Junior Scientist...

For the past few years I had a "Scientist of the Week" that would really be my glorified helper. But after reading about the traveling scientist used in lower grades, I decided to mature it a little bit for use in my 6th grade class.  Thus was born my Junior Scientist.

I do teach 5 different classes throughout the day so I'll have 5 different Junior Scientists. The title will be held by those randomly-chosen students for the duration of the testing topic....which is roughly 6 days. They will each receive a bag that includes goggles, gloves, a pen, a lab notebook, science experiment books [no more than 2], and a suggested experiment....materials and all. The bag, lab book, and pen that I created and purchased for each are from my favorite site Vistaprint ....they look like this:

They will take these home and on day 6, which is dubbed "Test Review Day", the Junior Scientists will return the bags and contents. They will also have no more than 10 minutes to present their experiment to their class. This in turn will result in an extra grade. I am hoping that this small, quick experiment will encourage family time at home. My fingers are crossed!

Inside the log book cover will be these guidelines:

And this is my version of the letter kzoteacher shared on my favorite teacher site.... it will go home with the Junior Scientists when chosen:

Thank you back2learn, 1956BD, and others from my favorite teacher site for mentioning this and directing me to sites discussing this! This new addition to my classroom is definitely SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED!