Maniacs in the Middle

An Honest Reflection of the School Year

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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Get to Know Me Q&A!

Get to Know Me Q&A!

What’s up, teacher-friends?! Long time, no post! When I first made this blog, I had such high expectations for myself. Well, reality set in REAL quick & I abandoned this blog. People frequently ask, “How do you do it all?” Reality is that I don’t. I am really good at saying “yes” to everything & I constantly have a new project I’m working on. (Everyone has their flaws, right?!) This school year has also been super challenging for me with all new curriculum. My number one focus has been on my classroom and my students. Unfortunately, that means that my…

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Classroom Tour

Classroom Tour

I walked into my classroom almost three years ago and immediately wanted to walk back out!! I HATED it! Our school was a high school in the past and was converted into a middle school, so our school is old. The layout is weird, there are random knobs everywhere, and I have no windows. It was dark. It was dreary. I knew I had to do a lot of work to add some life to this classroom! This is nowhere near what my room looked like during my first year of teaching. You add items as you go and your…

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Skate Park Energy Unit

Skate Park Energy Unit

I have had many questions on the Skate Park project I have been doing in my classroom! In short, the students create a skate park completely out of cardboard that a marble “skater” goes down to investigate kinetic and potential energy! Their marble has to go from start to finish without touching it! To see videos, check out my “Science” story highlight on Instagram! *The original idea for this project came from here. Here is a sample. My district purchased this project and we have since adapted it for our students.* The Skate Park project that we do in 6th…

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Middle School Read Alouds

Middle School Read Alouds

For those of you that don’t know, I teach one section of Lit/Comp along with Science. Growing up, class read alouds were one of my favorite things we used to do! I remember my teachers reading Charlotte’s Web, Hoot, The Lottery Rose, and many more! Read alouds are thought to be primarily for elementary aged students, but I have found great success in read-alouds in middle school! My district and librarian do a wonderful job at getting authors to come and visit our schools. Last year we had Roland Smith come to our school and this year Margaret Peterson Haddix…

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