A few days ago, I had lunch with my sister whose kids are younger than mine. We started chatting about money and kids’ spending and allowances. And grades, and motivation. We’ve tried a lot of things with my kids (now 13 and 17). Here are my three favorites. iAllowance iAllowance is an app that’s been…
Today I read yet another article in support of redshirting kids with summer birthdays. That is, instead of enrolling them in kindergarten when they’re old enough (according to your state or school), you wait a year. So instead of starting kindergarten at barely-five (or not-quite-five), they are sometimes six before they start. Instead of being…
If your Makerspace or Lego Robotics classroom has been active for any amount of time, you’ve probably accumulated gallons of unsorted Lego pieces. Close your eyes, and you can probably hear the sound of a kid digging through a box of bricks, looking for the right connector or beam for a new robot. And digging, and digging, and digging. And even though this hunting is part of the fun, it can get frustrating really fast. It can slow down creativity and innovation.…
Sixth graders think they know everything about space. They’ve learned the names of the planets; they’ve made the Oreo moon phases. They’re set. But they arrived in my classroom with a lot of misconceptions that, while based on reason or observation, are just plain wrong. I wanted a way to show them that they have something to learn about astronomy, and to gauge what they already know and don’t know. Astronomy concepts like these frequently aren’t taught again after middle school! As a result, we have a lot of confused adults walking around.
Introducing the Astronomy Pretest. I gave this quiz on the first day of the astronomy unit as a way to learn what they already knew – and I told them so. Sometimes I’d tell them ahead of time that the quiz was “diagnostic.” That they should do their best and tell me what they know, and to answer every question to their best ability, but it wouldn’t hurt their grade to be wrong.
Want to try it? Before you read any farther, click here to take the quiz. It’s 45 True/False questions and will only take a couple of minutes. Don’t look anything up! Guess if you need to.
When you’re done, read on…
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The local bakery needs your help! They lost the secret recipe for Grandma’s Amazing Sugar Cookies, and are down to their last bag of mix. For this lab, use careful observation to determine the ingredients included in the mix. New on my Teachers Pay Teachers store! This lab started as the lead-in to a holiday…
I just updated an old product I have listed on Teachers Pay Teachers — the Leaf Collection Project. I decided to modify it for kids who love to use their phones to take pictures and added a Selfie Option! Instead of collecting a real leaf specimen (and pressing it, and gluing it, and binding the…
Why stop at four or six C’s? This is a growing collection, starting with four that have long been associated with STEM… Communication Collaboration Critical Thinking Creativity Source These first four are widely known as the “Skills for Today” or sometimes as “21st Century Skills.” Challenge Control Choice Construct Meaning Consequence #5-9, along with Collaboration,…
Today I ran into an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in about three years. I asked about her kids and she asked about mine, who are all in roughly the same age group. I mentioned that my older child was happy at his school because he is a nerd and there are a lot of other nerds…
What does every first-time middle school science teacher need? Courage, a sense of humor, patience, energy, and a few specific items: Updated Periodic Table In late 2016, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) updated the periodic table with names for four recently synthesized elements, nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts), and oganesson (Og).…
Welcome to Middle School Scared yet? You should be. 7 Secrets about your Middle School Kid I’ve been a middle school teacher and parent for long enough that people question my sanity. Including my own middle school years, I’ve spent 14 years in middle school. My younger child just started 8th grade. I’m still functioning,…
