Hi! My name is Karen Sinai and I am here to help you with teaching middle school science with lesson ideas, classroom management tips, planning strategies and how to organize your science room. I’ve been in the middle school science classroom for…gasp…over 30 years and I’ve tweaked and developed my labs, activities and methods over that time! 

The fact that you are here tells me that you teach, or are getting ready to teach, middle school science. It’s so much fun!  However, you may be a bit nervous and want some extra tips.

I started this blog after getting so many great questions on my Instagram and Facebook about HOW I dealt with the day to day challenges of being a science teacher. I also try to think of what most new teachers that I mentor want to know RIGHT AWAY!

My goal is for you to feel comfortable in your classroom, so you can relax and enjoy your students. When you have planned well, organized yourself, strategized any potential problems and laid out your materials, you are ready to go! I’m here to help you get to that point. 

A bit about my personal life. My background has always involved nature and science. My father was an engineer and he loved to take us on nature walks, birdwatching, fishing and outdoors activities from early on. He loved to collect creatures from ponds, and even puddles, to look at under his microscope. 

I have always loved art so when I went to college my major was biology and scientific illustration. I was thrilled that my two passions in life were blended into one! I was also working at a nature center, taking school groups out into the woods to explore and do activities.  That job led me to getting a Masters in Environmental Education. 

When I started teaching middle school science I was very young and had no mentor. I was just thrown into it at 22 years old! I barely had any textbooks or resources.  When those eighth graders first walked into my classroom, I thought they were huge!

I took a big gulp and taught from my interests first, which of course, included lots of biology and nature. I will forever thank my father for helping me with the physics and chemistry aspect during those first years!

For those of you who have been teaching for a while, you know that you tend to have your favorite, “old faithful” labs and activities that you do every year. Students from the previous years tell the new classes about these activities and get them excited! 

When I began selling on Teachers Pay Teachers, I started with those die hard, well tweaked activities first.  It is extremely rewarding to me that those same labs continue to be my best sellers!

All of the activities that I have on Teachers Pay Teachers, and in this blog, have been tested in my classroom first.  I teach fifth through eighth grade science, so I need plenty of content!  If I’m making it for my students, and they seem to enjoy it, why not make it for other teachers?

Besides the information in this blog, there are also plenty of FREE RESOURCES that I continue to add on a regular basis. My store on Teachers Pay Teachers has a range of resources from digital science notebook templates, STEM activities, full units, mini-labs, science teacher lesson planners, science bulletin boards, science clip art and CER activities.

Want to connect with me with any questions you may have, requests for future resources or just to chat? There are several ways that we can do that. It can be through the comments sections in this blog, you can DM me on Instagram(Science by Sinai), or go on my Science by Sinai Facebook. 

We teachers love to chat with each other so please contact me so we can do that!