I'm going to keep this short and sweet because, honestly, I am really enjoying the long weekend and finding it very hard to get focused back on work.
If you are feeling the same way, I have a plan for you! Did you know Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site-wide Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale?!
So......let's say you are like me and don't want to plan ahead this week. Use the sale to save 28% on all items in my store on Monday and Tuesday. Save yourself some time and stress during the holiday season. I'm sure you have better things to do than write lesson plans!
Here are a few of my best ideas on what I would purchase
And if you are looking for more great science products at a discount, check out these stores:
Every year as Halloween approaches, I think about what I want class to look like on that day. There is no denying that its not a regular class day. Students will not be focused, and will likely be resentful if its run like a regular class. However, there are many options.
A friend of mine teaches upper level students (juniors and seniors), with smaller class sizes. She does some really REALLY cool demos that day.
My favorite is the exploding pumpkin! It is definitely something students will remember, and be excited about. She also usually gets dry ice, and does some demonstrations with dry ice, such as these:
Sometimes, however, particularly when teaching large classes of middle school students, I don't always trust their behavior and self-control to do these type of demonstrations. Students are excited, but they are TOO excited, and it just adds to the chaos, and can get out of control.
Instead, I have used this day to build on literacy, in a fun and engaging way that still allows students a break from the regular daily routine.
I usually print out a variety of news articles on Halloween related topics, at different reading levels, and then I let them choose an article.
There are many more available, but here are a few of my favorites:
Depending on my particular class and my goals, I may then have the students answer some comprehension questions about the article (some of these come with comprehension questions), get into a small group or partner and present, write a short summary, connect to a course topic, use a version of the textbook reading strategy, etc.
One year I was at a school that required 'literacy labs' consisting of
a list of three or more vocabulary words with definitions that you took from the article (you may need to research to find a proper definition
A short essay consisting of:
a description of EITHER how this information will impact your everyday life/why the information in this passage matters/your opinion about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, with supporting arguments.
Make a list of facts, opinions, conclusions, and speculations contained in this article.
There are also numerous free examples of news article summaries and news article assignments available online, as well as common core literacy questions that can easily be adapted.
Students are doing something slightly academic, but have been quite engaged reading about 'Halloween' topics, and taking a break from their regular coursework for one day.
There are so many kinds of technology that I use on an almost daily basis in my science class to improve life and education for my students. Today's post is going to focus on a tool that I use almost everyday -- Google Forms.
If you have never used google forms before, here are some tutorials. They are VERY easy to use.
All you need is a google account (personal or professional, the students will never see your email address). You can go to Google Drive and create a new form, or go to forms.google.com. You create a form just like you create any other document, and you can choose what type of questions you want (multiple choice, short answers, scale, checkboxes, include a picture or video....). Your answers will automatically come to a Google Sheet (like excel), and you can also get a summary of responses. This means google will aggregate the data for you, and show, immediately, for every question, the number of people who chose each multiple choice answer, or a list of the responses. The responses will show up on real time, so you can immediately see your students' responses.
Here is an example of the summary of results that you can get immediately after students respond.
Before I get into ways that I used google forms in the classroom, a couple of other tips that I wanted to share with you.
The snipping tool in windows is a great way to include any images that you want to add in.
There is an add-on called flubaroo (there are lots of great tutorials online) that will automatically grade multiple choice for you.
If you only want the form available at a certain time, or to end at a certain time, you can toggle on and off the 'accepting responses,' as shown below
Ok, so on to how I use google forms in the classroom.
I had three main uses for google forms that I want to share, although there are many others.
I used it for myself to track parent contacts. I made a quick form with boxes for student name, method of contact, and what was discussed (time and date are stored automatically). I put a bookmark to this form on my toolbar and could quickly enter any parent contact. Then I ended up with a spreadsheet that I could sort or search of all my parent contacts.
I used google forms at the end of each unit, or topic, to do a quick survey with the kids around the learning objectives. I could immediately get a pulse on how they were feeling about the various objectives, and know where to focus my review. I could pull the summary up on the board and work of off that to review. I found it much more effective that asking them to ask questions, or openly self-report. We could all be on the same page. I had them take notes as we were reviewing.
For example...
3. I used google forms on an almost daily basis for warm ups. We were a 1:1 chromebook school last year, so this might not be feasible otherwise, but it is certainly something to consider for those days you have device access, or even if you want students to access on any type of device. I would usually give them a shortened link (from goo.gl) or post the link on google classroom. Then my form would show 2 or 3 warm up or ticket out questions. I could even include a video on picture. I could turn the form off when the time was up, and pull up the responses on the board so we could see where we are as a class, and if we are ready to move on.
Have you used google forms in your classroom? If so, where do you see it being most useful? What other technology do you use?
