Amp Up Your Unit on Plants!

Ginkgo

It's time for your unit on plants.  Excited or dreading it?

As I sat down to begin the writing of this post, my initial thought was to lead with, "I just love teaching plants!" And then it occurred to me that I begin almost all of my blog posts on biology topics in the same way.  But the truth is.... I am excited to begin teaching almost any topic in biology. I love them all!  I am sure that I have a least favorite unit to teach, but I would have to give that some thought to determine which unit it is. That is probably a topic for another blog post.....

So back to plants.  Having taught school for over 30 years, I have taught thousands of students and have interacted with many, many teachers during this time.  What I know is this:  Students don't like studying about plants (too boring!) and teachers don't like teaching about plants (students don't like it!) As a result, I have noticed that many middle and high school life science and biology teachers will either:

1. Leave plants out of the curriculum entirely, or ...
2. Skip through it too quickly, leaving out the depth that this unit deserves.

I find plants fascinating.  And because I do, I look for ways to make it interesting for my students.  Not the topic of this blog post, but have you ever tried the C-Fern labs from Carolina Biological?  My students literally shout with excitement when they see (using a microscope) the sperm cells swimming to the egg and the frantic mob of sperm that surrounds the egg.

Students love lab work and it definitely helps makes the class more interesting and exciting, but we all know that the "down and dirty" classroom days are needed to teach the information to our students.  I developed this set of 34 warm up / bell ringer / interactive notebook pages to use with my students while teaching about plant evolution and classification.  I am really excited about this set, and I feel that it is one of the best sets that I have written.

• If you complete these pages with your students, I guarantee that your students will come away with a solid foundation and knowledge base about the evolution and classification of plants.

Click image to view product in my TpT store.

• These pages are NO PREP for the teacher!!  I have done all of the prep work for you. You can spend more time concentrating on your teaching.

• Don't use these pages the same way everyday.  Use some as warm ups, and others as homework assignments.  Some will make great quizzes.  I like to add a page or two of these as a lab station while carrying out our plant experiments.  While lecturing, I will break up the lecture time by having my students complete one of the pages for review and reinforcement.

What topics are covered?  These 34 warm up pages cover the topics commonly found in an introductory unit on plants.  Highlights include: Characteristics of plants, the plant life cycle, alternation of generations, the evolution of plants, the transition of plants to land, classification of plants, nonvascular and vascular plants, the bryophytes, the liverwort life cycle, the moss life cycle, the fern life cycle, the seed plants, gymnosperms and angiosperms.

What topics are not covered?  Plant structure and function, plant responses, and plant reproduction are covered in different sets.  Links to these sets are seen below.

Plant Structure and Function

Plant Reproduction

Thanks for stopping by, and have fun teaching!

5 Free Lessons to Leave in Your Science Sub Folder

Prepare your sub folder NOW for your unexpected absence!

We all know this story.  We have lived this story over and over and over in our teaching careers.

• It is 4:30 am and you wake up to a very sick child.  You have to call by 5 am to get a sub.
• You are already running late. On the way to school, you have a flat tire. There is no way you are going to make it in time.
• While at school, you get an emergency call, and have to leave immediately.
• And occasionally, even WE (teachers) get sick and need to see a doctor.
• How many times have you said, "I would rather go to school than have to make out plans for the substitute teacher?"

Such is the nature of life. There are always going to be unexpected events in our lives that we have no control over. What you do have control over is how you handle them. Do you really want to be scrambling around in the dark at 4:30 an trying to put together some materials to send to your substitute teacher? Well, I must admit, I have been that teacher.  And you have, too!

Let's change that right now.  Here are 5 FREE lessons that you can download, print, and leave in your sub folder.  Even better, these are available in paperless digital versions for use in Google Apps.  The printable lessons are perfect for traditional classroom settings, and the digital versions are perfect for distance learning and 1:1 classrooms. When the unexpected happens to you, you can remain calm knowing that your students will have quality lessons to complete in your absence.  Of the 5 lessons listed and linked below, 3 of them can be used in any type of science class.  If you teach, for example, a life science class and a physical science class, you can leave these three lessons for both classes.

So here they are.  Don't procrastinate.... go ahead and click on the links and print these lessons out!  They are free, so what do you have to lose?

Click image to download free lesson.

1.  GRAPHING:  The need to review and reinforce graphing and data analysis skills is constant with our students.  Truly, this is the subject for another blog post!  Our students can use all the practice they can get, so why not have them practice while you are away from school?  In fact, if our students completed this activity several times during the year, it would be to their advantage!  In this activity, students are given data that must be graphed, followed by a set of thought-provoking and critical thinking data analysis questions.

2.  CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE POWERPOINT PLUS STUDENT WORKSHEETS:

This is best used near the beginning of the school year, but it can also serve as a great review for your end of course test in the spring. This resource consists of 11 PowerPoint slides (and Google Slides!) that cover the basic characteristics of all living things. The slides are bright and colorful and contain some really cool pictures. As the PowerPoint is played, students complete the 3-page worksheet. The questions on the student worksheet are designed to get students thinking and to generate class discussion.

Click image to download

Click image to download.

3.  STUDY SKILL GRAPHIC ORGANIZER: Want to leave a sub plan that covers what you have just been teaching?  This is a "compare and contrast" graphic organizer.  I use this single page all year long in my science classes.  Whatever it is that you have been teaching in science, I am quite sure that it contains concepts that can be compared and contrasted.  For example:  Students might compare and contrast photosynthesis to respiration, mitosis to meiosis, vascular plants to nonvascular plants, the three chambered heart to the four chambered heart or prokaryotic cells to eukaryotic cells. 

Click image to download.

4.  DNA INFORMATIONAL TEXT WITH GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS:  This download has everything you need to leave an informational text lesson for your students.  Watson and Crick wrote a famous one page paper on the structure of DNA.  (This paper is in the public domain.)  This lesson provides the article, and the graphic organizers.  This is still a perfect lesson for a sub even if you are not covering DNA in your class.  The idea is that students get practice reading scientific journal articles. The graphic organizers help them read for understanding.

Click image to download.

5.  GENETICS MONOHYBRID PRACTICE PROBLEMS: This lesson is best suited for life science or biology classes. Students are given a two-page worksheet of monohybrid, or one factor, genetics problems. This is a great review for end of course testing!

As already stated, the above 5 lessons are free.  Go ahead and download them all and check them out.  I am certain that you will find them suitable for use as emergency lesson plans in your science classes. After all, this (<---) is what we hope for our students in our absence!

14 Ways to Use Task Cards in High School Biology

Instruction?

Reinforcement?

Retention?

No Problem!!

Task cards have quickly earned a prominent spot in my high school science classes.  I was slow to the party, thinking that task cards were a tool used by elementary teachers.  They couldn't possibly be of any use in my high school classes, right?  I could not be more wrong!

I think the thing I love best about task cards is that my students never complain about them, and in fact, even ask for them.  Teenagers will do anything to avoid school work, but my students have fully accepted the fact that the task cards have helped them study for tests and have improved their grades.

For those who might be unfamiliar with task cards, here is a quick description.  A task card is usually 1/4th the size of a sheet of paper, and usually printed on thicker paper.  I laminate them so that I can use them year after year.  Each card contains only one task or question.  For students who are easily overwhelmed by too much material or difficult concepts, task cards are a wonderful solution.  The student has a card in their hand with only one task or question.  They must complete the one task before moving on to the next.  It allows the student to focus and concentrate on only one thing at a time, rather than being presented with a long worksheet jam-packed with questions or problems.

So without further ado, here are 14 ways you can use task cards in your high school science classes to improve instruction, reinforce concepts and increase retention of the material you are teaching:

1.  Lab Stations:  This is my personal favorite.  Students of all ages get tired of sitting in a desk all day.  My students really enjoy being out of their seats and moving about the room.  I place 2 to 3 task cards at each lab station and have the students rotate through the stations.  This saves paper and printing since only one set of task cards is needed for the class.

2.  Competitive Game Formats:  Use the cards in a game format.  Divide the class into teams.  Place the task cards face down in a basket.  A team selects a card at random and must complete the task for a point.  It is a fun way to review for unit tests and high schoolers love the competitive format.

3.  Use task cards during instruction:  When teaching difficult concepts, stop periodically and check for understanding.    Ask the students to "pull out cards 16 - 20" and complete the tasks to see if they understand the material you have been teaching.  It gives the students a chance to relax just a bit and it provides an additional opportunity for them to absorb the mountain of details in a science class.

4.  Warm Ups and Bell Ringers:   

I use this one a lot!    As students enter the room, have them complete 4-5 task cards on concepts covered the previous day.  I have them write their answers on a sheet of notebook paper and collect them for a quick daily grade.  This strategy gets them to work the minute they enter your classroom, and helps them to get focused on the learning for the day.

5.  Exit Slips:  This strategy requires students to  write responses to questions you ask at the end of the class period.  It allows the students to reflect on what they have learned during the lesson and allows you to check for mastery of concepts.

 6.    Use task cards as part of your lab activities:  As students are carrying out and completing lab work, place a task card or two at their lab station and require that they include the answers to the task cards as part of their lab report.

7.  Homework Assignments:  At the end of your lesson, have students copy a few task card questions into their lecture notes to be completed for homework.  Checking student answers is a great way to start class the next day.

8.  Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate!!  How often do we teachers hear those words?  Well, task cards are the easiest way I have found to help learners of different ability levels.  By making customized sets of cards, you can give a student exactly what they need to be successful. Students can complete the cards you have given them and never know that other students have different sets of cards.

9.  Task cards are perfect for early finishers:  Task cards are not just for review and reinforcement.  They are perfect for enrichment!  When students finish their regular work early, you can give them enrichment task cards to deepen their understanding of the concepts being taught.

10.  Small group review sessions:   My students will often come in before school, after school or during a study hall period to use the task cards to review for an upcoming unit test.

11.  End of course testing:  Does your state require that students pass an end of course test at the end of the school year?  Mine does!   When reviewing for my end of course tests, I place different sets of task cards in plastic boxes and arrange them about the room,  Students select a set of cards and review through them in small groups.  When finished with one set, they select another .

12.  Tutoring:  My school offers peer tutoring and teacher tutoring after school.  Teachers and students alike will borrow my sets of task cards to use during after school tutoring.

13.  Hallway Extra Credit Display:  Post a few task cards on the wall outside of your classroom door.  Completion of the task cards can earn the student a few extra credit points.

14.  Bingo! Make a Bingo board out of task cards.  Students must complete 5 tasks in a row, column or diagonal to win.

Because task cards can be used in so many ways, they have earned a permanent place in my teaching arsenal.  They are fun and engaging, and provide excellent opportunities for students of all ability levels to master the subject matter.



Here are just a few of the task card sets available in my TpT store:

•  Cellular Respiration Task Cards
•  Photosynthesis Task Cards
•  Lab Clean Up Task Cards
•  Classification and Taxonomy Task Cards
•  Matter and Change Task Cards
•  Metric System Task Cards
•  Let's Read Science! Common Core Science Task Cards
•  Microscope Task Cards
•  Scientific Method Task Cards
•  Population Ecology Task Cards
•  Introduction to Ecology Task Cards
•  Viruses and Bacteria Task Cards


Or you can just click this link to view all of them!

Reminder: Virtual Field Trip to China with NatureWorks Everywhere

The Virtual Field Trip to China is This Week!!

Please don't let this amazing opportunity slip by.  Recently I wrote a detailed blog post about a fun and educational opportunity for your science students. Taking your students on a virtual field trip is the perfect idea for this time of year.  Students are hyper about the holidays, the weather is probably not the best right now, and students will benefit from a fun diversion.

It is not too late to sign up.  Click this link to go to the main sign up page. Registering is quick and easy and FREE!

If you need some help with lesson planning, The Nature Conservancy and NatureWorks Everywhere have everything you need.  Use this link for the Lesson Plan Standards.

Prepare your students! Help your students get the most from this unique experience. In the days before the virtual field trip, use these free resources to teach your students the concepts of deforestation and reforestation, the carbon cycle, greenhouse gases, and climate change. Don't worry!  All of this has been prepared for you.  This video, "Reforestation: Impact on Climate Change" has everything you need to ensure that your students master the concepts.  Be sure to download the free materials and lesson guides you can use along with the video.


This virtual field trip is sure to be a hit with both teachers and students.  I hope to see you there!

Using Poinsettia Leaves as an Acid / Base pH Indicator

Click image to view this resource in my TpT store.

I LOVE this fun holiday activity!

We science teachers know that many plants contain pigments that can be used as pH indicators.  I think we have all created a stink in our homes or labs by boiling red cabbage to use the "juice" as an acid/base indicator!



Did you know that you can do the same with the pigments found in red Poinsettia leaves?

These plants contain anthocyanins, which are water soluble pigments.  These pigments are responsible for the the red, purple, and blue colors seen in flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Anthocyanins respond to changes in pH.  I absolutely love lab activities that use items like this in the lab.  My students are often surprised and excited to discover that household items, such as the Poinsettia or red cabbage, can be used for scientific purposes.  Using the Poinsettia leaves as an acid/base indicator makes for a super fun lab activity around the holidays.

In this lab, the students will use a pigment solution extracted from the leaves of the poinsettia to establish a known pH baseline.  Students will then use this baseline to predict the pH of common household items.

The images below will give you a great idea of all that is involved with this lab. Click on any image below to view this resource in my TpT store.

I hope you find this useful in your science classes.  Enjoy the holiday season!

5 Ways to Encourage Awareness of Global Science Issues in Your Classroom

It's easy and it doesn't take

 much time!

It's time for the Secondary Smorgasbord Blog Hop event for November.  I was super excited when I discovered that the theme for this month is "Creating a Global Classroom."  I have been involved with a few things just this month that are perfect for encouraging a sense of global awareness in the science students we teach.

Is it really so important that we encourage and teach global awareness in our science class?  I think the answer to that is an emphatic YES!  Making students aware of world issues and teaching them to get involved is important, but it doesn't fall naturally into our curriculum, and we have to really make special efforts in our planning to work it into our teaching.  I am just like every other high school science teacher ..... I fell pressure to teach, teach, teach concepts and details because it might be on the end of course test or on the AP exam.  I always feel like I can't spare a minute of teaching time on something that might not be on a standardized test!  (We will save the discussion of standardized testing for another day!)  The bottom line is that we will have to make adjustments and do some creative planning to incorporate other concepts and ideas that fall outside of our curriculum.

So without further ado, here are 5 things you can do in your classroom to increase global awareness.

1.  Start at home.  Students need to get involved with service projects within their own communities.  Nothing brings a deeper awareness and empathy for others than being involved with it on a personal basis.  Here is one activity (free download) that I do during the holiday season.  My "Dichotomous Key to Holiday Giving" is a fun science activity that involves a dichotomous classification key.  The students get a refresher in the concepts of classification, and our local food bank gets stockings filled with treats that they can dispense with their other food items.  Check this blog post for more details.

2.  Start your preparations for Earth Day now!
What??  It's only November and Earth Day is in April!  I know, I know!  But you can't incorporate effective Earth Day activities if you don't start now. The perfect time to begin your teaching and lessons on Earth Day is when you return to the classroom in early January.  Use this free Earth Day PowerPoint to tell your students about Earth Day and why it is important.  Then brainstorm ideas with your class about what you can do.  You might plan to plant some trees, clean up an area of neglected highway, or help your community with some new landscaping at the local park.

3.  Take a virtual field trip with The Nature Conservancy.  Several times a year, you and your science class can go on a live, virtual field trip to an amazing ecological location.  The next one is coming up soon, and you can get the details from a blog post I have just written.  Each field trip includes outstanding video footage and free downloadable lesson plans.  If you can't participate in the live event, all of the field trips have been archived so that you can use them at your convenience.  Check out this link to NatureWorks Everywhere for all the possibilities.

4.  Use a curriculum that teaches about a global science issue.  "Keep Wild Animals Wild" is a program that I have recently thoroughly investigated.  The curriculum is free and is for grades K-8.  The materials are specialized for grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-8.  Use this link for a detailed description.  Students will learn of the problems facing Earth's fragile ecosystems, habitat destruction, climate change, and the illegal wildlife trade.  These are certainly global issues that students need to be made aware of.


5.  Make use of the many, many online resources that are available that teach about global science issues. Try to devote the first few minutes of your class for a current event article, or show a short video to raise awareness.  Here are links to some of my favorite sites:

Smithsonian Science Education,   PBS Science and Nature,   National Geographic,   Science Illustrated,   Discover Magazine,   BBC Earth, and Scientific American.    

Keep Wild Animals Wild!

Fantastic curricula for multiple grade levels!

We, as science teachers, must do more than just teach science.  We absolutely should teach the important concepts that are appropriate to our subject areas and grade levels.  But doesn't our responsibility go further than that?  Shouldn't we also be charged with giving our students a global awareness of societal and ecological issues?  The students we teach today will be the decision makers of tomorrow.  Let's make sure they have a solid foundation in the ecological and environmental issues that we are currently facing.

Click image to view curriculum.

To that end, I am proud to tell you about an exciting curriculum called "Keep Wild Animals Wild."

The International Fund for Animal Welfare and We Are Teachers have teamed up together to bring lesson plans, printables, teaching guides, and lesson plans that teach our students the importance of preserving wildlife.  The materials have been developed with different age groups in mind.  Teaching lessons are available for grades K- 2,
3 - 5, and 6 - 8.  Each curriculum contains a student magazine, a teaching guide, lesson plans, and an age appropriate video.  I will be focusing on the  grade 6-8 curriculum, but you will find a consolidated list of links to all components of each grade level at the end of this post.

The threats to wildlife and Earth's fragile ecosystems are real.  Many of these threats, if not most, are from human causes.  The "Keep Wild Animals Wild" curriculum focuses on the important ecological concepts of habitat destruction, climate change, the commercial wildlife trade, poaching, and how the extinction of one species can affect the entire ecosystem.

As stated above, each curriculum has several components:  A teaching video, a student magazine, a teaching guide, and lesson plans.  Let's take a look at each component.

First, the teaching video.  This is a 26-minute video, which is the perfect length for middle school students.  The video is packed with fantastic footage of wild animals in their natural habitats.  Students from around the world are included which gives a rich cultural flavor to the video.

Highlights and concepts covered in the video include:

• Differences between wild and domesticated animals.
• What happens when wild animals are kept in captivity.
• The illegal wildlife trade.
• The effects of logging and habitat destruction.
• The role of animals in the ecosystem.
• How the loss of biodiversity effects all populations in an ecosystem.
• What we can do to protect the animals on Earth.

When this teaching video is used in combination with the printable student magazine, these wildlife and environmental lessons will really come to life!

Click image to download student magazine for grades 6 - 8.

The student magazine is 20 pages in length.  I read it from top to bottom and found it to be entertaining, engaging, colorful, and extremely informative. The magazine is packed with great photos, animal facts, age appropriate vocabulary terms and interesting infographics.  If you are required to demonstrate the teaching of common core standards, this magazine is a great source for informational text readings.  Your students are going to love both the video and the magazine!

And what has been included for the teacher?  Just everything to make your lesson planning stress free!  There are two separate documents to be used by teachers:  A Teaching Guide/Program Overview and a Lesson Plan Guide.

The 18-page Teaching Guide/Program Overview provides just what you need to put together a fantastic unit for your students.

Click image to download Teaching Guide.

Highlights include:

• An introduction to the curriculum.
• Rationale for the "Keep Wild Animals Wild" program.
• Objectives.
• An overview of the curriculum components for the three different age groups.
• How to teach sensitive issues.
• Activities.
• Pre- and Post-assessments.
• Worksheets.
• Answer Keys.

And, finally, this brings us to the Lesson Planning Guide.  This 22-page guide brings you instructional goals, lesson objectives, essential questions, discussion, activities, reflections, and extensions.  Lesson plans are included for 9 separate lessons.

Click image to download the Lesson Plan guide.

Folks, to put it simply ..... These are quality materials.  Your students are going to benefit from these lessons, and you are helping to develop well-rounded science students who will possess the knowledge and skills needed to make important decisions about the environment when they are older.  It's win-win all the way around.

Remember, the links above are for the grade 6-8 materials.  Here are links to all grade levels:

Students ages 5 to 7 (grade K-2) are introduced to the concepts of what makes an animal wild and how people can observe and appreciate wildlife responsibly.

o   Lesson plans http://ow.ly/UBNGE

o   Student magazine http://ow.ly/UBNMW

o   K-2 Video http://ow.ly/UBPDG

Students ages 8 to 10 (grade 3-5) learn about wildlife trade, how it is relevant to them, and how they can take action to help protect wild animals from wildlife trade.

o   Lesson plans http://ow.ly/UBPJK

o   Student magazine http://ow.ly/UBPPg

o   3-5 video http://ow.ly/UBPTU 

Students ages and 11 to 14 (grade 6-8) also learn about wildlife trade and its relevance to their world.

o   Lesson plans http://ow.ly/UBQ0r

o   Student magazine http://ow.ly/UBQ5r

o   Classroom poster http://ow.ly/UBQdu

o   6-8 video http://ow.ly/UBQjl   

Get your students excited about the curriculum by using this great classroom poster.

Click image to download poster.

Many thanks to We Are Teachers and the International Fund for Animal Welfare for providing these valuable resources to our students.  Enjoy!