Maniacs in the Middle

Online Science Resources

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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DIY Ms. Frizzle Costume

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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Mystery Microscopes

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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STEM with the Makers of Ziploc Brand

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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Science Interactive Notebooks

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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