I find that it is especially important to me to make my students feel safe and loved. Since I am in a Title 1 Texas school I teach many students who have at least one parent that is MIA, in prison, unknown or unwilling to participate in their lives. That being said I feel that above and beyond teaching science I am there to show these students that there are people in this world who care, who can be there consistently and who have a certain level of intelligence and professionalism. That being said I try to build in fun activities that allow them to learn while showing them that I care for them.
In February we have Valentine's day which is largely important to children,even middle school children. Last year our scope and sequence was such that Valentine's day landed right near the end of our biomes unit so I was able to purchase Valentine cards with animals on them and have the students answer biome related questions about the animal card they received in order to receive a 100 in place of their lowest daily work grade. I got over half of those cards back. This year however we are just about to begin succession and we just wrapped up stimulus and response, so I struggled to locate cards that I felt fit into the surrounding lessons, so I searched for something else.
In Texas our 7th grade students have to successfully complete a writing state test and they struggle with writing, so I found some cute "monster" valentine cards and I am going to provide the students with a card and have them write a short expository assignment about the monsters environment and their adaptations to that environment. I am going to get with the ELAR teachers on Monday and see if we can work together and let the students replace a low grade in both classes. Once I have the prompt finished and have talked to the teachers I will expand on this and I will let everyone know how it goes. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions.
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