Free Alternative Energy Resources for Your Middle School Science Classroom If you’re teaching about climate change, energy resources, or human impact on the environment, then you know it can be tricky to find middle school science materials that are both engaging and easy to use. That’s why I’m sharing two of my favorite FREE resourcesContinue reading “Kickstart Your Climate Change Unit with These Freebies”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Lab Chaos to Lab Champs: Easy Systems for Managing Middle School Labs
The Lab Day Struggle Is Real That lab day when 8 beakers broke during first block. The crystal growing solution that spilled into the nooks and crannies of your keyboard. The student who took the dissected frog home to feed his dog. The directions you repeated forty, fifty, sixty times. We’ve all had those days.Continue reading “Lab Chaos to Lab Champs: Easy Systems for Managing Middle School Labs”
Focal Points
I was about 2 days into my geologic time unit when I put up this human history timeline on the window of my classroom. It was a great focal point for the geologic time and natural selection units this year. For weeks, I referred to the human history time line. Now that we’re in theContinue reading “Focal Points”
Make CER Writing a Game!
HOW many times have you provided feedback for a student to help them improve their CER or lab conclusion writing, and then been disappointed when the student didn’t implement your feedback in their next assignment? If I had a nickel….. Have you logged in to Magic School yet? It’s a fantastic versatile AI program thatContinue reading “Make CER Writing a Game!”
Incorporating Movement into your lessons
Here’s a confession – I get bored easily. Teaching the same content 5 times a day (for 37 years) is boring. So I shake it up a little by adding movement into my middle school science lessons. It gives me entertainment, engages the kids, and gives us all a little brain break. Why incorporate movement?Continue reading “Incorporating Movement into your lessons”
12 Quick Ways to Reinforce Vocabulary
Learning science is a lot like learning a new language. The vocab can really bog a middle schooler down – even if they grasp the concept of Punnett squares, for example, words like homozygous and allele make success unachievable. Middle schoolers need engaging, interactive ways to reinforce new terms so they truly stick. In thisContinue reading “12 Quick Ways to Reinforce Vocabulary”
Tips for Interactive Notebooks
I’ve implemented interactive notebooks in my middle school science classroom for a few years and, while I’m not an expert, I do have 17 tips and tricks I’ve learned that I thought I’d share with you. What are Interactive Notebooks? Interactive notebooks (INBs) are a hybrid between a notebook and a scrapbook. Students use themContinue reading “Tips for Interactive Notebooks”
MMM and Animal Kingdom Trivia
Are your students ready to compete in March Mammal Madness?! Mine sure are – their older siblings have told them how much fun they’ll have and now they’re really excited to start! What is March Mammal Madness? March Mammal Madness (MMM), whose logo is “If you’re learning, you’re winning,” is a bracket-style competition modeled byContinue reading “MMM and Animal Kingdom Trivia”
Easy sub plans
Really nasty flu this year, not to mention noro virus and COVID. And the sun sets so early and it’s been cold and you might want a day just to relax. Everyone needs a day off now and then. But it’s so HARD to plan for an absence, and SO HARD to come up withContinue reading “Easy sub plans”
Darwin Day in Middle School Science
Happy Darwin Day! Darwin Day is an annual celebration that honors the life and scientific contributions of Charles Darwin, the renowned naturalist best known for his groundbreaking work on the theory of evolution through natural selection. Held on February 12, Darwin’s birthday, this day serves as a global tribute to the profound impact his ideasContinue reading “Darwin Day in Middle School Science”