Chemistry with Smiles

Hi everyone!  I know. It's been a minute. Between planning for the end of the year prep work and some personal trips, I've been scrambling to keep up.  Things are moving along quickly, and I'm wrapping up my Chemistry curriculum. We just finished our Organic Chemistry Unit, and I always struggle to find a fun, school-approved lab (because making drugs and alcohol in school is frowned upon). But what I CAN make that meets my organic chem requirement is Root Beer.  I've tried making root beer in the past, and either didn't have the ratios right, or the conditions were off, and it failed, to the disappointment of the students and me. This year, I tried another method. I broke down and bought the  Mr. Root Beer Kit  off of Amazon, and was actually surprised at how well it worked out. The kit provides bottles, flavoring, syrup, and yeast, you have to provide the sugar, water, bowls, and measuring tools.  We followed the steps included in the kit and discussed ea...

I feel like every year, I try to incorporate some new, creative way to decorate my classroom. I recently bought a Cricut, and decided I wanted to use it to help me make some classroom decorations and labels.  As a science teacher, I'm a nerd for science decorations. I used my Cricut to cut cardstock and layer it in the shapes of beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks. I also used it to create signs for my students' lab notebooks (they keep their notebooks stored in the lockers, and these signs are right above the designated areas).  I laminated the beakers/ flasks, and hung them on my door, and as a border around some pictures I hung.  It led me to want to create custom decorations for fellow teachers. Do you have something you need cut out, and are not sure where to start? Need custom decorations? I'd love to help you out! Send me an email at chemistrywithsmiles@gmail.com and we can figure out a plan to help you! 

Do you have a group of students who love a good challenge and are EXTREMELY competitive? How do you think your students would do in an Escape the Room type of challenge? As it is frowned upon to lock students in a room unattended, Breakout Boxes give us a unique alternative! Breakout Boxes consist of one larger box, one smaller box, one clamp that can hold several locks, and 4 locks. The smaller box can go in the bigger box, and the smaller box can hold a "prize" of your choosing (I usually do extra credit towards an assignment, or a homework pass, or, an appropriate snack of their choosing, because, you know, food.) The students have to solve a series of clues to unlock the locks to get to the prize.  A sample Breakout Box. Picture source: Programming Librarian .  I have run these a few times in my Chemistry classroom, and it even gets the quietest student engaged and excited about what might be inside. I usually run them on days we have half a day, or before an exam to help...

 I had been toying with a website for about a year now, but struggled to find the right place to present my content. So, I'm going to be trying to navigate a blog and social media outlets (mainly Twitter and Instagram) to present my content. My goal? Present science teachers with the best possible content to help students learn all the awesome science!  So, bare with me as I transition over, get my life together, and try to transition what products I want to share. Feel free to email me with suggestions about what science education content you want to see! My email is chemistrywithsmiles@gmail.com