Day 96... Death Investigation

Our Science Curriculum Teacher brought us a special gift in Forensics today... a dead bird! I'm pretty sure this will be a semester full of "I never thought I'd..." moments and having a dead bird in my classroom definitely falls in that category! However, it did create some great questions and observation skills from my students as they tried to figure out why the bird died. Never a dull moment here! :)

Day 95... Idle Time = Artwork?

In Forensic Science today, students wrapped up the Hair unit with a bit of review, then we looked at some real life Case Studies. Technology was NOT our friend today which required a last-minute-in-the-middle-of-class lesson plan change. When we collected their Review worksheets, we found this drawing on the back of one of the student papers. Of course I had to snap a photo! It's not often that I get a portrait drawn of myself :)

Day 94... Coupon Wars

In Intermediate Algebra, we've been working on a lot of problem solving, so when I ran across this idea on pinterest, I knew it would fit right in! The groups had to decide when to use which coupon and create a number line showing their conclusion, then we followed up with piggybacking coupons and which one to use first. Overall there were some GREAT discussions and I was very proud of them!

Day 93.. Wrapping up with Hair

Today was our last day on the Hair Lab. Most groups were able to narrow down the suspects to two, including the correct one. The investigative teams were hard at work writing up their conclusions and double checking their work.

Day 92... Scientific Notebook

I love team-teaching a STEM class because I am learning so much about teaching science! My team teacher worked in a lab setting before she became a teacher, so it's been very important to her for the students to learn how to keep a scientific notebook. Today, we used our process from yesterday to analyze some hair evidence from a crime scene. Above is a sample of one of our students notes from their analysis.

Day 91... Using the Microscopes

Today started our first major lab in Forensic Science where we are investigating trace evidence, specifically with regard to hair. The kids were fascinated to see what their hair looked like under the microscope and there were some great discussions about the differences between ethnic groups and hair colors.

Day 90... I want this shirt!

My students were working on a review assignment when this young man came to my desk to ask a question. I didn't even notice his shirt until another student pointed it out. At that point, I definitely needed a photo and he was more than happy to let me snap one. :)