Science Education Idea Exchange

I have been subbing for a year in a few different schools and age groups. My favorite is the middle school teachers who are prepared for a guest in the room. They all tend to have some variation of my list below: 1. Lesson plans 2. Emergency procedures 3. Rosters/seating charts with pictures: Include any special information, like if the student has band lessons during class. 4. Important contact information, like admin (grade-level, if applicable), attendance, tech department 5. Hall passes: when are they issued, how are they issued 6. Supervision or other duties 7. Do you share your room during your plan? Bonus points for the teachers that put it in a clearly labeled binder. It's a lot of work, but it makes it easier for me to run another teacher's classroom successfully. Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Students missing class is inevitable. Being organized will help save time, effort, and frustration. My solution was to have an absent/extra bin in my classroom. Photo by Feliphe Schiarolli on Unsplash The set-up: A large crate that can hold hanging files 5 or more laminated sheets with absent information (Ideas listed below) 6 Labeled folders with the days of the week and " Older " Laminated Sheet with "Absent/Extra Classwork" in large font Wet erase marker How to do it: In my first class, I have a trustworthy student with neat handwriting who fills out the form using the wet-erase marker. The completed form is placed in the corresponding hanging folder along with the worksheets . I clean off the form for the next day so it can dry overnight. Any worksheets left over are placed in the "Older" folder. Laminated Absent Information Form: There are many options on Teachers Pay Teachers that can be downloaded or you can create your own. Information to inc...

As a secondary teacher, it is no secret that students forget to write their names on their projects and papers. (This has become less of an issue with digital submissions.) As a young teacher, I witnessed a genius tactic for dealing with all those lost souls: the "no name" folder. Photo by Wahid Khene on Unsplash On my bulletin board, I stapled a file folder with the large label "No Name." Papers were placed in the folder with a label of when it was received and the period, if possible. (I had separate turn-in spots for each class.) When students and parents would ask where they could look, I had one spot! Here are some pro-tips: Do not grade an item until the name has been assigned . This is for two reasons: students will not try to claim an assignment that was not theirs for a good grade. Secondly, it provides privacy to the student who forgot to write their name . Circle the name spot so if there is a question on why something was late being graded ...

This is another one of those posts that I'm not sure why I have not written about it before! As a new teacher, I did not have a PLC for the first few years. There were some ideas I was able to borrow from teachers in my building, but I had to create my curriculum. That's where Pinterest became a huge time saver! How it works: Add the Chrome extension - as long as a picture is on the website you would like to save, you can create a brand-new pin. Download the app to your phone- sift through already created pins when you have downtime to get inspired. Use the website - You can create new pins like you would with a browser extension and find existing pins. It's easier to organize your pins, send pins, and add collaborators on the website (in my opinion). You can check out my science board here for some ideas I love and have been inspired by. You will also notice some of my creations as well.

 I just found a free URL shortener I wanted to share: tinyurl.com. Normally, I use a Google add-on, but the one I had been using has been compromised. 😐 I believe this is one of the more popular ones, but I could be wrong. If you're not familiar, this is a great tool that you can use to shorten long web addresses. It makes it easier to get students to a site and saves on space. A word of caution: the website does include advertisements, so be wary of encouraging students to use this tool.

 I must be in an organization mood because I wanted to write another strategy that I use to keep my classroom organized: file folders! I discovered early on that the simpler you keep things, the better. I labeled folders for every class period (and would place them in separate parts of the room to prevent students from turning in papers to the wrong class). I have never separated late work, missing work, and on-time work. I'm a bit too type A for my grading not to get done as soon as possible.  Photo by  Maksym Kaharlytskyi  on  Unsplash Benefits of this system: 1. I rarely was accused of losing papers because students placed it in the folder and I would grade them from the folder. (When things were done being graded, I had magazine holders for each class period to pass back at the beginning of the next class period.) 2. Students had an easy place to turn papers in. 3. Students were given a little more privacy on what they handed in versus a bin. 4. I could take...

I love TabCloud! Summary : Chrome Extension that will save and name your webpages. I am the type of person that will have several tabs open as I work on projects. Rarely do I finish the project before I need to walk away from my computer. By using TabCloud, I was able to easily save all the pages I had open before I leave. I could even have groups of tabs from different projects saved. For example, I am working on my STEM class. I would have a STEM Tab Cloud. I would also be working on 7th grade science. My second TabCloud would be cells. You get the idea.

I saw on the Teaching Channel with Amy Spies. She uses three drawer rubber maids for her students to hold classroom supplies and has a basket on top. Her students are seated in pods with the drawers in the middle. What a time saver! Since I have a middle school science classroom, I had to modify her design to work for me. I repurposed salad containers and placed die cuts on each of them that correspond to tables in my room. The buckets contain highlighters, scissors, glue, tape, red pens, and a calculator. (At the beginning of the year, it was enough supplies for groups of four.) My students know to just grab the bucket when they need them and leave them tidy for the next class period.  It was an easy thing to implement. Just a little training at the beginning of the school year and no extra cost since I was already purchasing the salad for my tortoise.