Maniacs in the Middle - Page 3 of 4 - A Teaching Blog by Josie Bensko

Josie October 10, 2019

DIY Ms. Frizzle Costume

It’s that time of year again! Time to start thinking of our Halloween costumes! To be honest, I used to hate Halloween as a kid. I dressed up for a few years, but then I preferred to stay at home and pass out the candy myself. As a teacher, I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!! Who doesn’t love becoming a character for the day! My second year of teaching was my favorite costume ever and I have yet to top it! Ms. Frizzle!!! How perfect of a costume for a science teacher? I used to do a Magic School Bus project with…

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Josie September 23, 2019

Mystery Microscopes

Every year we start off by teaching our students how to use a microscope and the different parts! I teach microscopic organisms and microscopes are necessary to see these items. Microscopes are extremely engaging and interesting to the students, as many of them have never used one before! To get my students excited about learning the various parts of a microscope and how they work, I start off with a Mystery Microscope lesson. Through this lesson, the students are looking through a microscope and making observations and inferences about what they see. This is a great way to introduce…

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Josie September 12, 2019

STEM with the Makers of Ziploc Brand

Y’all know how much I love STEM projects! At my old school I even started up a STEM Club with some other teachers. I have a passion for STEM and think that we should be promoting it and STEM jobs to our students! Not only does STEM promote science, technology, engineering, and math, but it also promotes collaboration, problem solving, learning from failure, and creative thinking. Because of these reasons, I am always trying to incorporate STEM projects throughout the year. From the pumpkin stand, to the love bridge, to spaghetti towers, there is always a way to work them…

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Josie July 30, 2019

Science Interactive Notebooks

Let’s talk interactive notebooks!! To be honest, I truly don’t know if you would classify my notebooks as “interactive” notebooks! My thought process behind the notebooks is that before notebooks, my students would lose EVERYTHING. LITERALLY EVERYTHING. It didn’t matter that they had a designated “science folder.” It was as if someone would come in our class late at night & throw everything away because things magically disappeared. I started these notebooks because I wanted a place for EVERYTHING. We put all important items in here from notes, activities, reference sheets, worksheets, labs, etc . Anything that I want…

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Josie June 5, 2019

An Honest Reflection of the School Year

Every year I always ask my students to reflect on their year in 6th grade, so why shouldn’t I do the same?! If I am being honest, this was the hardest year of my teaching career to date. Granted I have only been teaching for four years, but everyone always talks about how tiring and exhausting your first year of teaching is! That was NOT the case for me. This school year I: moved schools, got a brand new curriculum for science that I had never taught before, coached 8th grade softball in the fall, completed my last year…

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