Maniacs in the Middle

Josie April 5, 2020

Everyday Teacher Makeup

Let me start by saying a couple of things. First, I am NOT a beauty expert!!! I am just a girl who loves makeup & has watched hours of Youtube videos. I find doing my makeup therapeutic & kind of like art. I enjoy waking up early, drinking my coffee, & listening to a podcast as I do my makeup in the morning. Second, I know this is a lot of products! This is what I like & what works for me! If you don’t wear makeup to school, good for you! If you wear makeup to school, good for…

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Josie April 4, 2020

My E-Learning Adventure: Week 1

I first want to start by saying I am NOT an expert! (Frankly, none of us are!) We are all navigating this for the first time and we are all doing the best that we can for our students. This post is all about things I have learned from the past week. This includes tips, tricks, lessons after failure, & a couple of products I have been loving! I just wanted to share my experience after my first week! I also know that SO MANY of you are getting ready to start week 4 of e-learning! Major props to you!…

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Josie March 18, 2020

Online Science Resources

Hey teachers! I don’t even know where to begin. My emotions are all over the place. I haven’t been to school in two days and I am going crazy. I miss my students, my coworkers, my routines, and everything else that is taken away from us for the safety of everyone! I live in Illinois and the governor declared no school from March 17-March 30th. Our district has declared these “Act of God” days, meaning we will not be making these up. These are NOT e-learning days either. We have not heard if or when we will be doing e-learning,…

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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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