Vicki Thompson

It's my favorite time of year! Animal classification!! This classroom is a zoo! Practicing identifying a variety of animal characteristics! HUGE thanks to Bar C Ranch!! @JWMSGoCougars @CCPS_VA @HayslandScience

Plant Scavenger Hunt Day! Finding representatives of the major plant classification groups as well as various plant structures and characteristics! #outdooreducation @JWMSGoCougars

Now THIS is spooky

@science7KMS Thats awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing!! 😊

@VThompson1981 They move into the classroom aquarium :)

Daphnia and Brine Shrimp are in our tanks. Can you spot them?

@science7KMS I love it! What a great lesson! And so many connections to be made! What do you do with your organisms (particularly snails and guppies) after the study is over?

@VThompson1981 We also connect the organisms to classification at the end of the year—we add a variety of organisms including plants, protists, daphnia, brine shrimp, snails, and guppies

Experiencing the joys and mysteries of an unknown and sometimes unseen world! Kingdom Protista and Kingdom Fungi! Student: "This might be the coolest thing I've ever seen!" #smallbutmighty #lifescience #middleschool @JWMSGoCougars

Tweens will make lots of mistakes, and they’ll learn from them, and still make more mistakes after that. Yet those mistakes—and the growth that follows—are precisely what give middle school its meaning. @aliaemily @Pfagell ow.ly/12Za50wFPlZ

Encouraging Science Literacy by incorporating Sustained Silent SCIENCE Reading along with quick summarizing strategies! Today we made #wordart using words from our chosen readings. @Seesaw @JWMSGoCougars @ReadWithMsHawes @drmycoolteacher @gett_marissa

Students created an "InstaGerm" newsfeed featuring members of the major Domains and Kingdoms! They are using it to learn about examples and characteristics of organisms from these major groups!

Student agency! Students chose to reinforce or extend as we wrap up characteristics of life- games, videos, articles, or student creations! #chooseyourpath #studentchoice @JWMSGoCougars

Living, once living, or non-living? Seems easy enough, right?? Now support your claim with EVIDENCE! 🤯 "someone told me" is not evidence! "Wait, then IS fire alive??" You tell me! #questioneverything #evidencebasedclaims @JWMSGoCougars

😂 Middle schoolers are just the best! Here's to making those brains extra wrinkly!! 🧠🧠

We've been busy warming up our science brains! Observing, inferring, questioning, and investigating! Students will now have many choices on how to finish "filling in the blanks" and extending their learning on good scientific investigations! #chooseyourpath @JWMSGoCougars

Loved this activity!! Students chose a science article to read and created #Booksnaps using @Seesaw. Love seeing their thinking come to life! @JWMSGoCougars

We've been busy reviewing lab safety! Students chose various review stations and then attempted the Lab Safety Escape Room! @JWMSGoCougars

Giving up the relaxation of summer is always hard, but then that first day excitement hits all over again, and its GO TIME, and we're doing what we love again!! Excited to see what this year brings! Day 1 brought , creativity, collaboration, communication, and problem solving! ❤

Students having a blast learning about animal classification with some beautiful ambassadors! Thanks to Bar C Ranch for sharing their animals and expertise! @JWMSGoCougars @CCPS_VA @HayslandScience

Enjoyed some beautiful spring weather during out plant classification scavenger hunt! Bryophytes, and angiosperms, and gymnosperms, oh my!! @JWMSGoCougars

Student teachers! Students taught the major classification groups of living things through a little #jigsaw. Students developed presentations, review games, and a quiz. @JWMSGoCougars