Invest in a $40 compost bin that spins if you want. Or use a garbage can with a few holes drilled
    Autumn is the perfect time to start a compost pile!
    Autumn is the perfect time to start a compost pile!

    into the bottom and sides. This year, I’m using both (dreaming big!). I have a black bin and an old garbage can. You can even use an area fenced in by chicken wire.

  • Vary the size of the particles in your compost bin. Mix larger things and smaller things in layers to allow for lots of air circulation.
  • Stir your compost pile every once in a while. Use a pitch fork, shovel or rake, or spin it.
  • To speed up your compost pile, add some soil and worms to it. The bacteria in soil and the worms in soil help to break the food scraps and garden waste down faster.
  • Choose a dry shady area for your compost.
What can you compost?

Try to have a roughly equal mixture of browns (dead leaves) and greens (food scraps and grass clippings) to ensure enough nutrients for all of your spring crops.

    • Brown items like dead leaves and twigs provide carbon. You can also add cardboard, paper, straw, old corn stalks, nut shells, newspaper, dryer lint, and fireplace ashes. Adding browns also reduces the smell that some compost can produce if there is a lot of food scraps.
    • Green items like grass clippings, food scraps (other than meat, dairy, and oil) provide nitrogen. You can also add egg shells, coffee grounds, coffee filters, tea and tea bags, fruit peels, houseplants.
    • Water helps break down the greens and the brown.

Your compost is ready when it is dark and crumbly and no longer looks like food scraps. Some foods like watermelon rinds and avocado peels take longer to break down, but most food scraps and yard waste breaks down in about six months.

It’s really never too early to teach your students about compost piles. Here’s a no-prep informational text article with analysis questions to help build your scientific literacy. I use it as a sub plan but it makes sense as a homework or enrichment assignment during a decomposition unit or a unit on soil.

 

Image Credits:

“Compost happens” Photo by Toni Reed on Unsplash

Compost pile Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels

Solar System Picture Reveal Digital Worksheet

Students are intrinsically curious about the solar system and love learning about it, but everyone could use a little practice learning the facts of the planets. How are you making it more engaging for students, especially during this rollercoaster of face-to-face, hybrid, remote learning? Magic Picture Reveal worksheets are a great way to engage students and reward them for learning their solar system facts.

In a magic picture reveal worksheet, students answer questions like “Which planet has the Great Red Spot?” or “A __ eclipse occurs when the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon.” As each question is answered correctly, a few pixels of the magic picture are revealed. Students can self-check their work – if pixels weren’t revealed when they typed in an answer, they didn’t get it right. After all of the answers are correct, the entire picture is revealed.

Here is a video preview of the magic picture reveal worksheet on Solar System facts:

 

For more solar system lesson plan ideas, visit my Solar System travel brochure blog here.

Solar System travel brochure problem based learning activity
Solar System travel brochure problem based learning activity

If you’d like to learn how to make your own magic picture reveal worksheets, I’ve posted step by step directions on my blog post Magic Picture Reveal Digital Worksheets. It looks more complicated than it is, I promise!

New to my store this week is a line of picture reveal worksheets. Preview the Simple Machines Digital Reveal Worksheet here.

Simple Machines Magic Picture Reveal Digital Worksheet

Any time you can make learning and reviewing vocabulary fun, do it! Magic Picture Reveal worksheets are a great way to engage students and reward them for learning their vocabulary.  And now that we’re all on some rollercoaster of face-to-face, hybrid, and remote learning, any time you can make it digital, do it!

Here’s the video preview of The Work, Power, and Simple Machines Magic Picture Reveal Digital Worksheet.

 

Teaching Genetics and Punnett Squares

Kids love genetics and Punnett squares, and teachers love teaching it. Here are some genetics and Punnett square activities that are low prep and no-prep!

  1. When I present new material, I often use a slideshow. Since we started distance learning, I’ve been using hyperdocs and interactive notebooks to accompany my slideshows.
  2. Phenotype/genotype activities. Create a list of characteristics for a jack-o-lantern, leprechaun,
    Use simple Mendelian genetics to determine the characteristics of a snowman.
    Use simple Mendelian genetics to determine the characteristics of a snowman.

    Christmas tree, smiley face, reindeer, snowman, or monster and make options dominant and recessive. Then have students toss 2 coins to see if the jack-o-lantern or snowman is homozygous dominant, heterozygous, or homozygous recessive for each trait. Finish up by having students draw the character.

  3. Practice vocabulary with Boom cards, task cards, magic picture reveal digital worksheets, and crossword puzzles.
  4. Practice Punnett Squares. Students love them, and the more interesting you can make them the better! Use simple Mendelian traits like widow’s peak, hitchhikers thumb and the ability to roll your tongue (all of which are dominant) are commonly used in middle school classrooms but  waking up early and sneezing in the sun are also dominant traits that kids will find engaging.
  5. Incorporate research into your genetics unit. Students will enjoy learning about hemophilia, Marfan syndrome, sickle cell disease, and albinism, all of which are inherited by simple Mendelian genetics.
  6. Try dihybrid crosses – yellow tall pea plants x green short pea plants. If you start with an interactive notebook, your students can follow along as you demonstrate how to determine the offspring and many middle school students will be able to complete one on their own with enough practice!
  7. Reinforce with games. Try I Have, Who has or try an escape room. Create your own file folder game or have students create their own games.
  8. Assess with regular tests, Google forms quizzes, or  choice boards.

Magic Picture Reveal Digital Worksheets

Any time you can make learning and reviewing vocabulary fun, do it! Magic Picture Reveal worksheets are a great way to engage students and reward them for learning their vocabulary.  And now that we’re all on some rollercoaster of face-to-face, hybrid, and remote learning, any time you can make it digital, do it! Here’s a breakdown of how to create your own magic picture reveal worksheets digitally.

Using conditional formatting, I created vocab worksheets on Google Sheets. As students correctly answer each question, a few pixels of a magic picture is revealed. Get all the answers correct and the whole picture is revealed. Get some answers wrong and miss out on the the picture. It’s easy for students to self-check their work and they’re engaged while doing so.

Here’s a Halloween example using the rock cycle:

To create your own magic picture puzzle, follow these steps:

  1. Write 10-20 questions in a column in Google Sheets. Leave a space for the answers. If the answers are words or terms, include a word box to eliminate spelling or case mistakes. [Let’s make a small magic picture together. Write 4 questions on a Google Sheet.]
use conditional formatting to create a magic picture reveal worksheet
use conditional formatting to create a magic picture reveal worksheet

2. On a separate Google Sheet, draw a pixelated image. Try the school logo, holiday related, or curricular like a picture of a heart for your unit on the cardiovascular system. A 15×15 grid is a good place to start, but you can make your image as big or small as you want.

use conditional formatting to create a magic picture reveal worksheet
use conditional formatting to create a magic picture reveal worksheet

3 Create a grid the same size as the pixelated image on your worksheet. I outlined it in black.

4. Control/Click on a few random pixels of the same color. Then, select Format > Conditional Formatting.

5. In the popup window, select “custom formula is” in the “Format cells if” box.

6. Locate the cell that contains the answer you want to link to those pixels. In the custom formula window, type =$E$16=”petunia” but exchange the E and 16 for the column and row of the answer and exchange the actual correct answer for petunia. In other words, if the correct answer you want linked to the pixels you selected is in cell D18 and the correct answer is orange, you would type =$D$18=”orange”. One exception – if the correct answer is a number, eliminate the quotation marks around the answer.

use conditional formatting to create a magic picture reveal worksheet
use conditional formatting to create a magic picture reveal worksheet

7. Under Formatting style, select the fill color you want those pixels to be filled in with.

8. Repeat until all of your pixels are filled with the correct color.

9. When you share the magic picture worksheet with someone, you must use a forced copy to share the URL so that each person will make their own copy of the worksheet rather than writing on yours. To do that, look at the URL. At the end, there is a / followed by the word ‘edit’ and possibly some other code. eliminate everything after that / and replace it all with the word ‘copy.’

Here’s another magic picture reveal worksheet I created for Punnett Squares.

And here’s a magic picture reveal worksheet for weather vocabulary:

 

Preview the Simple Machines Digital Reveal Worksheet here.

Autumn Weekends during a Pandemic

What’s the saying? “There ain’t no tired like teacher tired?” And now, “Ain’t no tired like pandemic teacher tired.”

Here are my 10 favorite autumn weekend destressors.

  1. Fire in the chiminea. Add s’mores and cocoa/wine. Wrap yourself in a blanket if it’s cold. Invite the neighbors.
Person Under Umbrella
  1. Pumpkin/apple picking. This was stressful when the kids were young. But now it’s fantastic. Pair it with an evening carving a jack o’lantern and making pies. Cliche? Sure. But fun.
  2. Rake the leaves. This is stressful when it’s a chore. But it’s surprisingly relaxing when it’s a calorie burning way to spend a day outside without going to a crowded apple orchard.
  3. Take a nap. In a sunlit room while listening to a podcast. With the dog on my legs.
  4. Takeout coffee and a walk in the woods.
  5. If you can find one that’s not crowded, a winery or cidery (or brewery or distillery) can be a fun way to spend some time outdoors with friends.
High-Angle Photo of Person Wearing Shoes
  1. Scenic drive on a country road. Play the Eagles album.
  2. Do a puzzle. I rediscovered jigsaw puzzled during the great quarantine last spring and really enjoy listening to an audio book while assembling a puzzle.
  3. Dust off your bike and take it for a spin through the neighborhood. Wave to strangers raking leaves.
  4. Make soup. My favorite – butternut squash soup. But there’s still nothing better then chicken and rice.
Shallow Focus Photography Of Squash Soup

Photos:

https://videopress.com/v/K5H7lAYI?preloadContent=metadata

Etsy for Teachers?

When I want a hand made piece of jewelry, I go to Etsy. I also go there for things like scarves, unique gift ideas, and personalized items.

But did you know there is a booming resources for teachers section? It’s not easy to find so I was pretty surprised to stumble upon it.

There are resources like printables and worksheets. The majority of the items that I found were for primary and elementary aged students, but I found a few things that might work for middle school and older.

In case you’re heading over there, I put a few of my items for sale on Etsy to test the waters. Let me know what you think!

Interactive Google Slides

I’ve been frustrated whenever I’ve tried to have students copy notes, especially while working virtually and hybrid. Students need to pay attention to what I’m saying, but they’re so busy trying to be sure to copy the exact wording of the definition I’ve written that they can’t pay attention.

Introducing Interactive Google Slides.

They might not be new to you, but they’re a game changer for me!

With an interactive Google slide, I can create a background for a slide that includes questions I want students to be able to answer or guided notes. Then, on the side of the slide, I add text boxes that students can drag and drop onto the correct place in the slide.

Check out this one I’ve just created for rocks and minerals:

The beauty of this is that students can pay attention without stressing over what they have to write. Then, when they go home to study, they have everything they need right in front of them.

If you’d like to purchase this product, it’s available on my TpT store here.

Another use of interactive slide shows is for practice and review. Here’s a short video of a 50 slide practice set on Punnett Squares.

If you have any units that you think an interactive notebook would work for, I’d love to hear about it!