Last day of work!

The school year ended a week ago on Thursday.  Teachers came in for their last day on Friday.  We packed up and labeled all of our stuff. It got really dusty.  I found lots of things I didn't know I had. hahaha.  I cleaned up especially well because I'm moving to a new classroom next year!! YAY!

It's all packed up here, but it's going to look great come next year and I have it all put together again. It's bigger than my last classroom, too.  I tried to get a picture of my old classroom, but my phone started acting weird.

My classroom this year was small and had basically nothing in it except for tables, chairs, and a smart board.  But we made due.  However, I'm extremely excited to take over the classroom next door.  The teacher who had that classroom this year has retired.  So I'll be getting his classroom and his replacement teacher will get my old classroom.  It's really going to work out better next year, since this new classroom has a sink and that's really helpful when teaching science (not so helpful for language arts, which is what was being taught).

Walking out I decided to stop by the teachers lounge to make sure I didn't leave anything in there. I found otter pops in the freezer for student council.  Ms. A (the teacher who does student council) walked in after me and I asked if they were hers.  She had totally forgotten to give them to the kids the day before.  Oops.  But I was okay with that, especially since I got to end this year walking out with an extra large otter pop in my hand!  Yum.

Happy Summer Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

Middle School Minute -- Take 2

Picture of loch ness monster in presentation
Student 1: Hey, Miss, what's the name of that?
Me: The loch ness monster?
Student 1: Yeah. Have you seen the movie about it?
Me: No.
Student 2 to 1: What are you talking about?
Student 1 to 2: Have you seen the movie about the . . . (to me) what's it called again?
Me: The loch ness monster.
Student 1 to 2: ..the movie about the longest monster?


Bantering Students (this had been going on for quite a while)
Student 1: You're going to copy for the rest of your life.
Student 2:  Well, you're going to die for the rest of your life.


Student: This is my best friend, and this is my best friend.
Me:  You can have two best friends?
Student: Yeah.
Me: I thought you could only have one best friend.
Student: No, you can have lots.
Me: How many?
Student: 21.


Me: (referring to final exams) In my last class every passed and I had two people get 100%.
Student 1:  Oh wow! We can do that, too!
Student 2: Yeah, we can do it!
Student 3: We can do it! . . . . I think. . .


Ms. L: What is the scientific name for humans?
Student 1: homeostasis?
Ms. L: Not quite . . .
Student 2: Homo sapien.
Ms. L: Great!  Now, who thinks they know the scientific name for wolves?
Student 1: homeostasis?
Student 3: Homo wolf?

Blast Off!

A few of the rockets my students made.

The eighth graders are done with middle school and are moving on.  During the last few days we completed our Forces and Motion unit by building rockets and shooting them off.  Mr. S has done this for years.  He build his own rocket launcher using PVC pipe and an air pump.  The rockets shoot off from all of the air pressure built up.  He has extra PVC pipes to use when building the rocket so the kids can make sure they have the correct diameter needed.

The day we made these was also my birthday.  I received some nice wishes and a note on my whiteboard:

They're simple rockets made from card-stock paper, but it was lots of fun.  A few of the kids made rockets that flew up really high and over the school fence. Most went a little ways up.  Others totally failed and only the top cone blew off and the rest of the rocket remained.  It was a fun last activity, though.

Mr. S ready to blast off another rocket.

Frog Dissection

Ah, yes.  That wonderful day in middle school science that everyone remembers.  A right of passage, almost.

The frog dissection.

The last unit in our syllabus was supposed to go over some parts of physiology.  I ran out of time (though some of the points I was able to cover in other units), so I tried to make up for it by explaining what they were looking at during the dissection.  Lame?  Maybe.

I was late to class today.  We had a meeting with the principal that went over time into the next period.  After it ended I had to race to get the trays for the frog dissection, then race to my classroom.  I found the security guard letting them in.  "Oh, please, no.  I have frogs in my classroom and I don't want students in there unaccompanied."  I don't know why you would let students into a classroom without the teacher in there anyway, but I'm glad I got there right as they were entering.  Can you imagine the disaster???

Hypothetical Situation
Student 1:  look!  A bag full of frogs!
Student 2:  Cool!  Let's poke it!
Student 1: Okay!
 . . . poking ensues until the bag is in shambles, liquid spilled on the floor, and frogs are being thrown across the room  . . . 

Yeah. . . I don't want that to happen!!

The students came in and sat down.  I gave a very quick and stern introduction.  There is no horseplay when we have the frog on our tables.  There is no walking around.  There is no waving of the tools.  There is no playing with your frog.  This is your last warning and if I see any of these behaviors you will be sent immediately to the office to spend the remainder of the period.

The kids were pretty good with understanding that they had to be on their best behavior today.  They figured out that I wasn't mad, but good behavior was important today.

It was fun.   Lots of exclamations throughout the period.  I put the lab instructions on the projector for them all to see and we went through the instructions together.  That made it easier for us all to be on the same page rather than having them follow the instructions at their own pace.

Everyone was on good behavior and the dissection went smoothly.

I had two class periods in a row that did this dissection.  By the end of the second the smell was getting to me!!  I had both classroom doors open with the air vents on their highest setting, just to try and get the air circulated well enough.  However, it wasn't until the end when we had cleaned everything up and clorox wiped the tables down that it started to smell better.

Yay for adventures and clean classrooms.

7th Grade Final Exam

This was an awesome day.  Every single one of my seventh graders passed this test (so far, that is;  I had 3 kids absent today and two suspended––yikes!).  I had four kids get 100% and many get A's and B's.  I didn't have too many C's and I think I had 3 D's?

But this wasn't an easy test.  I was proud of my kids for doing so well and remember so much material over the past year.  These kids are awesome.

I loved walking around as my kids were taking the test.  I would occasionally read the question for them if they asked (this is sped and I am testing them on their science knowledge and not their reading abilities.  I let them read by themselves if they choose to, but I always read test questions when they ask).  During some instances when I read the question, the student would think about it, then have a happy gasp as they said, "oh, I know this one!"  One kid turned to the third page and a big smile came on his face as he quickly started filling in the answers.

I loved it.  Again, this was not an easy test.  These kids worked really hard this year.  They paid attention and completed their assignments.  I'm really proud of them.

Throughout the year my tests have been challenging.  Some of my students have complained that my tests are long.  And I agree with them.  I'm still learning how to ensure I get both breadth and depth in my exams (especially when covering the entire year) and keep it to one page.  Because I have yet to learn this, I brought in little cookies, and I told the kids that when they were done with half of it, I would put a cookie on their desk for "brain energy."  They seemed to enjoy that.

I had a few polite "Thank You"'s when they received their cook, which I quite appreciated, too.  You don't always get that here.

It was so funny to see the worry on their faces when they turned in the exam.  One girl kept exclaiming to herself, "I think I got a bad grade . . . ?"  I graded the tests during the same class period (again, this is sped––I don't have that many kids in there so I can grade these really fast).  When I returned it to her she saw she had received a 100%. She quietly scanned the page reading the little note I had written her, then raised her hands up with a big celebratory shout.  It was adorable.  She kept look through her test over and over again like she couldn't believe it.

If this was an easy test their victory wouldn't have been as sweet.  I don't give easy tests.  They can do much more than that.


Anyway, this is our seventh grade science final exam.

They all seemed to enjoy the bonus questions.  I had 100% participation on the bonus during this test, which isn't always the case.  I find the bonus questions are motivating because it's a non-threatening way for them to take a chance or a positive way to give extra points for what they've learned.

It was through a bonus question on their first quiz that they learned the term "flagellum."  They all struggled with it (I had only mentioned it a couple of times in class).  Afterwards we worked on it together to discover the answer.  I haven't really mentioned "flagellum" since then, but today after the test when I randomly asked "what's the tail-like structure on the animal cells," my students still remembered. 

 

8th Grade Final Exam

It's been a while.  But I feel the end of the year is like that.  I'm not really going over anything new, we're just reviewing everything we've already done.  And then there are a lot of activities and meetings towards the end of the year.

Does anyone else feel like the end of the year is both a drag (still 3 more weeks left??) and a sprint to the finish (only 3 more weeks left??)?

Today my eighth graders took their final exam.  My first class left me very pleased with the results.  More than half the class received A's and B's.  That's awesome.  I don't give easy tests and I expect a lot.  So I was very pleased.

My second class was not as good. Only one kid passed, and he passed with a 95%.  How can there be that much difference?  This class is hard to control, they're often yelling at each other, and don't always try their best.  Even during the exam they were asking why they couldn't take notes (um, you don't even have any??) because "all" of the other classes let them use notes.  Well, looking from experience, I've never let you use notes on a test, so why would I let you use notes now?  I want to see how much you have learned, not how well you can take and read your notes.  Needless to say this second period was difficult and hard.  I don't think I'm entirely to blame, but I do have a lot of notes on how I'm going to improve next year.

After all, I'm a brand new teacher.  There is much room for improvement.

Here's my copy of the eighth grade exam.  I was quite pleased with it.  :)

How well would you do on an eighth grade science test?