Week 13 November 14-18

One. More. Week. Til. Thanksgiving.

Monday: The kids took their vocab quiz on Monday. I had far fewer failures than normal, so I think the study devices worked!

Tuesday: We started rock types. I handed out a bunch of rocks and the kids had to complete a data table on 3 of them, identifying their physical properties and then comparing it to the real table to identify their rock. They LOVED it.

Wednesday: We began the rock cycle. The kids did really well with predicting what went on the arrows. Lots of participation today. The kids are into rocks!

Thursday: Ah, the rock cycle lab. I sprung for some good sharpeners this year. The kids sharpened crayons to get shavings. They then added pressure and got sedimentary rock. They blew hot air and stepped on the shavings (inside aluminum foil) to get metamorphic rock. They then gave the foil to me and I dunked it into boiling water, and once cooled, they had igneous rock. Again, they loved it!

Friday: We are all pretty much DONE at this point in the year, so I bumped back today's lesson and we went over our Benchmark test.

And now that I'm rested and relaxed and very full from Thanksgiving, I'm prepared to tackle the next 3.5 weeks before Christmas. Hang on to you hats. Things are surely going to be bumpy!

~Ms. Kat

Week 12 November 7-11

My favorite part of the fall: CAST convention!

Monday: Work day. We had lead4ward come in for a 1/2 day training on data reports in eduphoria (hella useful) and 1/2 curriculum day.

Tuesday: We worked with our new vocabulary.

Wednesday- I fled to the sanity of San Antonio while my kids took their Benchmark. Results were not as good as I'd hoped. However, thanks to those eduphoria reports, I can say we have improved over last year's actual STAAR results, so there's that.

Thursday-My kids did a measuring up on Alternative Energy. I re-worded some of the questions to make it more do-able, as they always have trouble understanding what the question is asking.

Friday- The school board was, naturally, coming today when I'm gone. I left my kids with instructions to create a study device for their vocab quiz (flash cards or a flipbook or something). I got a text about 10 minutes into the day from my aide saying she'd had to fuss at the kids 3 times.

I asked her to put me on speakerphone. Fortunately that wasn't necessary. She relayed my disappointed and angry words to them and they shut right up.

Do you know how powerful it feels to be able to quiet a room of kids from 5 hours away? ULTIMATE POWER! *maniacal laughter*

Anyhoo, only one more week to catch up on. Yay.

Week 11 October 31- November 4

Ah, the last week of the 2nd 6-weeks. One of the most difficult times for me every year. The grind. Football season in its prime. Drill team going full out. Exhaustion. 14 hour days. So glad it ends with this week.

Monday- We did a lab with 3 stations, each one having to do with either reflection or refraction. They played with lasers and lenses at two stations, and with a mirror at a third.

Tuesday- We played a quizizz game to review for our test

Wednesday- The kiddos took their test on Google Classroom (which I am IN LOVE WITH btw).

Thursday- I have searched my memory for what we did this day. It has departed my mind. I probably put on a video or something. I was probably pretty done at that point.

Friday- Ah, early release day. We watched another of those Africa documentary episodes. The kids love it.

Bring on CAST next week!

Week 10 Oct 24-28

Woah, I kind of got REALLY behind there, didn't I?

Let's catch up.

Monday- Forces lab

We set up ramps using our otherwise USELESS science textbooks and these neat little cars I found stashed in the Science closet. I wish we had time to do a more involved experiment. Maybe during STAAR review...

I had the groups call out their measurements so we got to see why we were doing 3 trials. I then did an average on each one and used that as our conclusion.


Tuesday- Light + Reflection

We talked about the properties of light and how it reflects off of surfaces. I also finally got to break out my LAZER MAZE! I bought these last year after this unit, and was so excited to break it out. The kids LOVED it. I used it for a whole class demonstration, and it seemed to bring about a lot of light bulb moments.

Wednesday- Refraction and Opacity

We talked about the varying levels of see-throughness (transparent, translucent, opaque) and how light bends as it passes through objects.

Our activity wasn't on refraction,  but rather shadows. We tested light sources at different angles on different objects and showed how shadows get longer with a lower angle of light (like sunrise or sunset).

Thursday- Absorption and color

We talked about how light is absorbed, and how the combination of light being absorbed/reflected causes different colors. I blew their minds. Again.There's a lot of that going around this unit.

Friday-Unit Review

The kids used their science journal to work on their unit review. I took off this day, as it was :
A. A friday
B. Orange out day (wear as much orange as possible)
C. The last school day before Halloween monday
D. The end of red ribbon (aka costume) week.

Best.Decision.Ever.

Back in a mo for weeks 11-13

Week 9 October 17-21 2016

Ah, a much more peaceful week. I didn't have to give anyone a conduct mark. I only had to re-arrange one thing because APPARENTLY all the batteries in the entire science department were older than the kids I'm teaching. No big.

Monday- We learned the parts of a circuit, and made a giant human circuit using an energy stick.

Tuesday- We Talked about Series vs. Parallel Circuits and identified them. I taught the kids to put their pencil down on the negative end of the battery and trace through a load back to the positive end. If you can do that without picking up your pencil, that load will work.

Wednesday- Originally intended as Circuit Lab day, I had to think fast. My thought was a Bill Nye on forces since we never seem to have enough time to spend on it. They also did a worksheet that went with the video, and we had just enough time to go over it!




Thursday- We talked about forces, balanced and unbalanced. I also made sure to mention that scientific "Work" is when you use a force AND MOVE something.

We also spent time going over force experiments, and learning about variables and controls.

Friday- We did the circuits lab. There were a lot of flubs, especially early on when I realized I'd put too much energy in some circuits, causing bulbs to blow. I had to use whatever batteries I could. Oh well, lesson learned.

If we can get through the next week, It's all downhill from here.

Week 11- Test week
Week 12- CAST
Week 13- regular
Thanksgiving
Week 14- Regular
Week 15- Lots of labs
Week 16- Test and Shangri La field trip
Week 17- 3 days of whatever I can find to keep them busy.
CHRISTMAS  BREAK!

~Ms. Kat

Week 8 October 10-14 2016

Naturally, the good week we had last week (and my mentioning it) brought about a bad week. The kids lost their damn minds this week. It's that part of the October grind. Also, the full moon was approaching, which might have something to do with their behavior.

Monday-  Forms of Energy Lab. I knew there was NO WAY we could get through all 6 lab stations during the class, so I did more of a demonstration-style lab. I called for volunteers to help during most stations.

Tuesday- UGH picture day snuck up on me. My 1st period barely got in the door before we rotated to 2nd. I had to move their lesson on Alternative Energy back to Friday (thus preventing them from doing the project). Everyone else learned about the 4 forms of alternative energy.

Wednesday- The kids took their Vocab Quiz. We also had enough time to go over their benchmarks from the 1st 6-weeks.


Thursday- Two of my classes got to do the project I had scheduled. We were supposed to make wind socks. Each student was assigned 2 forms of energy. Each was supposed to go on a strip of colored paper with the name of the form, two facts, and 2 picture examples. They did really well!

My first period (because of picture day) and the other 3 classes had to do BOOKWORK. They were so awful the first 3 days of the week, I felt they owed me silence to make up for all the talking.

Friday- My project classes finished the wind socks.
My badly behaved classes finished their book work and wrote an apology letter. I told them I'm keeping the letters and the next time they act a fool, I'm sending it home with a strongly worded letter, which will need to be signed and returned. I think I put the fear of science into them

And, naturally, I got called into the principals office Monday because one of the kids (whose mom teaches Science at our high school) got all butthurt about me assigning a class-wide essay. And to make matters worse, she broke the teacher code of common decency and went over my head and straight to the Vice Principal. I have many strongly worded names to call her, but this blog is not the place for such crass language.

Next week it'll be time to dive into circuits!

~Ms. Kat

Week 7 October 4-7 2016

Wow, the kiddos had a really good week! We started our Energy/Forces/Motion unit this week.

Monday- Teacher workday

Tuesday- The science department decided to start giving out Pre-Tests at the beginning of each unit. I want to show growth in my students, not just how well they can take a test.

The kids did predictably bad on it. Then again, I did have a few honors kids get ALL 10 RIGHT even though I have taught them nothing about energy yet. Looks like my HAPPIER strategy is useful!

Wednesday- We completed our Energy unit vocab definitions and pictures. The kids tended to agree that this unit feels a bit easier than the previous one.

Thursday- We covered 4 of the forms of Energy today: Light, Thermal, Sound, and Nuclear (It doesn't fit with alternative energy, nor with fossil fuels, so I stuck it here).

Friday- We covered the other 4 forms of Energy: Potential, Kinetic, Chemical, and Electrical. I also tried something new today for questions. While I adore their curiosity, constant questions get us off track, breed more questions like a virus, and give people an opportunity to get off task. Today, when they raised their hand I gave them a stick note and they wrote their question down.

*I didn't glue these into my journal before I left Friday. Oops*

I went through an entire package of sticky notes. Wow. I'm going to have to find a better solution.

Have a great 2nd 6-weeks!
~Ms. Kat

Week 6 September 26-30

Woah, business! That "switching grading periods" time always catches me off guard.

Week 6 was pretty unique. I tried some new things and they went splendidly!

Monday- The kids worked on their review using their science journal. So much more self-reliant than last year. I didn't get a single "I can't find it."

Tuesday- The kids did a lab on separating mixtures.  There were 3 stations.

1. Potting Soil and Iron washers (using a magnet)

2. Sand and Water (using a funnel, funnel paper a.k.a. paper napkins, and a beaker)

3. Sand and pebbles (using a sieve)

The kiddos really enjoyed it.

Wednesday- We all got logged into google classroom (my first time using it!) to prepare for tomorrow.

Then we played Quizziz. Each class got to play 3 rounds. The first two were practice, the third was for prizes for the top 3 point earners in each class.

They.Loved.It. I'm sold.

Here's a link

Thursday- The kiddos took their Matter unit Test.
Due to last-minute decision making and implementation from admin, my kids also had to take their benchmark test during study skills today.

They didn't do as well as i'd hoped. But when I added in the ones who didn't pass by 1 question, we did rather amazingly. Add the kids who didn't pass by 2, and we knocked it out of the park. The first unit is the hardest, so I expect next time to be far superior.

Friday- The last day of the 6-weeks. An early release day. Fun Friday.

We watched BBC's Africa. The kids really enjoyed it, as usual. After lunch, we gave out rewards for restroom passes, and then split up to watch movies. We actually only had 2 going, as the bulk of the kids owed at least a little bit of time in detention. Still, we had fun. If the popcorn machine hadn't been broken, we'd have had popcorn to go around too!

6 weeks down. 30 to go!

Week 5- Sept. 19-23

Hoo boy what a week. Craziness. The kids lost their dang minds this week. We ended up not having recess because of the behavior. They were better today (Monday, I'm late writing this) so hopefully that will work.

Monday-We talked conductors vs. insulators. The kids were kind of surprised by what materials qualified as each, and why.

Tuesday- Physical Properties Lab! There is ALWAYS a data table like this on the stinking staar test, and they always do poorly on those questions. So this year I stepped up my game and we did the lab itself.

Wednesday- I had to go to that STUPID meeting, and on the Solubility day of all days. You can take Ms. Kat out of the classroom, but you can't prevent her from teaching via video. I legit recorded myself saying the things I would have normally said in class and plugged the videos into the slideshow. The sub simply had to flip through the notes, the kids filled in the blanks and BOOM there was Ms. Lynch on the screen. The did very well on their homework for that night, so WIN FOR ME.

Thursday- Ah, mixtures. Last year the kids had the WORST time with remembering how to separate mixtures, and the difference between mixtures and solutions. I hit it hard this year.

Friday-To add to the crazy, we had our district-wide homecoming pep rally today. We were on short schedule, and I couldn't NOT teach solutions today. We managed it by going at LIGHT SPEED.

I can't wait for this next week. It's going to be crazy. I'm doing the review game and test online this year (or at least trying to). Plus, we have a new requirement: a benchmark test every 6-weeks. 10-12 questions generated via our curriculum dept. Yippie for us.

Hope your Autumn is getting off on the right foot,

~Ms. Kat