Back to School Biology Scavenger Hunt

What will you be doing on the first day of biology class?

First impressions count. They make a difference. Whether it is a job interview, or meeting potential in-laws for the first time.... first impressions are important.

When students walk into your class on the first day of school, what first impression will you make? There are alphabetized seating charts to be made, textbooks to be issued, supply lists to go over, grading policies to be discussed, and syllabi to be passed out. There is just so much "business" that must be taken care of!!!

But....  Is this the impression you want to make on the first day of school?

Why not get the kids out of their seats and do something fun on the first day of school?  If you make a great impression on the first day, then students don't mind so much when you go over the "rules" on the second day.  The first day message to the students should be, "My class is exciting.  My class is different.  My class will be demanding, but I want to make learning fun."

My new idea this year for a first day activity is a "Back to School Biology Scavenger Hunt."  I teach in a large public school.  It is not unusual for students to walk into my class only to discover that they do not know anyone in the room.  And, as quickly as possible, I would like to know the skill level of the students I'll be teaching.  This activity covers both.  The scavenger hunt will allow the students to get to know one another, and it will help me determine how much they already know about biology.

Click on image to download this resource.

So how does the scavenger hunt work?  Take the students outside.  This can be done in an outdoor classroom, the playground, or just any area of the school yard.  I am fortunate enough to have a pond and a wooded area that border our school.

Students will work in groups of two to find examples of the items I have included on their 2-page handout.  Examples include:

• Find and name three heterotrophs.
• Find 2 biotic and 2 abiotic factors.
• Find an organism with an exoskeleton.

Students record their answers on the handout.  In addition to answering the biology questions, the students must write down the name of their partner and a "fun-fact" about their partner.  After answering 6 questions, students must change partners and work with a different student on the next 6 questions.  

I hope you and your students enjoy the activity, and I hope you have a GREAT first day of school.

Have a great year!

Back to School with the Scientific Method

Scientific Method in the first days of school?  

You betcha!!

This is not a new lesson, but I did want to remind everyone that I have a wonderful and PowerPoint on the scientific method.  Students are going to groan and roll their eyes in complete boredom unless you do something to spice it up. Let's be honest, they have been hearing the steps of the scientific method over and over and over for as long as they can remember.  I tried to make this lesson more interactive, and more engaging.  The 27 slides are colorful and (hopefully) eye-catching.  I have included a 4-page set of notes for the teacher, and a 5-page outline for the student.  The student will fill in the missing information as the lesson is being taught.  The printable lessons are perfect for traditional classroom settings, and the digital versions are perfect for distance learning and 1:1 classrooms. 

And.....

.....the best part.....

This lesson takes the student beyond memorizing the steps of the scientific method......again!  Problem solving scenarios are included that teach the student how to work through the scientific method to answer a question or solve a problem.

"Back to School" is just around the corner.  I hope that you find these materials useful and beneficial to your students.  It's definitely worth your while to make sure that your students are well grounded in the scientific method early in the school year.  It is a skill they should use throughout the rest of the school year.

Links to this product and related products:

Scientific Method PowerPoint and Notes for Teacher and Student

Biology Warm Ups or Interactive Notebook Pages for Scientific Method

Applying the Scientific Method and Scientific Writing

Scientific Method Task Cards

The Student Designed Lab

Scientific Method Homework

Biology Interactive Notebooks

Interactive Notebooks?

Warm-Ups?

Bell Ringers?

Exit Slips?

Whatever you want to call them, they are a great classroom management tool and a wonderful way to teach, review, and reinforce vital concepts in biology.

A few days ago I wrote a lengthy blog post about my success in using "warm-ups" for my biology classes last year.  Click this link to see that blog post.   In this post I described the materials I used in my first unit of the school year.

This blog post is about my second set of interactive notebook inserts or warm -ups.  This set covers a unit on cell structure and physiology.  This ended up being a set of 59 warm ups or pages that cover cell structure and function, photosynthesis, respiration, and mitosis and meiosis.

As discussed in my previous blog post, these activities turned the first few chaotic minutes of my class into a time of meaningful learning.  But the absolute best thing to come out of this was that it created a fabulous study guide for my semester exam.

The content that is covered is evident from the titles:

Cell Structure and Function Titles (16 pages):

·    The History of Cell Studies

·    Cell Structure 101

·    The Animal Cell

·    The Plant Cell

·    The Size of Cells

·    Surface Area to Volume Ratio in Cells

·    Internal Organization of the Cell

·    The Cell Membrane

·    Ribosomes and the Endoplasmic Reticulum

·    Mitochondria and Chloroplasts

·    The “Other” Organelles

·    Plant versus Animal

·    Cellular Organization

·    Transport Across the Membrane 1

·    Transport Across the Membrane 2

·    Thinking Critically About Cells

Photosynthesis Titles (11 pages):

·    Energy Flow

·    Chemical Energy and ATP

·    Introduction to Photosynthesis

·    Light! Pigments! Action!

·    The Chloroplast

·    Electron Carriers

·    Overview to the Stages of Photosynthesis

·    Light Dependent Reaction

·    The Calvin Cycle

·    Alternatives to the 3-Carbon Pathway

·    Thinking Critically About Photosynthesis

Cellular Respiration Titles (14 pages):

·    Chemical Energy and ATP

·    The Relationship Between Photosynthesis and Respiration

·    Overview of Respiration

·    Glycolysis

·    The Fate of Pyruvic Acid

·    The Mitochondria

·    Overview of Aerobic Respiration

·    Krebs Cycle

·    Electron Transport Chain

·    ATP Accounting

·    Respiration Recap and Review

·    Fermentation

·    Comparison of Photosynthesis and Respiration

·    Thinking Critically About Cellular Respiration

Cell Division (Mitosis and Meiosis) Titles (18 pages):

·    Introduction to Cell Division

·    Chromosomes

·    The Cell Cycle

·    Let’s Draw the Stages

·    Name That Stage!

·    Interphase

·    Prophase

·    Metaphase

·    Anaphase

·    Telophase / Cytokinesis

·    The Mitotic Spindle

·    Differences in Animal and Plant Cell Mitosis

·    Results / Importance of Mitosis

·    Asexual versus Sexual Reproduction

·    Cell Division and Chromosome Number

·    Meiosis

·    Comparing Mitosis to Meiosis

·    Thinking Critically About Cell Division

The above pictures show the student pages.  Each is also accompanied by a teacher answer key.

Click above picture to see my product listing on TeachersPayTeachers.com

Biology Warm Ups and Bell Ringers for High School Science

Biology warm ups and bell ringers are one of the most effective classroom management tools for high school science teachers. These short, focused science warm ups help students settle quickly, reinforce key biology concepts, and create a productive learning environment from the moment class begins.

If your class starts with distractions, side conversations, and wasted time, biology bell ringers can completely transform those first few minutes into meaningful learning.

I began using daily biology warm up activities to improve focus, reinforce content, and establish consistent classroom routines. The results were immediate. Students entered class, opened their notebooks, and got to work right away.

Using biology bell ringers consistently helped reinforce content, improve student engagement, and create a calm, productive start to every class period. You can view examples of my biology bell ringers and how they are organized by unit in my TpT store here.

What Are Biology Bell Ringers?

Biology bell ringers are short warm up activities that students complete at the beginning of class. These science warm ups reinforce previously learned material, introduce new topics, and help students transition quickly into learning mode.

Biology warm ups and bell ringers help teachers:

• establish consistent classroom routines
• improve student focus immediately
• reinforce biology content daily
• increase student retention
• improve classroom management

For high school science teachers, bell ringers are one of the simplest and most effective instructional tools available. Biology warm ups are especially effective because they provide daily review, reinforce key concepts, and help students retain information long term.

Why Biology Bell Ringers Improve Classroom Management

You can turn this chaotic time of your class into a time of meaningful learning. Using bell ringers establishes a daily routine of having your students complete thought provoking and problem solving tasks during the first 5 minutes of the class.  Once the routine is established, students will enter the room and get right to work on the warm-up or bell-ringer activity. These warm-ups are designed to take 5-7 minutes to complete. It settles the students and provides the instructor a few minutes to carry out the tasks required at the beginning of a class.

It took a bit of time, but I now have sets of bell ringers for every chapter of a traditional high school biology class. Since most biology or life science textbooks are generally divided into ten units, I organized my warm up activities in the same fashion.

• Unit 1:  Introduction to Science (Scientific Method, Graphing, Chemistry, Biochemistry)
• Unit 2:  Cells
• Unit 3:  Ecology
• Unit 4:  Genetics
• Unit 5:  Evolution
• Unit 6:  Microorganisms and Fungi
• Unit 7:  Plants
• Unit 8:  Invertebrates
• Unit 9:  Chordates
• Unit 10:  The Human Body

If you would like ready to use biology warm ups and bell ringers for your classroom, you can view all biology bell ringer sets in my TpT store here. These activities cover every biology unit and are designed to save preparation time while reinforcing key biology concepts.

The pages are printed landscape style. The pages look best if printed in color, but also look great if printed in black/white. Each activity is one-half page in size. Two identical warm-ups are printed per page in order to conserve paper. In this time saving classroom management strategy, all you have to do is print the pages and cut them in half.

Skills Reinforced by Biology Warm Ups and Bell Ringers

Compare and contrast
Identify and label
Define terms
Graphing and Tabling
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
 Computation
Short Answer
Listing
Research
Cause and Effect
 Drawing
Analyzing
Interpreting
Predicting
Fill in the Blank
Writing/Explaining

These half-page activities can be collected and quickly graded, or you might want to have your students keep a daily warm-up notebook. These warm-ups will make excellent additions to your interactive notebooks. An added benefit ... The completed warm-up notebook makes an excellent review for the semester exam!

I now have 41 biology bell ringer sets available in my TpT store. You can view them all here.

They can be purchased individually, and they are arranged into four large unit bundles:

• Cells, Ecology, DNA, Genetics, and Evolution Bundle
• Viruses, Bacteria, Fungi, and Protists Bundle
• Animal Kingdom Bell Ringer Bundle
• Human Body Bundle

I hope these work as well for you as they did for me.

If you are looking for additional warm ups and bell ringers for your biology classroom, you may also be interested in these related activities:

• DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis Warm ups and Bell Ringers
• Evolution and Classification Warm Ups and Bell Ringers
• Genetics Warm Ups and Bell Ringers
• Ecology Warm Ups and Bell Ringers

Have fun teaching!