Mrs. Harris Teaches
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Mrs.Harris Teaches is dedicated to helping science teachers in the upper elementary to high school classroom. It offers ideas, lesson plans, and activities to help students better understand science topics.
Mrs. Harris Teaches
4y ago
In North Carolina, Earth and Environmental Science is a required high school science course for all students. For this class, I generally have center rotations for review before a unit test (with one center being Jeopardy), but as part of the final earth science exam review, I use flashcards.
Yes, I integrate the use of flashcards into my science instruction. Years ago, even I would be judging me for using flashcards due to their implicit “drill and kill” stereotype; however, flashcards can be a dynamic part of instruction if used thoughtfully.
I believe in balance in my classroom instruction ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
4y ago
Resources for science teachers come in many forms, and I’m all about that informal PD. Here’s a collection of news stories I came across this past week that may inspire positive change in your science teaching, classroom, or life.
Photo by Edvin Johansson on Unsplash
SCIENCE TEACHING
Teach about science in the news in 2020 via NSTA Blog
Teaching Sustainability to Young Children via iTeach with iPads
Bright Ideas 2020: Teach students about UN’s Sustainable Development Goals via The Cap Times
TECHNOLOGY IN YOUR CLASSROOM
NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge Returns, Now Open For Classroom E ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
4y ago
Whether you are a parent or teacher, providing high-quality science books is one of the ways to help kids cultivate a love of science. These recommendations are based on my ten years of teaching experience and student endorsements. Science books for kids make great birthday gifts or holiday gifts. This list of science books for kids is teacher-created and child-approved!
Science Experiment Books: First and foremost, science is about doing. Nothing encourages doing science more than a science experiment book! All three of these books have plenty of experiments you can do today with materi ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
4y ago
Here is my book of science experiments for kids! I am proud to announce that I am a children’s science book author! This truly is a dream come true for my science-lovin’, teacher self! Seriously, all the exclamation points!!!
This STEAM book has 40 science experiments for older kids ready to take their experiments to the next level! This is perfect for kids who have already read and completed other experiments from other popular science books. (Be sure to check out my list of science books every kid should have!)
This book has science experiments best for children in 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
4y ago
This post is sponsored by Ward’s Science. All opinions are my own.
Hey science teacher, I’m so grateful to be able to present to you, courtesy of Ward’s Science, a 15% Off Your Order Total Plus Free Shipping* exclusive promo code: WardsWorld15MH (see the end of this post for the fine print for using this code). This code is good until 10/31.
As a science teacher, it takes a lot of time and energy to figure out what items are best to purchase for a science supply order. For me, science supplies are a good value if they provide a high-quality learning experience for students and meet one or mo ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
5y ago
I created an Instructable for building a simple shake table and instructions for an engineering design challenge. I have a modifications for this activity below that make it more of a real world challenge utilizing budgets and analyzing costs per square centimeter.Building Materials/Tools and Costs:
Scissors – $1,500 to rent
Ruler – $1,250 to rent
Masking Tape – $400/cm
Spaghetti – $2,500/piece
String – $70/cm
Mini Marshmallows – $200/piece
Paper – $12,000/8.5×11 sheet; $6,000/half sheet
Challenge: What is the largest earthquake proof structure (by square feet centimeters) your group ca ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
5y ago
This blog post is a round-up of Amazon deals and will be updated many times over the next couple of days (I’m going hiking with my mom Monday so I’ll the first update will be Monday evening!). I make a commission if you use any of the affiliate links I have in this blog post, so if you do, thank you for the support!
First and foremost, if you don’t have Amazon Prime you can get a free 30 day trial here OR get a free 6 month trial with an .edu email here for Prime Student (see, going for that master’s degree pays off in more ways than one).
Amazon has its own guide to prime day here. They also ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
5y ago
Recap: Here is how to perform the science experiment that helped Camille Schrier win Miss Virginia 2019.
So if you haven’t heard this story yet – Camille Schrier performed a science experiment as her talent for a pageant competition AND ultimately WON Miss Virginia 2019! I think it was a smart move considering it is a scholarship contest after all (and obviously others agree). Even better, I love how she used this platform to promote her image as a woman in science and STEM. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2018 with degrees in biochemistry and systems biology. She is currently a graduate s ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
5y ago
To sum it up, if you are a science teacher, here is your one stop guide to twitter. This post is full of resources, so be sure to check out all the links.
One of my goals this summer is to be more active on Twitter. I started making this guide just for myself, then realized other science teachers could benefit from having this info all in one place. Just like in the classroom, twitter is all about building relationships and helping others. I want to connect with more science teachers in a meaningful way, and I invite you to join me!
Twitter is like free pd for teachers. Twitter can help you ..read more
Mrs. Harris Teaches
5y ago
To sum it up, most science teachers are teaching subjects they were not trained in college to teach, but there are many internet and book resources out there to help.
Many science teachers with 5 years of experience or less are teaching subjects in which they have not been prepared. This is called out-of-field (OOF) teaching. In fact, one study found only 36% of high school science teachers – with five years of experience or less – are teaching the subject they’re qualified to instruct. I like how the acronym sounds like how I feel about this truth – seriously, oof!
As a science teacher, I ca ..read more