Hi Plants and Zombies folk!
I miss you all and I’m excited to reconnect with you! Our class will be meeting every Monday 11:30-11:50am through
Google Meets at this link. This link is also posted on Google Classroom.
A few ponderings about class:
1) Science is CHALLENGING to do remotely. It is so collaborative and it is hard to let go of some of the hands on projects that were planned. The good news is that from a material standpoint, we have covered most of the life science curriculum already. At this point, less is more. This upcoming week will be heavy simply due to the LTP, but my hope is to keep work meaningful and lighter during home learning. Students are welcome to reach out to me at any time with questions.
2) With the exception of the LTP work (which should be mostly done), I am also going to try and keep most of the learning “offline”. There is only so much screen time that is healthy for middle school, and Science is a good excuse to get a bit more “maker-space-ish” with the learning. Your students may need access to materials — but there is no “set” list. They are encouraged to get creative.
3) This week — our focus will be twofold.
A) LTP due via Google Classroom by Friday at 8:30am. If students want strong draft feedback on their LTPs, they can email me before Wednesday at noon and I’ll try to turn it around within 6-12 hours. The LTPs should have been mostly written prior to our hiatus, but I know some students still have significant work to do.
B) Our first project is for students to simply grow something or try a botany experiment.
Here’s the task description. First post to Padlet is due Tuesday, April 7th.
Upcoming Dates of Note
After we finish the LTP, we’ll be developing ecology boardgames. More details on that in the next update.
Thank you so much for your support. -JF
Ps. Students — if you have NOT used Google Meet before, you may wish to connect with a peer and give it a try before classes start. It’s really simple to access through the “9-dot” menu in the top right area of any Google Screen.
Pps. Corbin, one of the students in the class, made this very fun poster. Just wanted to share! Microbes-Corbin