Pool noodles provide great learning opportunities!

Start your year off right by decorating your STEM classroom to inspire your students to have fun, take risks, and have a growth mindset.

It’s almost time for back to school! Get to know your students and help students start thinking about science in their own lives. This free resource, Science About Me, is a simple and fun activity for students to complete the first week of school. What’s included? Suggested Use page Full page printable Notebook-sized printable Who ... Read more

Middle School Rewards Are you searching for a way to motivate your middle school students? Found a way to track positive behavior but not sure what to do now? Treasure box? No, that's too elementary. Prizes? No, that's too expensive. Reward coupons are the way to go! Your students will love the opportunity to be rewarded with things that matter to them. Plus, these no-cost options will cut down on the amount of money you need to spend on your classroom! Or, really, just allow you to spend it on other things because let's be real, you'll probably need more pencils or tissues soon! Check out the reward coupon options I provide my students: 1. Choose your seat for the day This is one of the most sought-after rewards in classrooms with seating charts. If you do not use seating charts, you can still use this reward; simply let students choose the type of seat they sit on. If you are REALLY flexible, you could even let your seat (at your desk or anywhere else in the room) be a choice. 2. Free assignment pass My students LOVE this reward. It becomes especially popular close to the end of the grading period. Weird, right?! #procrastinatorsunite 3. Assignment extension This one can be really helpful for student-athletes. In my 7th grade classes, it's often their first time trying to balance practice, games, AND school work. I'm thankful that my school supports students' interests but still holds them accountable. 4. Extra credit points I find it funny that the students who like extra credit the most, are usually the ones who don't need it! Don't tell anybody, but I was that kid! 🙋 5. Drop the lowest grade Some teachers use this practice routinely, but if you don't this can be a great reward. You may want/need to add some qualifying information to this reward; like it must be a daily grade, not a test or project grade. Please make sure you abide by your district/building policies regarding grades. 6. Work in the hallway This is a reward because of the freedom. Middle school students love to feel free, like they have control, and that you are not watching their every-single-move! 7. Listen to music while working This reward is easy if you are in a district/building with 1-1 devices or if you are a little more lenient with your cell phone policy. I do include a couple of qualifying statements with this reward - It can ONLY be used during independent work time and the student MUST have headphones. Image by Karolina Grabowska 8. Work with a friend Who doesn't like to work with their friends?! The social aspect of middle school life is central. Sure, this probably shouldn't be redeemed on test day, but on daily work, why not? Clipart from Pigknit 9. Bring a snack to class I have a snack DRAWER in my desk, so I am definitely not opposed to snacks in the classroom. I know some people worry about mess, if you are one of those people...add some guidelines to this reward. 10. Bring a drink to class I would recommend that you tell your students that their drinks should have a screw-top lid. Less chance of spillage. Image by Kaleb Tapp 11. Chew gum in class Gum is precious commodity. I don't know about your school, but at my school, if you are the kid with gum, you are the most popular! 12. Eat lunch in the classroom This is something that often happens at the elementary level, but sometimes we forget that older students want to build those connections with adults too. 13. Wear a hat in class At the middle school level, you may not have the authority to say that a student can wear a hat all day long, but the hat reward can be redeemed when that student is in your classroom. 14. Take off your shoes in class I know some people find this gross but think about how you get comfy. I don't know about you, but one of the first things I do when I get home is slip off my shoes! Image by Jacob Owens 15. Free time A free time reward can come in many formats to fit your classroom environment. Some free time rewards I have used include time to read a personal book, draw, play on technology, play board games, do puzzles, and just time to chat with friends (as long as it doesn't interrupt the rest of the classroom. You can purchase a set of ready-made reward cards from my Teachers Pay Teachers store - Here

This science classroom decor poster set includes colorful charts covering states of matter and one classroom 18" x 24" poster. Use these phases of matter charts as decor for your classroom to create a bulletin board for solid, liquid, and gases, or give them to your students as reference sheets for their science notebooks. In addition, students will access the characteristics, motion of molecules, and an example of a solid, liquid, and gas. Like these states of matter posters? Check out the unit and save 20% off by clicking here. Students will reference: Definitions of a solid, liquid, and gas Characteristics of matter Examples of each type of matter This states of matter poster classroom decor set include: ONE 18" x 24" classroom-sized poster to reference characteristics of a solid, liquid, and gas. There are two ways to print the poster, and both ways are detailed in the resources. FIVE anchor chart (8.5" x 11") posters to hang around your classroom. Anchor charts are included in two versions; bubbles and scribble. Both versions have a black and white copy. Save ink and print on Astrobrights! Each poster will detail characteristics, an image of the particles, and an example. A page that includes adjectives to describe phases of matter A reference sheet for science notebooks The science poster set comes in both black and white and color. Choose which version best fits the needs of your students. They are designed on 8.5" x 11" paper but can easily be formatted to print larger! How to use these posters in your classroom: Create a science bulletin board for states of matter Add solid, liquid, and gas posters to your science word wall Visuals for students to reference throughout the phases of matter unit Create a large hallway display Teacher feedback: Great resource. I was looking for something easy and straightforward for my students. I will be using the posters on my science board, and I am having students glue the properties page into their interactive notebooks. Thank you! Loved putting this resource together and displaying the anchor chart in my classroom. Very engaging and easy to use in a pinch! I love Teaching Muse and have purchased several of her items. Other states of matter activities to support this unit: States of Matter Sketch Notes Phases of Matter Nonfiction Activity Activities Choice Homework FREEBIE Kindly Note: If you have questions, do not hesitate to email me at Teaching Muse Email PLEASE PREVIEW BEFORE PURCHASING __________________________________________________________________ Thank you for visiting Teaching Muse. I would love for you to become a follower.  Teaching Muse followers receive new product information and discounts on any new items! __________________________________________________________________ All rights reserved by Teaching Muse. This product is to be used by the original downloader ONLY. Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited. Additionally, this product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view. Failure to comply is a copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). They are intended for classroom and personal use ONLY.

If you're a high school science teacher (or a soon-to-be high school science teacher), I'd like to share with you how I preferred to start the year with my freshmen and sophomores- and why! Though I

Creating an engaging escape room experience for your middle school science students doesn't have to be difficult.Set your escape rooms apart from the

Doodle and Define Notes were created to supplement your existing NGSS lessons and activities. REAL learning happens when students po...

10 Ideas to help students learn science vocabulary words10 Ideas to help students learn science vocabulary words-- awesome for 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade

Ready to move beyond tired Jeopardy slides? Try a few rounds of the Flyswatter Game, a no-fail way to keep teens active and excited about test prep. Six Easy St

I am blessed to have a science classroom at my middle school. It's spacious with a lot of storage and space for students to spread out. With...

I don't know if you have noticed, but I LOVE ROOM TRANSFORMATIONS! I probably love them more than my students do....and my students want them all the time! This one was new for me this year! I've always wanted to do an operating room, but didn't know exactly what standard I wanted to cover! Well, I finally figured it out (obviously)! ---------------------------------------------------- SET-UP & MATERIALS COVERING WALLS: Whenever you want to cover up your walls to transform your space, I highly recommend using tablecloths from the Dollar Tree! They are super light-weight and easy to hang up. I always hang them up with tacks. I have ceilings where tacks push in very easily and it takes no time at all. Typically it takes me between 45 minutes to an hour to cover 80% of my room and my room is LARGE. OPERATING ROOMS: To create the rooms, I hung up one tablecloth on each side. This help create a small space where students could feel like they were in separate operating rooms, but I was still able to see all students. LIFE-SIZED OPERATION CHARACTER: These were made from butcher paper. I taped a piece that would fit nicely on each table onto my SmartBoard and traced over a picture I found Google. Once I was done, I traced around my pre-made operation "organs" so that I knew they would fit. I DID NOT trace around the ones from the Google image. OPERATION ORGANS: I free handed them! I looked at the images online and copied! Of course they are larger than normal. I wanted them large enough so that students could write character traits on each one. I only made 9 out of the 13 on the original board game. See the picture below to see what I mean. STUDENT COSTUMES: I purchased everything from amazon and created the badges which are linked below. Gloves where provided by my school. All items where waiting for the students are their assigned operating room. -Face masks -Caps -My doctor outfit DOCUMENTS: Thank You, Ma'am The Scholarship Jacket (Mature words and content) Possibility of Evil Badges, doctor files, & patient files I made one for each group. I paced all of the stories, doctor, and patient directions on one clipboard and provided enough clipboards for each student in the group. PowerPoint Presentation-surgical room sounds -The first slide lasts for 50 minutes -Second slide has the flat-line video (Lasts for 15 seconds) -Third slide shows what the students need to do to save their patient (Lasts for 2 minutes) -Fourth slide goes back to the original beep. (SLIDES SWITCH BY THEMSELVES! All you need to do is click the start button of each video.) ---------------------------------------------------- CONTENT RL 3 Describe how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. Identifying character traits can be very tricky for students especially when they have to infer them and then tell me how a character's traits develops the plot. We practiced this skill for two weeks before I felt like they were ready for this transformation. The goal is that they demonstrate mastery of this standard. STEP ONE: Read the patient's file. This is a short story I provided each group. Now, I always teach to the top. I do not differentiate during transformations. I provide more assistance if need, which is rare. Kids can do amazing things when you give them the chance! Once the entire group finished reading (they read it together), they could move onto step two. STEP TWO: Identify the character's "symptoms" aka character traits. Student's analyzed the file for all the components to identify each trait (refer to the document linked at the bottom). I heard so many awesome conversations during this time. As student's diagnosed the patient, they would raise their hands and call Dr. Schrempp over (me). They would have to provide me the evidence from the file that support that diagnosis. If they were correct, they earned an organ! Then, the group would record the trait on the organ and translate it back into the patient's body. In the end, each operating room identified nine qualities. This part took about and hour and a half! BUT of course I had to add a little twist.... PATIENT FLAT-LINED: I made a timed PowerPoint that at about the hour mark the screen switched and all the sudden the flat-line sound went over our speakers. My student's FREAKED! Student's learned that their patients were dying and they only way they could save them was by solving the hard math problem that was on the board. They only had one minute to solve because the human brain only last about 3 minutes without oxygen. You can choose whatever problem you like! I'm all about rigor so my students had a nice long multi-operation expression. & I'm happy to say that all surgeons saved their patients. EARLY FINISHERS: I only had 2 out of the 4 groups finish about 20 minutes before the rest. You should always have a backup plan for when this happens. I used ReaditWriteitLearnit's character trait autopsy files from her TpT. I handed the task cards to each group and they worked on their already made person. Checkout the link for more details! I have provided all of my documents above. Please sure them as you please! I kept the parts for names editable so that you can add your own character names. Remember I have to rights to all of these documents. If you plan on using them, you must give me credit. Please tag me in your Instagram photos! I'd love to see this all in action!

The current theme in our reading program is Food. Last week we read Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington. It is a very simple story about Annie who has an apple farm. Annie picks and sorts apples. She makes all sorts of thing with apples. Then she sell her apple products at the farmers' market in the city. We created a story map about the book. We also made a circle map showing foods that are made from apples. And we made applesauce AGAIN in the slow cooker! My kiddos can't get enough of this! Today we created sentences to answer the question - What does Annie do with apples? I recorded their answers in a predictable chart with the sentence frame - Annie __________. They copied their sentences and illustrated. More food plans for the rest of the week! Yay!

As a FACS / FCS / Home Ec teacher, you've known it all along: Family & Consumer Sciences is everywhere. Even in English/ESL lessons. Display cross-curricular learning in your classroom with this Food Idioms Bulletin Board! Also, a great addition for any ESL or Speech and Language classroom. **This is a digital download. You will NOT be mailed a physical product.** After purchasing you will download a zip file (it will be emailed to you & can be accessed in your account under purchases). Each slide can be printed on a 8.5 x 11" paper. Or follow the included instructions to print 2, 4, 6 or 9 slides per page. Print 6 or 9 per page, cut up, laminate and use as task cards, vocab or for an ESL discussion activity. Simply print all or some of the 31 Food Idioms plus the title page (cardstock is recommended). Trim them to your liking and paste on colored paper if desired (the red & white gingham paper was added for interest!). Don’t forget to laminate everything so it will last. Check out these other resources for Your FACS / Home Economics Classroom: FACS is Loads of Fun: www.etsy.com/ca/listing/202157143/facs-is-loads-of-fun-bulletin-board-kit Measuring Bulletin Board Kit: www.etsy.com/ca/listing/108559582/measuring-equipment-and-how-to-bulletin

Volcano science activity sheet. Great information sheet for the KS1 classroom to teach the parts of a volcano. Interactive with labels that attach with hook and loop strips. Useful for home schooling. All parts laminated. Clear font.

Finished crafting interactive notebook pages for Classcraft, an engaging classroom management tool. This fall I plan to add interactive ...

You will love these creative classroom decor ideas for social studies teachers or history teachers! Check out this list of 10 different ideas for...

I have a confession to make. During my years in the science classroom, I was never able to sustain a long-term warm-up or bell-ringer routine with my

Classroom doorbell is an essential tool for classroom management for elementary teachers. A wireless doorbell for classroom is...

The first school I taught at was an IB (International Baccalaureate) School. The primary IB program is big about asking questions to guide the students learning. In my first grade classroom, we used

Yes, you read that title right. We just had a new student with autism transfer to our school who is a stickler for his constitutional rights. During the last week, we've heard some interesting things such as: * Telling him to be quiet in the media center is interfering with his freedom of speech. * Asking him to place his stickers only inside his folder is imposing upon his civil liberties. * He couldn't be waving his napkin in someone's face because that would mean he would have to actually place the napkin inside the person's head. *If you lined him up with 100 other kids his age, he would be smarter than 97 percent of them, because his doctor said his IQ was in the 97th percentile. There's been many other interesting conversations with him, also. He's very smart and I am probably not smarter than a 2nd grader! He used his pattern blocks to create a Jewish star and wrote "In memory of Anne Frank and the other victims of the Holocaust." Yes, we are testing him for gifted! In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with some ways to get the behavior more conducive to a classroom setting. Since he's such a stickler for rules, I made this Student Rights and Responsibility handout that you can download for free if you click on the picture. There are 3 different versions. Does anyone else have any suggestions for dealing with such a logical, by the book student? I'm sure we'll be needing a lot of help with this student! On another note, I've been trying to keep track of all the special ed bloggers that I come across in blogland. We're in such a minority, and I want to know all of you that I can! Drum roll please.......here are all the special ed bloggers that I know about. If you're not on the list, please leave a comment, so I can add you! Let's all support each other since there's so few of us! Differentiation Station comes from Heather who is a Primary Resource teacher. A Special Kind of Class comes from Amanda who has an elementary classroom for students with severe physical and/or speech disabilities. Life in Special Education comes from Karla who has a K-5 self-contained classroom. Class Full of "Special" Kinders comes from Jeannie who teaches a special education Kindergarten. Ms. Rachel's Room comes (obviously) from Ms. Rachel who has a K-5 self-contained classroom. Sped-Ventures comes from a self-contained classroom teacher of students ages 9 to 14. Mrs. Gibson's Everday Classroom comes from Casey who is a special education teacher in Virginia. The Resource(ful) Room is from Amy and I assume she is a resource room teacher! Special Speckled Eggs comes from Claire who teaches exceptional students Toad-ally Exceptional Learners comes from Mrs. Whiteley who teaches a K-6 resource room. She doesn't have a blog button but can be checked out {here}. We are ALL Special comes from Karlie who teaches has an elementary classroom for students with emotional behavior disorders. You can visit her blog {here}. Fun in ECSE comes from Kate who teaches early childhood special ed for students ages 2.5 - 5. Mrs. H's Resource Room comes from Kim who teaches Grades 3 through 5 in a resource/co-teaching model. Love Bug Learning comes from Sharima who teaches 3rd and 4th grade special education. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. If I did, please leave a comment with a link to your blog! Graphics from Scrappin Doodles

Bring the Bard to life with these resources.

This gene mutation card-sort consists of 27 cards that students arrange into five different genetic mutation categories. The five mutation categories include frameshift-addition, frameshift-deletion, missense mutation, nonsense mutation and silent mutation. Card-sorts are terrific hands-on activities that promote collaboration and discussion among students. They work nicely as review material for a test or as a means to confirm your students' degree of understanding. This product pairs well with the sentence "mutations" used in the FREE Mutations Scrabble Challenge activity found in my store. Minimal preparation! These cards are sized for borderless printing. That means no trimming and less time spent preparing the activity. Bonus ♦ 4 graphics used on the cards (for personal use only). ♦ 10 additional mutations in an EDITABLE Word document that can be used on tests or in practice exercises. ═══════════════════════════════════ What's Included: ☑ 27 Card Sort with 5 Categories ☑ Student Answer Sheet ☑ Teacher Answer Key ☑ 4 Graphic Files Used in Card Sort - Personal Use Only ☑ 10 Additional Mutations - Editable Word File ═══════════════════════════════════ You Might Also Enjoy: ★ Osmosis Inquiry Lab ★ Coloring Phenotypes based on Genotypes ★ Cellular Transport – Active and Passive ★ Molecular Models – Chemistry of Life ★ Biology Course Outline/Map - Full Year ═══════════════════════════════════ Follow me on Pinterest! As a teacher, you know the power of extra credit. But did you know that rating and reviewing items you bought on TPT earns you credits that you can apply to future purchases? You can access the feedback page by going to My Purchases and selecting the item(s) you want to review. With your input, I can create better products for your classroom. Thanks for your interest in Scientifically Inspired!

Well, that does it for Mo Willems Doodles for 2007. This blog started as an experiment a year ago last week and has since devoured my old website. Thanks for all the support and enthusiasm you’ve shown over the last year; it is appreciated. Here at the Marcraft Novelty MFG Corp. we have lots to look forward to in 2008, including: The release the new Pigeon Book! (plus the announcement of the winner of the contest!) The release of 2 new Elephant and Piggie books: I Will Surprise My Friend! and I Love My New Toy! Super-soft Elephant and Piggie Plushies and an incredibly cool Pigeon Backpack! A big, solo exhibition featuring my picture book art (and some other grown-up art, too)! The completion of the Knuffle Bunny Too animated short! The return of the Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! musical production touring the US, Canada and England. Plus previews of a new musical based on The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog! and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! Oh, and I’ll be touring, too. I’ll visit bookshops, schools, seminars, and book festivals in (among other places): Nashville, Seattle, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Dallas, Abilene, Knoxville, New York, London, Dublin, Anaheim, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Nebraska, Connecticut, Georgia, and of course Brooklyn*. I’m sure there will be loads more exciting stuff to chat about, so keep it tuned here in 2008! Here’s wishing you a fine, safe holiday with family, friends, and/or loved ones. Your pal, Mo (*as you can see I’m booked up, but info on my appearing at your event is here)

Put your Sorting Hat on!

Remind students of the steps of the scientific method. The teacher's guide suggests several science project ideas. Header piece measures 21" x 6". 21 pieces.This product is acid-free per industry standards; contact us for technical information.