“Grab a sheet, have a seat, get started on your work…” Every year, as new students would filter into our classes, we would chant that at the door. Some students clapped along and found it funny, others, not so much. It was part of our rules and procedures, and after the first month, there was no question about what they should be doing. The first week of school is critical in preparing students for how your classroom should operate. We feel like we came up with a pretty good system that set the tone for the rest of the year, beginning on the first day. We’d love to share it with you – here’s our first week timeline for life science:
Here’s a few extensions for this week:
- Have students research a topic or question of interest that they’d like to have answered in your class. They can base their research on the units covered in their syllabus.
- Use our interactive notebook templates from our scientific method bundle as exit tickets for your lab days or use our STEAM lab stations as reinforcement or lab concepts.
Need to modify?
- Pre-cut a few templates or have a fast-cutting class mate trim a few templates for students with fine motor skill deficits.
- Have a peer or two set-up notebooks for students with executive functioning deficits.
- Begin offering a variety of options for student assignments. This will be a good measure of where your students are in their learning (ex: lab safety comic or story)
Up Next?: While we know that most schools are integrating the procedures of the scientific method into the rest of the curriculum, we still found this is a major deficit in our students’ think and feel it’s an important component to review at the beginning of the year. That being said, week 2 – the method of science. Be there…
Happy Teaching!
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Hello,
Let me first say I love your blog,and how much it has helped me in the education of m daughter. I homeschool and now that m daughter is in the 6th grade,I’m struggling to pin point what kind of science is learned during this grade.
Could you point me in the right direction?