I wanted to hop on today and share a little science notebook freebie that I made for you all. I thought it would be helpful to create a little science cheat sheet for students to glue onto the inside of their notebooks. I included the basic metric units, some other scientific units that I thought would be helpful, the steps to the CER and Scientific Method, the types of variables, the equation for force = mass x acceleration and the periodic table! I hope this helps your science students this year! Just click the image to download your free copy ..read more

I think we can all agree that this school year didn't end quite like we had imagined or hoped. I always look forward to those final days with students. This year, since I am teaching 8th grade, it makes me extremely sad because they will be moving on to high school next year and I won't see them again. I wanted to put together a little something for my students to keep the science going this summer, if only for a moment. I also wanted to find something that wouldn't break the bank! So, I assembled little bags with the materials to make a balloon rocket at home. This project cost me less t ..read more

This time has been incredibly difficult for teachers. Being away from our classrooms, our students, our colleagues, and our school communities has taken it's toll on us all. But, as teachers, we do what we do best. We do anything we can to serve our students and make learning online as much like our own classrooms as we can. I have been trying to find that perfect balance between the right amount of work on virtual meeting time to make sure my students are successful. However, it is SO important to keep those connections with students going and let them know that we miss them and love them ..read more

So as many of you may already know, I made the switch this year to teaching middle school science and I absolutely LOVE it! I don't know why I spent so many years teaching elementary. I won't go on and on about the many reasons WHY, but just take my word for it. Podcasts have become a big thing in education in the last couple of years. I know personally, I love listening to podcasts on my way to work every morning. True Crime is my favorite genre! My Favorite Murder and Sword and Scale are my two go to podcasts that I listen to on my daily commute. When I taught third grade, we listened to ..read more

Where are my SC there grade teachers? I know many of you have been apprehensive about the new Social Studies standards that were released earlier this year. I have had so many of you ask me if I was going to be creating new social studies units for the new standards and the answer is yes! I know I am no longer teaching 3rd grade, but 3rd grade social studies is my heart and I have so many dedicated followers that I feel like I would be letting you down if I didn't! Today I worked on making a shortened version of the standards and a standards checklist. After I accomplished that, I really lo ..read more

I posted on my Instagram this past week about the shortened version of the support document that I created. The state department's version has so much extra stuff on it and I just wanted something easy to print and read! I had been thinking about doing this FOREVER and finally got around to doing it! I hope you find this as helpful and useful as I have! Here is a sample of what it looks like. Click on the picture below to grab your free download ..read more

As I prepare for my first year as a middle school science teacher, I felt that it was important to survey my students and get their general feelings on science and assess their science knowledge. I have always done back to school surveys for students as a way of getting to know them, so I felt like this was a great way of getting to know my students in a more scientific sense. For a fun twist, you can also use the second version of the survey and do it gallery style! Get students up and moving to answer the questions. This is something that I have always done with my third graders at the beg ..read more

As you may already know, I am making the move to middle school this year, and I will have 5 classes to keep up with! I was trying to think of an easy way to have access to their information and so I came up with these information cards that I can color code by class. Self contained classes can certainly use this as well, you just wouldn't print the class tabs. I recommend laminating the front card and the tabs for durability. Punch a hole in the corner and place on a ring and hang it next to your desk or in a spot that is easily accessible for you. You can save your self tons of time if you ..read more

Hey there friends! I am absolutely terrible about keeping up with this little ole blog, but I wanted to come and share with you all that I will be making the move to middle school this year to teach 8th grade science! (I know, I am a crazy person.) I have taught third grade for so many years that I just needed a change. I am VERY excited about the change and I have tons of ideas rolling around in my head. After diving into the standards, I knew that students would need to learn to make claims and support them with evidence. This seemed to be a large theme throughout the standards so I scoured ..read more