The eighth graders spent third quarter getting their hands dirty with the first half of our geology unit. It starts with minerals, rocks, and fossils, then goes a little deeper into an investigation on plate tectonics, landforms, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
We began with a simulation of the rock cycle using chocolate bars. For whatever reason this activity turned into a HUGE mess this year - I have never seen such a slimy chocolately mess and I've been doing this lab for years now! Maybe it's the Spanish chocolate? The students got a kick out of it anyway, but unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures of the lab since I was busy helping them get cleaned up.
White chocolate "sediment"
For each rock and mineral group we studied, the students then did an observation lab in which they used their textbook and field guides to identify and classify various "mystery" samples. For some this was a very simple task while others really struggled. Who doesn't love playing with rocks??
Relying on the fact that I have a very creative group of kids in eighth grade this year, I added a new project to my roster. After an in-depth study of mineral properties, each student chose a mineral on which to base a new comic book character. They had the option to create either a hero or villain, and designed his or her "super powers" to reflect the properties of the given mineral. They presented their Mineral Heroes in the form of a comic book cover and got to share a brief character bio with the class. I was amazed and entertained by the creativity and originality of so many of their designs!
Many of their comics were on display for our school's science showcase
To wrap up the rocks chapter, students were tasked with creating a model of the rock cycle. The sky was the limit for how they chose to demonstrate what they'd learned, and the whole gamut of projects appeared on my desk on the last day before spring break.
"The Adventures of Rocky Bill"
"Rock Culture"
Another view of all the projects in the science showcase
It's hard to believe my time with these eighth graders is almost over, and with it my sixth year of teaching middle school earth science. Where has the time gone?!
Third quarter with my seventh graders has brought a slew of fun, exciting activities relating to the human body. Typically I teach this unit through group projects, but my smaller-than-average class size meant I had to change things up a bit... so everything I did this year, I did for the very first time! Thankfully I had Pinterest and TeachersPayTeachers to inspire me and provide lots of resources along the way.
We went through the major body systems, identified and examined the organs, and investigated how they are all interrelated to keep us alive. I taught a lot of the major content and vocabulary through lecture and discussion, and then we explored various aspects of the human body through experiments, games, and YouTube videos that left a few of them feeling rather queasy! Eyeball dissection, anyone??
We started with the skeletal and muscular system to give us a framework for the rest of the body. The students voted on a name for our life-size "mascot" and each time we studied a new system, Steve earned a few new body parts. In the beginning we labeled each part, then removed the labels as we memorized all the names.
Skeleton Steve was a work in progress!
While studying the digestive system, we simulated the digestion process through a relay race that was adapted from an activity I'd found on Pinterest. The students thought it was both hilarious and disgusting at the same time...
To wrap it up the digestive system, we enjoyed brownies that tasted much better than they looked! ;)
Only the best for my students!
When it came time to learn about circulation, I really wanted them to see visually how the blood vessels were the transport system for substances within the body. I found this free game and they played in teams of two. The object of the game was to be the first team to move all the oxygen from the lungs to the body cells, the carbon dioxide from the body cells to the lungs, the sugar and proteins from the intestines to the body cells, and the waste from the body cells to the kidneys.
The circulation game!
It wasn't nearly as boring as their body language would suggest!
We also had a lot of fun learning about the brain, the nervous system, and our sense organs. We watched clips from the show Brain Games, made "thinking caps" (pattern here) to learn the areas of the brain, and conducted experiments related to taste, smell, sound, and light.
Middle school means wearing these awesome hats!
Wearing thinking caps while watching a BrainPop video on the brain - brainception!
Mapping the tongue and looking for a connection between taste and smell
Observing and describing the effect of light on the pupil (she had to look deep into my eyes!)
We also got our hands dirty with some actual specimens, as a student went to the butcher and acquired some "leftover"pig parts. It was pretty neat for them to see with their own eyes the actual body parts they'd been studying - the lungs, liver, and heart for example. They also got to see and feel the difference in texture, structure, etc. of the trachea compared to the esophagus and they got quite a nasty surprise when, after squeezing the esophagus, some undigested food oozed out!
Warning: my science class is not for the faint of heart!
To wrap up the unit and give the students an opportunity to extend their learning, we created cereal boxes "advertising" a particular body system. I wish I could take credit for this project but the original idea came from TPT - I just modified it a bit to meet my needs.
For the front, they had to come up with a creative cereal name and then draw and label their system.
On the back they had to describe a common disease or illness that affects their system. They did research on causes, symptoms, treatments, and prevention of the condition and then had to summarize the information into a quality paragraph. Language arts connection!
For the other panels, they recreated typical cereal box features such as the ingredients list (naming the organs and their functions) and fun facts about their system - more independent research for them.
Overall, I was quite proud of their final product, and am excited to give them a chance to present their work to the rest of the school in our upcoming school-wide science gallery in April!
It's hard to believe we are now in fourth quarter! Our final areas of study will include zoology and ecology - characteristics of the animal kingdom and the relationships between all living and non-living things.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers over this last quarter!
5 Books I want to Read: Note: living overseas sometimes limits my access to English books... if you'd like to help me reach my goals with iBooks credit I would be ever so grateful! ;)
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
When Others Shuddered by my former MBI writing prof Jamie Janosz
Unseduced and Unshaken by another MBI prof, Rosalie de Rosset
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (in Spanish!) or a smaller work in Spanish
4 Places I want to See:
Netherlands: to visit Anne Frank's house and the Corrie Ten Boom house
Southern Spain: to see where my dad was stationed in Seville and visit Gibraltar
Sweden
Florida: to experience Disney World and the Kennedy Space Station
In attempting to clean out my phone, I found a bunch of pictures of math projects. This made me realize that I never wrote a quarter one update on my Pre-Algebra classes! Better late than never, right?
Our Pre-Algebra course spans two years - seventh graders take Pre-Algebra A and eighth graders take Pre-Algebra B (unless they test out and move up to Algebra 1). This means I am teaching out of the same textbook for two different classes, but seventh graders are starting at the beginning and eighth graders are starting halfway through.
Seventh graders began with the basics: rules of integers, one-step equations, and basic graphing. Within the last week have begun to learn how to work with multi-step equations and will soon move on to multi-step inequalities, too! For their Chapter 1 project, students had to graph a given set of coordinates that, if graphed accurately, formed the outline for a shield. Students then had to design a coat of arms to represent themselves.
I really enjoyed seeing what symbols and colors they chose to represent themselves. Many identified with various countries and cultures by using flags, national colors, and symbols. Some revealed more about their families, their heritage, and some even gave a nod to their hobbies and passions by incorporating their favorite fútbol team colors.
I asked the students to explain to the class their choice of symbols, and the most touching came from Alex, who told us that he chose gold to represent the cross because of how special Jesus is to him. In case you can't read his shield, it says "Live for Jesus."
The eighth graders spent the first quarter reviewing and learning linear equations: solving, graphing, and writing them. I found an awesome project on TeachersPayTeachers that incorporated all of these skills plus art, and it was a great chance for the students to relax a bit after a hard chapter. For this project, students had to select a country flag with at least two lines and at least one diagonal. Then they drew the flag design on a coordinate plane and used two points on the line to identify the line's slope. From there they were able to calculate an equation for each line on the graph. Some students chose flags that they knew would be very easy, while others went for a challenge. While I am proud of ALL their work, I was particularly impressed with the students who chose Canada and Australia. The more lines a flag contained, the more math a student had to do!
By now we are almost halfway through the second quarter. Things are getting harder, and in response to that some students are thriving and others are sinking. My eighth grade class has been on my mind constantly. Please be in prayer - that my struggling students would find success in my class, and that I would have the patience and grace to know how best to teach them.
I am loving teaching earth science to a whole new crew of eighth graders this year! So far we've been learning about the history of space exploration and investigating the significance of relationships between the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.
After discussing Newton's laws of motion and their application to rocketry, students are tasked with the challenge of building a balloon rocket that will carry a single piece of paper across a given distance. It's a simple task but it also serves as an ice-breaker, giving the students a chance to get comfortable with each other at the beginning of the year. I always love seeing the ways the students think outside the box. We had some pretty successful models this year!
And then we had some that didn't quite make it...
Another fan favorite is when we study the phases of the Moon and students recreate each phase using delicious cream-filled Oreo cookies! Nothing motivates a student quite like the promise of a snack!!
Later this week we will begin our research projects on the planets of the solar system. I am particularly excited for this year's projects because I have tweaked the assignment to make it more relatable for my multicultural students. The premise of the new and improved project will be that each student takes on the role of an alien from another planet who has come to Earth through an interplanetary exchange program. They will then have to come up with a presentation to teach their new Earthling "host family" all about their home planet. I can't wait to see what they come up with!
