QR Code Scavenger Hunt - 'Chemistry of the Holidays'

Holiday break is quickly approaching and I decided to create something new (and exciting!) to kick off our holiday break. In this episode, I'll share how I created my 'Chemistry of the Holiday's' QR code scavenger hunt and some of the details on how I started my unit on intermolecular forces.

Thank you so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

My Favorite Holiday Lab

It's the most wonderful time of the year... Borax crystal ornament time!

This is my favorite chemistry holiday lab. It's so easy to prep, and a great lab to help introduce properties of solutions. Watch as I discuss how I modified Flinn's Borax Crystal Ornament lab to incorporate properties of solutions and include a plug for the US Crystal Growing Competition!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

4 Ways I Modify Unit Menus for CP and Honors Chemistry

I have to admit, I've been spoiled. This is the second time in five years I've had multiple preps. It can be hard to keep things straight, especially when planning unit menus for different classes. In this week's video, I'll share four major differences in my planning and design for the honors and college prep chemistry covalent bonding unit menus.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Conferences and Five To Thrive

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend with your family and friends. In this video, I'll discuss how my parent conferences went last week (spoiler alert: don't watch my IG story!) and one of the ways I will be engaging in self-care during the crazy holiday season.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Focusing on the Learning Instead of Grades

354.

This number was the inspiration behind this video.  What does it represent?  Well, this is the record for the greatest number of times a student logged into my online gradebook to check their grades in one month.  And if you're doing the math, yes, this student checked their grades, on average, about 12 times a day.  Astonishing isn't it?

Each year I've been chipping away at what seems to be an obsession with grades, to now placing more emphasis on the learning process. In this video I'll share how certain practices encourage my students to focus on the learning process as opposed to the numerical grade in the online gradebook.  My hope is that you too will not only find comfort in knowing that you are not alone in dealing with this obsession, but that you will have tools in your toolbox to further promote the importance of learning and reflection.

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Using Consumer Products in my Bonding Unit

A short video for a very short week!

Due to the NJEA teacher convention and a district-wide day of professional development, I only saw my students two days this week.  It was a weird schedule, but I tried to make the best of it by engaging my college prep chemistry students in a new phenomenon.  In this week's episode I'll share how I incorporated consumer products into a new phenomenon for our unit on bonding.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Halloween FUN 2019!

Happy Halloween!

The week of Halloween has finally arrived!  This year was an extra special Halloween celebration as my students participated in a digital escape room entitled, "The Elements of Halloween."  In this episode I'll explain how I made some new modifications to the digital escape room to make it more engaging.  I'll also share an extra activity I did with my honors chemistry students to celebrate this exciting day.



Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Starting Our Unit on Periodic Trends

We're back into the swing of things for our first full week of classes in a couple of weeks.  This week we began our unit on periodic trends using, of course, a phenomenon!  In this post, I'll share how I tweaked my modeling lessons to make them more student-friendly and how I incorporate the use of Flipgrid into our phenomenon for this unit.

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

My First Observation

What a week!  

Between Week of Respect, my SGO being due, and preparing for my first observation it was quite the busy week.  Despite all that though, I was able to carve out some time to share what I did for my formal observation.  This post is definitely a shorter video and I think you can clearly see my Friday teacher tired, but nonetheless, I thought it was still worth sharing what I did to prepare for my observation and how it went.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

What's in my gradebook?

Happy Fall Y'all!

I've been back to school for about a month and a half and I already have 20 assessments in my gradebook!  It certainly was a busy September!  The beginning of the year is a critical time for all teachers in New Jersey because student growth objectives are due by mid-October.  It is imperative to get as much data as possible in order to appropriate place our students into their tier groups, so I didn't waste any time!

In this week's episode, I'll share an overview for how my grading philosophy has changed since changing teaching jobs, and how I incorporate formative assessments into my weekly routines.  I'll also explain the system I use to input grades into my online gradebook, and explain the methods I use to grade formative assessments.

Please leave a comment about your own grading philosophy or any interesting grading policies your school district may have.

Thank you so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Getting the Most Out Of Every PD Experience

Welcome back!  This video was inspired by a conversation I had with a teacher who follows my Facebook page.

The school year is in full swing, and I'm sure many of you are seeking out professional development opportunities.  But how do you select meaningful PD with content that you can just "grab and go" right into your classroom with?  Not all professional development is created equal, and the goal of this video is to not only share advice for selecting professional development, but also how to deal with PD experiences that might not be as applicable to your work.  I'll also share a personal experience with my own PD, and how I incorporated it into my classroom environment.

Thank you so much for watching!  I hope you had a wonderful week with your students!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

How I Flip My Chemistry Classroom

It's a new year, time for some new norms.

I hope your school year is off to a fantastic start!

In this vlog, I'll share how I encourage student buy-in for the flipped classroom and the norms I establish for engaging with video content.  I'll also share a new way I established the importance of interacting with video content.

Thank you so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

2019 Back to School Giveaways! | MsRazz ChemClass

It's time for my annual Back To School Giveaway!

I'm giving away 4 prize bundles to 4 lucky science teachers.  Know a science teacher?  Please feel free to share this post.

Are you a science teacher?  Enter my Rafflecopter below.  Want to see what's up for grabs?

Thank you for everything you do for your students!  Have a wonderful start to the school year.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions: Giveaway ends August 18th, 2019 at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Residents of the US only.  Winners will be selected at random and be notified by email. Winners have 48 hours to confirm their email addresses and respond before a new winner is selected. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram are in no way associated with this giveaway.  By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone.  I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Top 5 Updates for July!

Long time no see!

I hope this video finds you well rested and truly recharged.  In this post I wanted to check in and share my top 5 updates for the month of July. Hear about the books I'm reading, updates to my TpT bundles, professional development I'm teaching, and more!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

End of year survey results!

Hi!

It's official - only 4 more days left in the school year! Each year I distribute an end of year survey to help me reflect on my teaching practice. This year, I still administered a survey, but my focus was a little different. In this post, I'll share the questions I asked and the results.

Thank you so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

EOY Celebration + What am I teaching next year?

It's finally here!

It truly is an exciting time to be a chemistry student!  My students love having an end of the year celebration to acknowledge all our accomplishments and hard work throughout the year.  In this episode, I'll discuss how I changed up this year's celebration with a brand new digital escape room.  I'll also share the details of my teaching assignment for next year.

I hope you are enjoying every minute leading up to the end of school.  Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

My FAVORITE Way to Review for Exams

Hi!  Happy June!

Another week, another set of student-centered learning activities!  This week I'll share my favorite way to review for large exams.  I'll suggest some ideas to get your students engaged and motivated to do their best!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

The Chemistry of Tie Dye and Designing My First Digital Escape Room

It's our last official week before spring break!  It also happens to be the week of the NJSLA standardized tests.  What a combo!  Watch how I used the extra class time to try out some new lessons - including a digital escape room to teach about the chemistry of tie dye!  My students will use what they learned to create their very own tie dye tee-shirts.  It was a great way to end the week!

Thanks so much for watching!

If you are celebrating, have a Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Solving the Group Work Dilemma

Do your students like group work?

Mine didn't, and I decided to find out why.  I'll offer advice on how I support my students learning interpersonal skills yet solve one of the biggest group work dilemmas.  I'll also share some resources I use in my classroom (POGIL) that help to encourage communication and collaboration while learning chemistry.

I hope this post inspires you to find ways to develop your students' interpersonal skills and find balance during your group work activities!  Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Planning and Carrying Out an Investigation

Hi again!

This week we kicked off our study of kinetics by investigating the factors that affect reaction rate.  My chemists created their own experiments to understand the effect of changing concentration, temperature, and surface area on reaction time.  It was amazing to observe my chemists' meaningful discussions about their data, as well as hear them construct explanations for their findings.  I'll also show you the scaffolding I created to help my chemists think about their experimental design.

I hope this vlog will inspire you to try having your chemists design their own investigations!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Incorporating Student Choice into Reviewing for Assessments

Yet another worksheet?

I've been in a little bit of a worksheet rut.  Our celebration of learning (aka unit test) on solutions is next week.  So instead of the same old study guide, I mixed it up with student-reflection and choice!  As an added bonus, I incorporated some tech using QR codes.  My chemists' discussions were amazing during the review, and I was able to do lots of small group instruction with struggling learners.  For our lab this week, my students performed titrations and I will discuss how I NGSS-ified this "cookbook" lab.

Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Colorimetric Analysis and In-Service Day!

Happy Sunday!

This week seemed to fly by!  The focus was on the quantitative aspects of our solutions unit.  I made a series of flipped learning videos that explained units of concentration, making stock solutions, and dilutions.  At the end of the week, the students were challenged to make their own stock solutions and dilutions.  They were then able to reflect on their solution making skills by comparing their dilutions to unknowns using colorimetric analysis.  Finally, this week finished on a very high note with an incredibly inspiring in-service day.

Thank you so much for watching.  As always,  I hope my vlogs are inspiring you to include more student-centered learning into your classroom culture.

Have a great week!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

A new phenomenon for my solutions unit!

Hi!  It feels so good to be back!

It was my first full week back to school since battling pneumonia.  Fortunately I am feeling better, and returned to school with a quite a few fun and engaging activities.

We finished our unit on stoichiometry by designing an airbag using knowledge of molar volume and mole conversions.  At the end of the week I introduced our new unit, with, you guessed it, a phenomenon!  For a different change of pace, I dug out the Mr. Sketch markers and poster paper for a Phenomodeling activity.  It was great to see my students relate their prior knowledge and experience to this phenomenon.  Finally, on lab day my students participated in an inquiry lab that introduced saturated, unsaturated, and supersaturated solutions.  It was a busy week in Ms. Razz's class that is for sure!

Have a great week!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Beginning the MOLE Concept!

Welcome back!

It was a shortened week between President's day and a surprising early dismissal.  But that didn't stop us from finishing our electrochemstry unit and diving into our unit on the mole.  Watch how I use an incredibly simple activity to introduce the mole concept with manipulatives. Try it with your classes - you will be amazed how quickly your students will be performing conversions with the mole and ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDING the relationships!

As always, I hope you feel inspired to incorporate more manipulatives and student-centered learning into your classroom!  Have a great week!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

How I Started My Unit On Electrochemistry

Happy President's day weekend!

I hope you are celebrating with an extra day off, that is if you didn't use too many snow days already!

It was quite an exciting week with an unexpected snow day and some Valentine's day festivities.  We still got to flex our chemistry muscles though - we wrapped up our chemical reactions unit with some station learning and a summative assessment.  We also began our unit on electrochemistry with, of course, a new phenomenon!

This week I'll share some of the stations I used to help my students prepare for their summative assessment and explain how I began my unit on electrochemistry using a fantastic POGIL that incorporates a phenomenon!

As always, I hope you find something valuable to bring back to your classroom this week!  Thank you for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.