I was thinking aloud last week about having my classes participate in a periodic table project next year that would be different than what I have done before. Last year, my 100+ students created tiles of individual elements and then we put them together into a giant table. It was cool and well worth the effort, but I want to do something different. I was discussing my desire to be more creative with my AP students and showed several pictures of tables made out of pumpkins, cookies and cupcakes. One of my students has a mother that is passionate about baking and creating beautiful cookies, cakes and cupcakes. This student mentioned the periodic table to her mother and her mother showed up in my classroom this morning with unfrosted cupcakes, bags of frosting and cookies with the element symbols already written on them. In a matter of 20 minutes, we had a beautiful table. I sent out an invitation to my colleagues to bring their classes for a visit to view the table. Hundreds of students and their teachers have viewed it. The discussion about elements and symbols has been awesome. I am very lucky to be part of such a great community of students and parents!
I would love to hear your ideas about celebratin the periodic table!
Deanna