A Sad Day

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of one of the worst days of my teaching career. It's one of those days that every teacher hopes - prays - will never come, and it's a day that still, a full year later, leaves me choked up every time I think about it. You see, one year ago one of my 7th grade students was killed in a car accident on his way to school. 

I was overwhelmed with grief when our guidance counselor told me about the accident. My own sadness, though, paled in comparison to the sadness I felt for our students when they heard the news just before lunch that day. As humans, it's tough to handle our own grief. But it's even tougher to have to watch - and help - 600 middle school students process the emotions that come with losing a dear friend. 

I learned a lot about helping kids handle grief in the days and weeks that followed.  I always let them talk about their friend during class if they felt the need to, but I also always tried to bring the topic back around to the lesson. I didn't want them dwelling on the loss day after day - they needed to experience some normalcy and see that even though their friend was gone, other things in their lives would remain constant. Plus, I'm not a counselor.  I was grieving myself. I didn't feel equipped to deal with a room full of crying students should the conversation linger on the topic of their lost friend for too long. 

That seat in my classroom remained empty during 4th period for the remainder of the school year. We typically change seats after spring break, but the students in that class were very adamant about leaving the seat empty so I went along with their wishes. 

Sometimes I still catch myself looking at that desk and thinking about him. His contagious smile, his silly jokes, his amazingly positive outlook on life. Although he was only on this Earth for a brief 12 years, he will forever be in our hearts. 

RIP Lane. 

Snow Day Science

With the sub-zero temps and wind chills here in Ohio, we've actually had the past two days off school (which extended our Christmas Break by 2 days!  I'm ok with that!!).  I decided to take advantage of the colder-than-normal temps and do some science experiments with my kiddos!

First, we made snow.  The videos I found online related to this experiment showed people taking a pot of boiling water outside and throwing it in the air.  But if you don't like to wait, (hey, I have young kids - they're impatient!) we found that filling a travel coffee mug with hot water from our Keurig worked just as well!  Our family loved this experiment so much we tried it 3 more times! :)

Next, we tried to blow bubbles outside and watch them freeze.  I've seen many pictures online of this and they look so neat!  But... it was so windy here that the bubbles would pop before they had a chance to freeze.  So instead I showed my kiddos (ages 8 and 5) how to make super big bubbles!  I use this experiment at school (both when studying bubbles and as a visual for what air masses look like).  Just mix a little bit of Dawn detergent with some warm water and you have instant bubble solution.  Pour a bit of the solution into a shallow pan or plate (or right on the lab tables if you want your tables cleaned during the activity!) and then blow into it using a straw.  You can see in the picture of my daughter that these bubbles can get really big!!

Finally, we froze food coloring and water inside balloons and made cool ice decorations to put outside!  Put the food coloring in the balloon FIRST, then attach the balloon to the bathroom faucet and let the water fill it up as large as you want.  Tie it off, set it outside for a few hours, then cut the balloons off and TA-DA!  Cool ice decorations! 

Here's our water-filled balloons sitting outside to freeze. (Oh, and a bottle of pop to try another experiment...which might have worked had the bottle not been dropped when bringing it back inside!)

Here's our ice decorations after we cut the balloons off.

And finally, decorating our front porch!

Hopefully you can take advantage of some cold weather before spring to try these!  We had so much fun!

Rachel

Dante's Peak Movie Review

I hope that you are all enjoying these final days of Christmas Break.  The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas were absolutely NUTS for me, so I have been grateful for the time away from work.  In fact, I'm not ashamed to admit that this is the first day that I've done anything school-related!

The reality of having to return to work in only 4 days has me once again in "school mode" as my husband likes to call it.  I've been working for a good portion of the day (on and off, between lunch time for my kiddos, playing a couple of rounds of Trouble, dressing them to go outside and play in the glorious snow we're getting here, a couple of loads of laundry,... etc...) on getting some lesson plans ready for January.  I've successfully planned TWO full weeks, which takes me to the end of the 2nd quarter.  It may not sound like much, but I rarely plan more than a week in advance, so I'm considering this a huge accomplishment!! (Yay, me!!)

I need to grade the papers I brought home over break, but before I grade them I decided I should share the assignment with you.  It's one that I look forward to every year, and I think most of my students enjoy it as well.  In 8th grade we do a rather large unit on plate tectonics, which includes studying earthquakes and volcanoes.  As we near the end of the volcanoes part of the unit, I like to show the movie Dante's Peak in class.  Since it's rated PG-13 I do usually send home a permission slip, although it only received that rating for "disaster-related peril and gore," and the "gore" is really nothing compared to what I'm sure most of my students watch on a regular basis anyway.  It's just a bit of CYA for me. :)  (Oh, and the permission slip I use is more of an "opt-out" so they only have to return it if they are NOT allowed to watch the movie.)  We have 40-minute periods, so it takes 3-1/2 class periods to watch the movie in full.  As they watch the movie, I have them take notes on activities that are occurring related to the eruption of the volcano - earthquake swarms, increased hot springs temperatures, pyroclastic flows, etc.  After we've watched the movie, their job is to research the things that they wrote down and find out if they could actually happen during a real volcanic eruption.  Basically, they're separating fact from fiction... where did the producers stretch things a bit to make the movie more interesting?  (For instance, could someone really drive across lava?  Does a lahar really move that quickly?)

The final step in their assignment is to write a movie review.  They are required to include at least 3 realistic parts, and 3 unrealistic parts, and they must support each of the 6 parts with scientific proof.  Their movie review must also include classic movie review elements, such as a brief summary of the movie and a rating.

I can't link the worksheet on here (sorry, I'm not that proficient at this whole blogging thing yet!), but here is a copy of what the front of the worksheet looks like! (If you would like to use the worksheet, feel free to comment below with your email address and I'll be glad to send it to you!)

You will be watching the movie Dante’s Peak in class for the next three days.  The movie dramatizes some real-world concerns faced by a community located near an active volcano in Washington.  It portrays the roles of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and local public officials during the re-awakening and eruption of this fictional volcano.

As you watch this action-packed movie, use your knowledge of volcanoes and make detailed observations to determine what is represented accurately – and not so accurately – by the filmmakers.  Your job is to separate fact from fiction!

Your assignment: A major California newspaper has asked you, an expert volcanologist, to write a review of the movie, Dante’s Peak.  Your aim is to point out the scientifically related plot elements that you think are accurate and realistic, and those where the writers stretched things a bit to make the movie more exciting.  This review should be written as a newspaper movie review article.

DUE DATE: ____________________________________________

The following rubric details how your movie review will be graded:

	5	4	3	1	0
Brief summary of the plot (5 points)	Describes who the actors & characters are & gives a short synopsis of the story line	Lacking in one of the previously mentioned criteria	Lacking in two of the previously mentioned criteria	Lacking in three of the previously mentioned criteria	Does not attempt to describe the characters or the plot
Scientific critique (15 points)	Clearly states at least 3 realistic & at least 3 unrealistic parts, and includes reasoning for each from a scientific viewpoint	Includes a total of 5 realistic or unrealistic parts, and includes reasoning for each from a scientific viewpoint	Includes a total of 3 or 4 realistic or unrealistic parts, and includes reasoning for each from a scientific viewpoint	Includes between 3 and 6 realistic and unrealistic parts, but does not include scientific reasoning.	Includes fewer than 3 realistic or unrealistic parts.
Movie rating (5 points)	Includes a movie rating and a reason for it		Includes a rating, but does not give a reason for the rating		No rating included in the review
Format, Grammar & punctuation (5 points)	Well written.  Seems like part of a newspaper’s movie review section. No grammar or punctuation problems.	Written like part of a newspaper’s movie review section. Few grammar or punctuation problems.	Well written, but not in proper format for a movie review.  Few to no grammar or punctuation problems.	Proper format was attempted, but not very successful. OR Format is good, but there are several grammar and/or punctuation problems which make the paper difficult to read.	Poorly written.  Not in proper format.  Many grammar and punctuation problems.
Sources Included     (5 points)	Sources are included and are  correctly cited		Sources are included, but they are too vague		Sources are not included

The back of the worksheet includes spots for them to write down names of important characters, important plot points, and things that are happening surrounding the volcanic eruption (including a space for them to write down their research findings after the movie).

Having done this activity for a few years now, I'll close with the pieces of advice that I have for you regarding this activity.  These are things that I learned after my first year of using this with a class!

1 - Really emphasize the importance of focusing on the science, not special effects or other unrealistic parts. (For instance, at point in the movie an 8-year-old boy drives a pickup truck up the side of the mountain.  While likely unrealistic, it has nothing to do with the eruption of the volcano!)

2 - Encourage them to keep the summary part of the paper short.  It should be about a paragraph long, not the bulk of the paper.  (This year I actually gave my students a copy of this paper that I found online from Austin Peay State University.  I think it was helpful as most of my 8th graders have never had to write a movie review!)

3 - For each aspect that they deem realistic or unrealistic, they must give scientific reasoning!  This is on the rubric, but some students still tend to overlook it.

4 - Encourage research.  If they're searching the right things, they may even come across one of a couple of really great websites that outline the realistic/unrealistic parts of this exact movie! (I used to get annoyed when they found these, but really my focus is on whether they are learning something about volcanoes, not on how difficult it was for them to complete the assignment!)

This is a rather lengthy post, so hopefully it all makes sense! ;) 

Happy New Year!  Enjoy these last few days of your break!

Rachel