Cultivating Wonder

Completed Work Sample

Today I completed my work sample.  It's beautiful.  It has been a project that weighed on my mind for weeks.  I chose to use the chemistry unit test for my post assessment, even though it happened almost two weeks from the time I taught my last lesson in my true worksample.  Coming up with a post assessment that integrates all the concepts and finding time to do it in class proved too much of a digression from what we were learning.  Then spring break, then locking my laptop in the building for a weekend, and now it's done.  Done done done!

So... Here you go!
Download 0504_work_sample_chemistry.doc

Endothermic/Exothermic Reactions

This day we worked with studying the signs of chemical change.  Particulary I wanted to emphasize the changes in energy that occur during a reaction.  The students got to do a very fun reaction today that showed many signs of chemical reaction including changing temperature (to cold and to hot), changing color (twice!!!), and the release of a gas.  The lab is entitled 'The Baggie Lab" and is extremely engaging for students.  I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Double Replacement Reactions

Today the class had fun with double ion replacement reactions.  I think that a few of the students are starting to lose it with all of the equations running across the board, but a few of them are still hanging on.  Coefficients and subscripts all start to get confusing.  We did our double replacement reaction with Epsom Salt and Washing Soda.  The two salts dissolved in water created two clear solutions.  Mixed together they created a precipitate and a wonderfully white milky liquid giving the students a clear indication of chemical change.

We also got students ready to bring in their cornmeal sacks for tomorrow when they will begin their human development lab.  "Cornmeal Sack Babies" have been the talk of the entire 8th grade all week.  I can't wait to see the bouncing babies come to school on Tuesday, though, I'll be visiting some other teachers during this short unit.

Here's today's lesson plan.
Download 0502.17.Thu Double Replacement.doc

Single Replacement Reactions

Today the 8th grade learned about single replacement reactions with ionic compounds.  We're going through these types of reactions pretty fast and I don't know if the students are grasping all the material but our goal this year is exposure.  These students will encounter chemistry again on a deeper level in high school and knowing the basic language is essential.

Our two reactions involved copper sulfate and an iron nail.  After a few moments the nail became coated with a copper coating.  We also grew little silver trees in a reaction between silver nitrate and a piece of copper wiring. I'm still continuously surprised at how different each class responds to the laboratory experiments.  I've started bringing in my digital camera and captured some enthusiastic faces in the classroom.

Decomposition Reactions

Today we did decomposition reactions.  Two to be specific.  It was engaging material and a relief after our syntheis reactions and the madness of Valentines day yesterday.  The two activities we did involved burning sugar and the electrolysis of water.

The burning sugar part of lab today was tons of fun!  There were billows of smelly smoke and little fires all around the room.  I got lots of "Ms. Bader, it's on fire!?! Is it supposed to do that?" remarks today.  We burnt that sugar to a carbony crisp and offered an award for those that could figure out the chemical equation for the reaction that was happening.

During the sugar lab we had an electrolysis unit set up splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen gas.  I then demoed reactions with those gases by putting a burning splint into the test tubes.  The hydrogen pop completely startled me as it was much louder than in the period before mine.  It was lots of fun for everyone.

Here's today's lesson plan.
Download 0502.15.Tue Decomposition.doc

Synthesis Reactions

After spending a couple of days introducing chemical bonding the 8th grade dove into chemical reactions today.  They will be working their way through several types of reactions including synthesis, decompostion, single ion replacement and double ion replacment.  The goal is to get them to understand some of what is happening, expose them to chemical equations, and make sure they cement the ways they can recognize that a chemical change has happened.  Today we did synthesis with magnesium.  We also are introducing acid rain as an important real-world context for synthesis reactions. The kids LOVED the burning magnesim part. They weren't as hot on the acid rain bit, yet the concept is important for them to know.

Substitute + Quiz = Madness!

Today was the second day of teaching for my work sample.  It was also a day where my mentor was in Salem for teacher training so we had a substitute teacher.  We had lots to do in an hour period but not a whole lot of structure which resulted in some students getting tons of work done, and others... well let's leave it at they chose to spend their time unwisely.

For the second day in a row I taught the first period in the day and didn't get a chance to watch Bonnie work through the flow of the lesson plan before me.  What a difference that made!  I have lots of work to do on figuring out how much time an activity will take my students to do.  I think that comes with experience.  We had a learning log question I posed about types of chemical bonding.  We had homework to grade, homework to assign, and time to work on homework.  We had a quiz to retake for a large portion of the students.  We had periodic table's being finished...  The most difficult part was focusing the section of the class that was not retaking the quiz... and I now know more for next time.

Here's the lesson plan for today.
Download 0502.10.Thu.Chemical Bonding.doc

Molecular Bonding

Students worked on an activity I designed myself for chemical bonding today.  I have been trying to stress the importance of valence electrons in chemical bonding, especially the way they are transferred or shared.  We gave a mini-lesson to introduce students to covalent and ionic bonding and then released them to work with 'atom cards'.  We chose to work with a lesson that can be found at this site (http://www.middleschoolscience.com/molmod.html), but did not have 3D models for using it.  Instead I developed cards identifying the elements students would be using with their valence electrons in place.  Since we have been emphasizing the octet rule throughout our chemistry unit students took right to the cards.  In fact those that didn't have time to finish the activity in class, or who missed class, asked for them specifically.  I love how students take to manipulative objects!

Calendar of Daily Focus

Attatched is my 'calendar of daily focus', an overview of the lessons I will be teaching and the focus questions I would like to use with class.

Download 04_overview_calendar.doc

Chemistry Unit Overview

  On the left is the chemistry unit overview for Jackson Middle School.  My first work sample on Chemistry will fall during this unit.  Lesson plans will follow for the days I am officially teaching the work sample which are indicated in green on this calendar.

This calendar has evolved over the school year and was decided upon by myself, Mrs. Bonnie Magura, and Ms. Rachel Lee.  The 8th grade science team also includes Mrs. Laura Giles who teaches a contained classroom seperate from the majority of the 8th grade student body.