I’m 3-4 years removed from middle school, and today, I was reminded of life before high school. Middle school students are energetic, creative, and curious about everything around them. Our Human Bingo card was a little challenging. I tried to make it as specific as possible to our local culture, and for it to take a while. If you’re interested, here’s the bingo card I made: Human Bingo. I took it from a few different places, and a couple I wanted to add just because I was curious about some things.
For activities, we did the ZipLine Challenge, 2 Wheel Balloon Car, and Movement of Heat (Ice Cream in a Bag). The morning went by really fast. The older students (8th and 9th graders) blew through all the activities. The younger ones had issues with the time limit I set. This was a huge reminder that time limits are vastly different for 6th and 7th-8th graders. Tomorrow, I’ll need to figure out how to fix that. Also, next time, we should have more vanilla extract on hand because when I allowed students to pour their own stuff, it spilled.
I also totally forgot that we did Marble Launchers and Crazy Coasters! I used the Pasco Marble Launchers to do this. I now realize why we don’t use it during the school year. Launching marbles in a hot classroom was one of the most dangerous things I have ever elected to do in a classroom. Marbles were flying everywhere, students running after their marbles, and then there was the don’t hit the projector rule. It was an enjoyable madness. The Crazy Coasters took up a lot of time because the parameter I gave them was to make the coaster last 11 seconds. I could have probably expanded it and had them connect their coasters to make one really gnarly ride.
Here are some pictures:
A special thank you to my three student helpers, Ruby, Victoria, and Colin. They worked hard on putting kits together, and making sure every camp student got what they need.
Learning with Ms. Medrano 