Frog Dissection

It has been a while since I last posted and I have promised myself that I would at least attempt to post on a more regular basis.  There have been so many things that I have been working on and I feel that I finally have a handle on all of it.  

In class we just finished learning about the Human Body and all the systems within the organism.  Our culminating activity was a frog dissection, which showed the students how all the systems work together to maintain balance.  

The students obviously loved doing this activity.  It was surprising to me though, that the boys in the class were the squeamish ones and the girls were really getting in there and digging around. I used a worksheet that I found on TpT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Frog-Dissection-an-in-class-or-online-activity-462771
It was great!  The students were able to complete the activity independently with it's help.  
Currently we are working on genetics, which is actually one of my favorite parts of science.  There are so many activities out there that are so engaging and the students always have lots of questions about how genetics actually works.  I am working on completing a couple of activities that I will be posting on TpT and will post again when they are completed.
Thanks and happy teaching!

Craziness and Levels of Organization

I have to start out by apologizing.  I.  am.  sorry.  For what? For not having the time to sit down and work on this blog.  School is back in session and I am going crazy.  Between the meetings, tutoring, lab setups, emails, phone calls...etc.  I have no time.  I have promised myself that I will try to do at least one blog entry every couple of weeks or so, just to keep you all (albeit, not many of you) up to date with what is going on in my classroom.
We have just finished learning about the Levels of Organization, so I decided to create a review foldable for the students.  In this foldable they would write down what the level of organization means and then draw a picture.  I love art, so I incorporate alot of art in my classroom.  Some kids love it, others not so much.  Since the kiddos liked it, I changed it into a format that I could share with you.  You can check it out at my TpT store.  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Levels-of-Organization-Foldable-875954I'll be back tomorrow to upload a few pictures of the ones that the kids created.

We are getting ready to go into Cell Theory.  I am trying to think of something creative but am at a loss right now.  I'm sure something will come to me.  If you have any ideas, let me know.  I would love to hear from you.

Back to School...Ahhhhh!

So it's back to school time and believe it or not... I am super excited!!! I am back in Science this year after doing a 2 year stint in Math. I will be teaching 7th grade Science, which in Texas is basically Life Science.  I have so many ideas that it is making me dizzy, so with 2 weeks left before I go back (3 weeks before the kiddos), I have to start making sense of everything.
 
Since I had left the realm of Science, there have been some major changes in our TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) standards.  To some of you this may sound strange, but we do not use the Common Core that most of you are used to.  I think Texas and Alaska are the only states that do not use the Common Core Standards.  I don't know how I feel about that because, truthfully, I have had neither the opportunity nor the time to compare the two.  I hope to one day do so, but until then....

With the change in content, comes a change in classroom, which means packing up and moving to another building.  This too, has me giddy...why?  My school is older (built in 1970) and the classroom I was in this past year had no windows and shared a wall with the boy's weight room.  I spent most of the day listening and trying to teach over the sounds of weights and barbells hitting against each other along with the motivational grunts of 60-80 7th and 8th grade boys (per 8 class periods) trying to lift trying to build their muscles.  Fortunately, my science classroom will be in the new science building.  It has windows (is that the sun?) and is about 3 times larger than my other classroom.  No boy's gym for me... yay!

So here I sit...it's 4:30 in the morning (Saturday morning I might add), trying to write down a list of EVERYTHING that I have to do and it is a little intimidating.  I know that it will get done but I start getting nervous at this time every year.  I have some ideas but still have to work them through.  I spent most of the summer on Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers (here's the link to my little store) looking at so many great ideas, but now feel slightly overwhelmed.

And with all that said, I would like to propose a toast (holding up my cup of coffee).  To all the teachers out there:  I know how hard teachers work, we have to endure comments from our non-teaching counterparts about how we get the entire summer off and we don't have to work that hard (try being in a room with 25-30 13 year olds). But I know that you have probably spent countless hours this summer planning and preparing, learning and observing, reflecting and analyzing what you do in order to get better and provide enriching experiences to the students.  In August (or September for some of you), when those kiddos walk back in our door, we will be prepared, having spent our summer doing so, for most everything that will come at us...and guess what... WE LOVE IT! If we didn't, we wouldn't have done all of this.  We love that moment when we see the lightbulb come on and see the shine in that kiddo's eyes when they finally get it!  We love having our students be happy to come to school because they like it and we love the challenge of getting those students who don't like coming to school to one day acknowledge that they really do.  Most of all...we love the STUDENTS!  How could you not?  We do all of this for them...

Back to planning,

I am adding my blog to bloglovin' so that everything can be centralized.

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Trying something new

Today I tried something new and submitted one of my lessons to a giveaway.  Danielle on  Livelovemath is sponsoring this giveaway.  I donated my "Adding and Subtracting Decimals" lesson for all to check out.  Go on over there and see if you can snag some free stuff.

Still working on it!

I am determined to get this blog done this weekend. I think I have finally figured it out, but I have been sidetracked with other happenings  along with planning for switch for next year. I went from 8th grade science for 5 years, then 2 years in 7th grade math, now to 7th grade science. Don't get me wrong...I love change but it still get me flustered and I freak out a bit until after the first day of school. Then I realize that is is like riding a bike...just need to brush up a little. My love is science, but there have been some changes since I left and I will have to get used to them. Have a great Saturday!

Trying to figure out to design this blog

I have been desperately trying to figure out how to do all the cool stuff on a blog.  Like all the pretty pictures and designs...etc.  I will conquer this....soon.