I used to give the old “Word”-formatted paper-based tests and quizzes. Believe it or not, when Google Forms was released and my students had 1:1 Chromebooks, I never even considered giving students a unit test as a Google Form on the computer. I worried about…
In this post, I’m sharing activities and resources for teaching one of my very favorite topics — Geologic History! This includes the rock record, geologic time scale, mass extinction events, and how we can piece together the Earth’s extremely long history. Concepts of the fossil…
Overwhelmed by grading?! I have lots of grading tips for you! Grading student work can be a daunting task for any teacher. As a young science teacher, I embarked on a grading adventure that turned into a misadventure with valuable lessons learned along the…
At the beginning of a school year in middle school, it’s important to get to know your students on a deeper level than just asking what is their favorite color or favorite animal. I designed this activity for when I returned from my maternity leave…
Plastic in the ocean is a growing problem. It’s essential for science teachers to educate their students about the issue. Approximately nine million tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean each year. As a teacher in a coastal state, I feel a particular…
As the school year draws to a close, it’s time to wrap up your science curriculum with a BANG! You middle school science students have put in a lot of hard work and learned so much, so let’s celebrate! And you!? You must be feeling…
As a middle school teacher, you know that it’s important to keep track of your students’ academic performance, as well as any behaviors, incidents, and other important details about them. This can help you tailor your teaching style and activities to better meet each student’s…
What is Blended Learning? A blended learning environment integrates both digital and hands-on experiences in the classroom. Covid-19 forced educators to craft entirely new learning experiences for their students. These lessons were delivered online and frequently asynchronously. Today, we know that a completely digital, asynchronous…
In this blog post, I’m sharing my organization systems for starting out the school year teaching middle school science! These are the systems that I have found work best for my teaching practice and I hope that you can use one or all of them…
When my husband and I lived in New Zealand for two years, we definitely had to get used to using the Metric System for everyday things like baking and paper size and recording our weights at doctors appointments. But, as an architect, my husband LOVED…
