Middle level teachers need to show students that chemistry is not just about blowing things up or memorizing the periodic table of elements. We should help them see that chemistry involves living organisms as well as nonliving objects and is much more than a school subject or the industrial production of materials. We must lead students to realize that since all matter is made of elements, the components of the human body, the foods we eat, the things we touch, smell and see around us could all be classified as “chemicals” as easily as anything listed on a product label or created in a laboratory.