Toni Legg makes lists—not just shopping lists, or chore lists, but science activity lists. Legg is an award-winning 7th grade science teacher in Dallas, who created and mentors her middle school’s multigrade afterschool science club. She makes activity lists at howtosmile.org to help her plan more efficiently, and keep her teaching fun.
“When I search howtosmile.org, first I look for activities the kids are interested in,” she says. “Then I look at cost and time and other details. And I always think about what would be really FUN to do!”
A teacher for 17 years, Legg runs a very tactile classroom where kids can explore and touch everything. She launched the afterschool Eagle Rockets club at Robert T. Hill Middle School by helping students build model rockets, because that’s what they most wanted to try. At the time, her school had no budget for rocketry kits, so she used everyday, available materials.
Her never-ending resourcefulness and ingenuity have won her a 2011 Texas Instruments Teaching Award for innovation in science, technology, engineering and math teaching.
Legg discovered howtosmile.org during the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) annual conference. She appreciates that the collection offers activities from around the country and lets her set up, save, and expand her activity lists such as “Life in Space.”
Legg knows that students get very interested in hands-on activities that connect science to their daily lives, for example cooking and chemistry. Once she scrambled nine dozen eggs to teach students about endothermic reactions (where heat is absorbed). She even manages to work science in when talking to kids about their favorite TV reality shows.
Most of her students’ families don’t have the financial resources to give their kids extra science experiences, but they are ardent supporters of her extracurricular science education efforts. This year, the highest number of students ever signed up for the afterschool science club. To raise club funds, Legg, her students and parents are pitching in for a pre-Halloween, community event called the “Zombie Run,” including plenty of hands-on science fun. Her 7th graders are in charge of making the goop.