Category: Class News

These blogs are directly concerning my Science classes. These could be class news, announcements, or news for parents.

Another Great Start

It’s my 33rd year teaching and the first two weeks are in the books! The first two weeks of my 33rd year were excellent and I not only enjoyed them but they filled me with excitement for this school year! I get to teach both Math and Science again this year. The last time I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2023/09/17/another-great-start/

2022-2023 School Year – Exhausting, Confusing, Rewarding

Photo of Mr. Gonzalez's 22-23 homeroom class posing for a class selfie with fake mustaches for spirit week mustache day.

After COVID it was nice to start the school year like almost normal. Kids were in full classes of 24 or 25 giving us 75 students (14 5th graders and 61 6th graders) in three classes and they were coming to school all day, every day. I was teaching only Science, another teacher taught ELA …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2023/06/25/2022-2023-school-year-exhausting-confusing-rewarding/

Reflecting on 21-22

As part of our Ocean Guardian School’s Environmental Stewardship Project, I give students a pre and post project survey. In addition to questions about their perceived understanding of the topics we cover before and after the project, I also ask questions about the project and what they liked best and least. It helps inform any …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/07/11/reflecting-on-21-22/

Print Books vs eBooks Results

One of my 6th grade students created a survey back in January to find out the reading preferences of people after a Data Science Math activity we did in class. He put together the following slideshow (click here to open it in a new tab): If you want to leave a comment on the last …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/03/13/print-books-vs-ebooks-results/

Student Reading Preference Survey

Digital or Physical Form Screenshot

In Math class we were looking at some 2019 data about reading preference of adults with regards to print book, ebooks, and audio books. One of my 6th graders is curious if that has changed and wants to collect some of his own data.  Can you please take a few seconds to answer his nine-question …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/01/13/student-reading-preference-survey/

Environmental Stewardship Student Projects

My Bitmoji showing a 10 card.

As I ponder how to begin this new school year amidst a more infectious strain of the coronavirus, I am thinking back to all the wonderful work my students did last year. I linked their different projects on the following Google Slide to share with the Ocean Guardian Schools program that we are a part …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/09/02/environmental-stewardship-student-projects/

How to Start the 2021-22 School Year?

I’ve been teaching at Chimacum Middle School for the past 24 of the 30 years I’ve been teaching. The last two years, it’s actually been Chimacum Elementary School because due to declining enrollment the middle school was closed and 6th grade was moved to elementary while grades 7 and 8 were moved to the high …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/08/27/how-to-start-the-2021-22-school-year/

Pivot #4

My Classroom with about two kids per table.

Pivot #1 – We started this 2020-2021 school year with a hybrid schedule seeing a different small cohort of kids one full day per week. That schedule allowed for some decent outdoor education experiences. Pivot #2 – By December we switched to having all our kids learning remotely. Pivot #3 – By the end of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/04/24/pivot-4/

Outstanding Tech Educator

I work with amazing people. Teaching is a difficult job and during a pandemic, it’s more stressful than ever. Having colleagues that are caring and supportive will keep us from burning out. I wouldn’t have been able to stay at my district for 24 of the 30 years I’ve been teaching if I didn’t work …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/03/19/outstanding-tech-educator/

Back to Hybrid

We started the school year with two-thirds of our 6th graders coming to school on a hybrid schedule with the other third fully remote. Our hybrid kids were placed into two cohorts, A and B, and each cohort was halved to make them small enough to keep kids six feet apart (Cohorts A1, A2, B1, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/02/15/back-to-hybrid/

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