Murrayshire Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I'm curious to know who has used these in a co-op setting and how it went? May be using with 5th-8th graders.... 15 weeks each semester totaling 30 weeks. We meet once a week, 55-60 min class. Main question would be on how you distributed the materials..... Did you print copies or did each student purchase own book? How you went about your class time and/or year would be helpful to know! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legomom Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 (edited) I did the Elements in co-op for a similar age range for an 8 week co-op. I emailed Ellen McHenry and she said that I could print copies for students in the co-op, so I printed 1 chapter per week for everyone (the facility we use allowed us free printing). The book itself comes with the answers in the back so I didn't want them to have those. Regarding structure of the class: I started each class with a Periodic Table video from University of Nottingham, then did a 15 minute lecture on the chapter, reviewed questions and then an activity from the teachers section of the book. Projects that we did: jump rope songs, various games, periodic table pillowcases. I found some good pillowcases on Amazon that were quite reasonably priced. I definitely could have used more time because it think it was written for 10 weeks. I supplemented with my own kids at home with the book " The Mystery of the Periodic Table" and also "The Disappearing Spoon" and the Cartoon Guide to Chemistry. My kids also watched PBS Mystery of Matter which was terrific. The Disappearing Spoon had a reference to an extramarital affair, as did Mystery of Matter (very brief). Hope this helps! I loved that class! Edited January 7, 2016 by Legomom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Awww! Free printing would be awesome. I would at least need to charge a copy fee. Were there any extra supplies that you used? Thank you for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legomom Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I used card stock for printing the cards for some of the games. Also, we used fabric pens for the pillowcases. I looked around quite a bit for those and ended up getting them at Walmart. I also got some glow-in-the-dark fabric paint for the radioactive elements! Black Sharpies worked fine for outlining the Periodic Table. As a splurge, I bought a periodic table shower curtain to hang up for reference during class. It was very handy. We also played Battleship with copies of the periodic tables--I had some cheap laminated ones and made photocopies to have enough to go around. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Cool ideas, LegoMom! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 (edited) DD11 takes a class like this for 6th to 8th graders. A few 5th graders were allowed in the class if the parent specifically asked. It is a 60 minute class that is held once a week and broken into 2 semesters, Christmas being the winter break, 15 classes the first semester and 18 the second. The teacher gives printed copies of the book to each student and incrementally assigns reading each chapter and completing all activities outside of class for homework. Every class they have a lab for which they must complete a simple lab report. The lab report is one page with an upper box to draw the lab and a few questions like, what occurred? what did you discover? what did you like best?. The lab report is finished outside of class for homework. Some lab examples are Mentos in Coke discussing surface tension, forming salt crystals with water, salt, and heat discussing molecule reformation, etc... The teacher collects all of the reports, giving comments/feedback on them before returning them to the student. Each student is assigned individual elements. They then rotate through element oral presentations, half the students (about 7 at a time) in the classing giving one week and the other half the next, that are roughly 1 to 2 minutes long. Before they present, the student completes a one-page element report that lists several pertinent facts about the element that was assigned to them. The teacher gave a few online resources to start their search and complete recording the facts about the element. It is done outside of class, turned in, the teacher copies the reports to then hand out to the other students to put in their class binder. By the end of the class, all element reports will be presented and distributed to all students. Class structure: Announcements/hand in homework/settle class (10ish minutes), teacher presents topic (15ish minutes), students present elements (10ish minutes), weekly lab (the rest of the time). We've been very satisfied with this class. Edited January 8, 2016 by ChrisB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Thanks ChrisB🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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