Electrical Circuits & Jitterbugs

Eighth graders have been studying electricity and for the first time, I have the material (very few) to have student create their own series and parallel circuits.  First the class watched a video about how they are set up and the differences between the two.  Then, after being assigned a reading, students worked in a small group to build their own series and parallel circuits.  This made it so much more meaningful for the students.

Now, we are working on Jitterbugs.  I will post the link to the lesson plan and of course post pictures of our final products!

The Jitterbugs went well this year; this class was very creative.  The only thing was this year we used motors with wires and leads already connected.  At first I thought this would be a good thing because students wouldn't have to strip the wires of the alligator clips.  However, it was not a good thing when it came to our Jitterbug competition.  After all the Jitterbugs were completed, we had a contest to see which bug jittered the longest, farthest, etc.  Since these Jitterbugs didn't have the clips to simply clip on  and off the motor, students had to tape the leads onto the batteries.  This was not ideal, but the competition went well and the kids enjoyed it!  Here is the link I used to help with this project: Jitterbugs

Scale Drawing

I am currently teaching one of my favorite chapters in pre-algebra.  It is all about proportions and part of that is scale drawings.  Each year I teach this, I truly feel like I teach it better and more clearly.  It really is amazing to step back and watch yourself grow as a teacher.  Anyways, this year I wanted to have students make their own scale drawing.  At first I considered having students create a scale drawing of a buildings in this Chicago skyline which would then be displayed outside my classroom.  However, after more thought I concluded it would be hard to make the buildings look as realistic as I would have wanted.   So instead, I thought I would incorporate a piece of art.  I went with this idea because I do have an interest in art and because I try to expose my students to it as much as possible since we no longer have an art teacher.  Anyways, I chose Composition A by Piet Mondrian.  As a class, we assessed the amount of space we had for our artwork and determined a starting ratio for our proportion.  From there,  I had students work in groups to draw a set of rectangles according to our first ratio.  I would definitely do this project again!  Here is the final product :)

Common Core Math Standards:

Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

2.  Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities.

Objectives:

Students will:

-identify Piet Mondrian's artwork 

-determine the new size of part of the artwork using proportions

Assessment:

Students were assessed based on the accuracy of their calculations.

Christmas Festivities!!

Christmas is such a hectic time, but luckily I was able to have some fun with it and be thankful for all the opportunities I've been given!  Here are some pictures of our holiday celebrations!

 Finger-paint Light Strands....so much fun and super easy!!

Gift Bags for my students in math club!

Pop-up cards and angel ornaments for our 2nd grade buddies.  Ideas taken from Pinterest :)

Angel Ornaments Link

Gift Bags for my homeroom filled with candy, pencils, and glow sticks for the new year!

Letters to Santa

With teaching middle school, the magic of Santa is somewhat lost.  However, this year I came across a post (unfortunately, I do not remember where) that shared a lesson plan about writing letters to Santa from the perspective of a villain.  I thought it would be a perfect creative/persuasive writing assignment and I could also use it to teach students how to write a business letter.  So first of all, I had student select a villain of their choice.  Next, they had to brainstorm ideas why their villain would be worthy of a Christmas present this year.  From there, I told students they would be writing a letter to Santa asking for a Christmas present through the point of view of their villain.  The kids loved this and had so much fun thinking of reasons why their character was worthy.  I loved that my students had the chance to be creative and at the same time were learning how to write a business letter with a clear purpose.  The results were great and very amusing the read.  Here are some examples:

Common Core Writing Standards:

1.  Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
      a.  Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

4.  Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.  (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

Objectives:

Students will:

-write a business letter 

-create arguments that support the worthiness of their villain

-organize ideas to fit the format of a business letter

Assessment:

Students were assessed based on the final draft of their business letter.  They were evaluated on the format of the business letter, ability to maintain a formal tone, and the quality of their persuasive reasons provided in the letter.