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!

Welcoming Students...

I know this is the time of the year when teachers, new and seasoned, begin to look for inspiration for their welcome power points. I'm going to share mine with hopes it can help someone somewhere. Even though I have an Activboard in my room, I will still use this power point... I absolutely LOVE IT! Yes, I know I can import it...maybe I will. But for now, this is it. Sometimes this Science Diva likes not having to reinvent the wheel. :)

Here it is....click it, download it, use it if you like. The font in the yellow titles is called Forgotten World [downloaded from www.dafont.com]. The main picture on the title slide...the one with the Thistlegirl scientist...is a picture of the banner I have hanging over my door...it is not editable. I did tweak this power point for this year somewhat...I added a newer team building activity [SAVE FRED & SF FLOW MAP] [THANK YOU SUSAN TEACHER from PROTEACHER] to the end...but I still have a few minor things to change. None-the-less it is SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED! :) Have fun!

No....I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth!

I am here. I have been so very busy with school, grad school, foot issues, and my overwhelming sadness due to the loss of a most BELOVED brother-in-law. Let's just say there is not enough time in the day to do all of the things that need to be done. Needless to say, I am hanging in there.

I have however, for the past few weeks, been teaching Unit 2 of our comprehensive curriculum which finds me and my students having fun with matter....measuring it in all sorts of ways. I think my students are mostly enjoying the fact that each day brings out new equipment and instruments to master using. They have especially loved using the triple beam balance....mainly since I so desperately wanted to make certain they could explain thoroughly how and why it is used that I had them write letters to our assistant principal explaining so. They did a FABULOUS job and he sooo got a kick out of the letters.

We have also been visited by he-who-will-not-be-named a few times. Just for the record, he..... is visiting our classrooms this year to make sure we are teaching well and that the students are constantly engaged. Which equates to my sore feet and early bedtimes. None-the-less, I am having more fun this year than ever.

One of my new SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED management procedures is the use of wonderful little cones I found at the Dollar Tree as recommended by my AWESOME friends from http://www.proteacher.net/. I have 7 orange cones and 1 yellow cone that all have a positive message like "Great Job" and "Fabulous Work" on them. Well, as my students [who by the way sit 4 to a round table which I know I have yet to post pics of my classroom] work in and with their groups on various activities and projects, I walk around monitoring and questioning as all good teachers do with these in my hands looking for the teams that are  Cooperative, On-task, Noiseless, & Efficient. Their main goal is to earn the coveted lone yellow cone to be recongnized as the CONEiacs. The coniacs of course earn a prize, too, which is usually some sort of treat to eat right there in class. I must admit that I really love this even more this year because the first time he-who-will-not-be-named visited our room with my three administrators they were all impressed by how well this worked. YAY US!

Well, it is really past my bedtime....I have the big SLLC test this weekend...wish me luck! :)

Mouse Mischief

I was just reading on PROTEACHER about the free Microsoft program Mouse Mischief. THIS IS AWESOME! It allows you to link up as many computer mice you can find to turn your power points into interactive presentations. I do have a Promethean board and some actiVotes, but boy this is an AWESOME alternative for those who may not have interactive boards and/or equipment!


Go ahead, check it out....and yes, you know it's SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED!

OMG! I'm Vista'd Out!

Ok... when teachers jump on a bandwagon, they roll until their tires run flat...well in my case, rolling on the rims and making sparks! I had to PRY myself off of my computer at 3am this morning. Darn Vistaprint! Free shipping here, $1 shipping there. It was crazy! Well needless to say if you haven't heard about the great deals you can get at www.vistaprint.com then you are missing out! I created so many things for my classroom and family members that I really can't remember all I made! Oh, the BEST part is that I maybe paid a total of $10!!! Y'all I created and bought like $300 of stuff for only that $10...which is including shipping! Like what you ask? Well...

6 huge magnetic signs [for my homework board and other areas]
2 banners [one with rules, etc. and the other for over my door]
5 bumper stickers with my class website on them
5 personalized pens
5 personalized sticky notes
5 different sets of blank business cards [will use to write student names for use when calling on them]
1 set of business cards with my info on it for parents
5 sets of 10 blank note cards for use to identify groups, etc..
4 different rubber stamps
2 personalized mouse pads
2 sets of address labels [one with just my name and the other with name, website, email addy, and planning times to stick in test folders/agendas]
And...I'm probably leaving somethings off...but basically that's it...for now!

If you need "things" for your class, you have to check out what you can do there! After all, it is SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED!