It Was the Best Day...

I really hate insurance commercials (seriously, how many spokespeople/animals does Geico need?), but I like the song from this Progressive ad:

"It Was the Best Day"

That song popped in my head on Friday because I was having a really great day.  It had started out really hectic.  I had left work on Thursday with about 15 things still on my to-do list.  Not great.  One of those things was to grade my Earth Science tests.

God bless the scantron machine.  You know, where students bubble in their answers?  Seriously, zzhoomp zzhoomp zzhoomp through the scantron machine, and next thing you know, you have 30 graded tests.  So I guess I'm not opposed to ALL technology.  Anyway, my Earth kids rocked the house with their test!  I'm talking some students were scoring 20 points higher than all their other tests!  Woohoo!

It was great motivation Friday since it was a review day before their midterm this week.  Plus, they really enjoyed "Earth Science Pictionary" and got nearly every clue right!  Where have these geniuses been hiding?

In Physical Science, we learned about one of my favorite topics all semester -- Light and Color.  It combines science (light absorption/reflection), art (mixing pigments), and psychology (perception of color), all things I really love.  Plus, as the granddaughter, cousin, friend, and wife of colorblind guys, I feel quite well-versed in a subject that most students find really interesting.

Colorblind people do not see the number above.  Do you?

Then, we had one of my favorite labs of the semester. Did you know that if you look under a microscope at magazine pictures and newspaper comic strips, you can see the three primary pigment colors -- yellow, cyan, and magenta?  My students now do!  How about when you put a cell phone under a microscope?  Well looky there, the three primary light colors -- red, green, and blue!  

As if that wasn't enough excitement, I then let them mix together yellow, cyan, and magenta paints so they can see how all other colors are combinations of the three.

To top off my day, a student and I had an in-depth conversation about color perception (Is the color I call red the same as what you see as red?) and then she said, "You know, Physical Science is the first science class I've ever really liked.  I used to hate science until this class."

It was the BEST day!