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?

Orienteering

New Mexico Grade 8 Science Standard I (Physical Science):  5-8 Benchmark III.
 #6:  Know that the Earth has a magnetic field.

This could be a 2-minute lecture on the earth having a magnetic field.  But when it's the last day before spring break, why not make it an entire 90-minute class period?

Welcome to Orienteering 101!

I handed out the little compasses to each student and we practiced learning how to use them.  Always remember that North is with North.  Then find your direction.  

I then took the class outside to the baseball field. I had closed it off to everyone else with big signs, and during my prep period (there have been many times I’m grateful that prep is first for me) I set up the orienteering course.  It took me about an hour to get everything set right, and then the rest of the period to perfect it and get everything ready

 

My first class did awesome.  They were in groups of two and each had a different course to take.  There were 8 markers around the field.  They got their first clue from me in the center, and then went off in the direction of their clue.  There they would find a new clue for their group that would send them in a different direction to another marker.  The first group back to me with all of their markers in the correct order won and got a prize.  It was fun, because the first group back actually didn’t have their markers in the correct order, so I sent them back at their second marker where they had first messed up.  They ran back.  I had a couple other groups come back with answers really close, but had 1 or 2 wrong.  In the end, we had a winner.  There were only 15 minutes of class left when everyone had finished (of a 90 minute class), and it being the last day of the week I told them they could do whatever.  Some joined the PE class on the next field in playing soccer.  Other sat in the shade of the dug-out.  I went around and made sure all of my clues were at the right markers and then sat in the dug-out with my class.  

My second class came in and didn’t do as well.  They could not figure out that North had to go with North.  They were trying to get the needle in the compass to move instead of physically changing the direction of the compass to match the needle.  I still had a winning group, but it was harder with this group.  I think it’s a combination that I missed a step in my introduction and that this groups had a higher percentage of lower abilities than my last class.  Also, it was much hotter this time.  But we only had to do this for half the class because this class had finally earned their class party.  After the winner came in, I gathered them all up and we went back inside.  They were good enough to help me pick up the markers and take down the signs before we left, though.  Then they sat in my classroom for the party where they ate chips that they brought and listened to music.  It was pretty chill.  But it worked.  :)

An example marker.  The Marker paper should be under the rock.  This is what happens after kids have been by. 

Magnetism

This will be a worthwhile post.   I'll not only tell you how to do cool experiments with your kiddos, but how to get your very own iron filings for free.

Hear that?  FREE Iron Filings!

When you have iron filings you can do cool experiments like this with the kiddos:

Pretty Magnetic Field Lines

I cut the corners of a piece of paper and folded them up to make a tray.  That way the iron filings wouldn't go everywhere.

I wish I could have let the kids try this on their own, but I don't trust them enough––I can see iron filings going everywhere and kids accidentally breathing in too much iron and then dying.  Not the best situation you want to be in as a teacher.

So instead we did a demonstration where they all stood around one table and watched.  It was cool and I the kids really liked it.  They also all asked me if they could do it themselves.  Since I don't want anyone dying, I said no.

Now for the part you've all been waiting for: How to get your very own iron-filings for free.


Method #1: 
Grab an old iron or steel nail and file it down with a heavy-duty file (not the wimpy kind you file your nails with, but a "manly file," as my husband called it.)  File down the nail.

I actually did this method for an hour during my Saturday afternoon.  I didn't get very much iron.  There was a small lump, and I could do some things with it, but you really don't get very much.



Method #2:
Place a magnet in a plastic bag.  Go outside. Rub the plastic bag in the dirt.  Lift and shake. There should be iron on the outside of the bag, attracted to the magnet.  Put this in a cup and take the magnet out of the bag to release the iron into the cup.  Tadaa!!  Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Depending on how much you want, this can also take a while.  The ASL interpreter in my first class told me about this, so during lunch I went out for ~5 minutes and just played in the dirt collecting iron.  It was awesome.  I got enough for our little demonstration above for my next class.

My little collection of iron filings from 5 minutes of Method #2.

I did also collect some dirt with this method.  So I took my dirty iron mixture and purified it even more by moving it from the cup to the final container using the same magnet-in-a-bag technique.  That lessened the amount of dirt quite a bit.  I used this second separation in my demonstration.

Method 2 would be a fun activity to do with your kids, too.  Make them go out and collect

real, natural iron from the EARTH!!!

and then use it to learn more about magnets.  (This could also go with any mixture separation lesson plans you may be doing.)

Yay for magnets.