A Week in the Life of a Teacher (Week 12): Ionic Stations and Labs

My students are currently learning about ionic compounds and bonding. During this week, the students took notes, practiced with whiteboards, and participated in a stations reinforcement activity and wrapped up the week with a lab!

On Monday, my A-Day classes repeated what my B-Day students did Friday; which is why I LOVE the A/B block schedule. I introduced students to ionic compounds and the process of ionic bonding through the use of interactive notebook notes, as well as practice with whiteboards. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, my students participated in my Ionic Compound and Bonding Student Learning Stations.  This set contained six stations (Literacy: Reading, Literacy: Writing, Exploration, Evaluation, Observation, and Organization).

The stations were a great way to help me reinforce what I had taught last Friday (B-Day) and at the start of this week (A-Day). In my vlog, I speak at length about changes I made based upon frustrations I had with the implementation of the stations with my first class (you can catch it at the 9:00-minute mark in the video at the top). 

On Thursday and Friday, my students participated in a lab involving several reactions between various solutions of ionic compounds. 

We actually started off the class with notes over polyatomic ions and depending on the class, we took notes over transition metals (as I had covered that with a few of the classes during the previous meeting). My students then had the opportunity to participate in the lab. 

The lab served as a real-world application of precipitation reactions (which we will revisit in the year) and an opportunity for them to practice writing names and formulas for ionic compounds.

You can check out additional clips of my students in action, as well as clips of myself teaching, in the High School Teacher Vlog 24 | A Week in the Life of a Teacher (Week 12)

If you're interested in any of the activities, you can click on the links below. 

Atomic Structure FSW

Ionic Bonding Student Learning Stations 

Ionic Bonding for Chemistry Interactive Notebooks