BIOLOGY CLASS
- The 12 year olds were doing their nutrition unit, so I did a mini-lecture and activity on the perils of McDonalds.
- Okay, not exactly, but I did go over the health problems that McDonalds is causing in America, and gave the kids a worksheet where they had to compare food items to decide which was healthier.
- If you are interested in this I can send you my lesson pages.
- For the next week of this class I did a general review of the food pyramid. I gave the kids 2 minutes to write down as many foods as they could think of in English. Then they had to organize them according to their spots on the food pyramid. And finally, using the foods they had just listed to give them ideas, I asked them to create a healthy balanced menu for 1 day.
- They had some issues with this concept. 1 girl insisted that her paper was a realistic depiction of what she eats everyday, so who cares that that's not the point of the exercise, she didn't want to change anything. Fine. But other students understood the point and made an effort to include 3 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruits, 6-11 servings of carbs, etc. in the menu.
- Last week 3ESO was learning the circulatory system, and through some genius google searches on my part, I re-discovered the Magic School Bus series. They have an episode called The Magic School Bus Works Out, in which the kids take a field trip through Ms. Frizzle's body as she competes in a mini triathalon. It's a really good way to go over the subject, either as a review, or as the first time they're learning it. Just make sure you go over some key vocabulary first, like 'muscles', 'heart', and 'lungs', which I had wrongly assumed they knew.
- Last week I got to do a really fun class about optical illusions, your blind spots, and how your brain and eyes work together to let you see. The unit was 'the Nervous System', and since I've recently discovered that I don't actually need to teach them any material, I decided to just have fun with lesson, instead of focusing on a lecture. I had the kids number 1 through 8 on a piece of paper, and then I passed out 8 different illusions I had printed off. They had to answer a question for each picture, like 'what do you see?' 'which object is bigger?', etc. Then, as a class, we compared who saw what in the image (first impression) and how many people in the class could see both sides of the illusions. It was fun to see them bent over the pictures, discussing how to see both images. Then I showed them a youtube video of the black and white moving spiral, the one that is used in old hypnotist movies. I had them stare at it for 30 seconds and then quickly look at their desk, and their reactions were "......ohhhhh!!!!! Cool!!! Do it again!" Success.
- To end the lesson, I taught them how to find their blind spot. They were so impressed they took the sheets home to show their parents.
ENGLISH
- In English the 12 year olds were studying transportation. I typed up a list of questions, like "how do you get from Algeciras to Gibraltar", which required one sentence answers like "you can take a bus from Algeciras to Gibraltar". I also included a set of harder questions, like "how do you get from Algeciras to Rome, Italy", which required multi-step answers: "First you can take a bus from Algeciras to the Madrid airport. Then you can fly to Rome, Italy."
- I also included a page of maps, for ex. Spain, Europe, & the U.S. with the specific cities marked, so that they could refer to a map to see just how far they were traveling.
- Now it's Thanksgiving week, and I am doing the hand-turkey craft with my 2ESO class. The students are in pairs and each student traces one hand (one does the right, the other does the left) onto 3 different colored sheets of paper. To make things easier, I am giving them a trace of a small-sized pair of shoes, which will be used for the turkeys body. The end result looks something like this:
It's a unique take on the original 'trace-your-hand-and-color-it' turkey craft.
