Seventh+Grade+-+Microorganisms...Discussion

Use this page to generate discussions, upload labs and lessons, share plans, etc. Click on "edit this page" to begin. You can upload files by clicking on the "tree" icon under the editor title.



The attachment above can accompany the Bill Nye video about Life Cycles. If you've seen it, you may have noted that Bill's concept map of a Life Cycle doesn't actually make sense. So I have students out-do the Science Guy by making a concept map that makes sense. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a script that students use when they present models of cells that the have made using at-home materials. Some acccompanying documents are below this post. This lesson also goes a long ways towards illustrating the differences among the five Kingdoms of life at the cellular level. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above accompanies the "CellProjectPresentation" lesson (above). Students use this to learn more about cell parts and how they might be represented in their model projects. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a rubric for scoring the "CellProjectPresentation" lesson (two posts above). (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is used in two ways. I have some sets laminated "as is." Students use these to get familiar with the different cell types. Another set has been cut down the middle, so that students have to match the pictures with their respective descriptions. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is part of a microscope lab that uses prepared slides. The pages are printed and set next to a scope with that material. Students rotate through all the scopes that are set up. Note that some pages have been "greyed out" because I didn't have that material at the time or for some other reason. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a set of five pages, each representing a Kingdom of life. I made a classroom set of these and laminated them. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above was made using Inspiration software. Inspiration is great for creating concept maps. This is a concept map of how to distinguish the five Kingdoms of life. This is the simplest way I have ever seen to do this. Note that kids need to understand some cell parts before they can grasp how this concept map works. But once they do, it can be very effective. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above shows fruits and vegetables. I cut each page into two pictures. Students have to divide them into groups. In a scientific sense, a fruit is anything that has a seed in it or on it. Therefore, the corn, tomato, pumpkin, green beens and some others are all fruits. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is part of a lesson about Hierarchy of Stucture. I print and cut all the pages (except the final two!) into half-sheets. I give a group of students the set of words/pictures and ask them to put them into some arrangement that "makes sense." You might be surprised at how well/quickly some students do this. Note that with the biological concepts that are included, there is a one-to-one match between words and pictures. Students may need to push their desks/tables together to make this lesson work. If necessary, you can take kids to the media center and use the large tables there. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above is a lesson on living, nonliving and dead things. The concept of dormancy is also explained. The second page is a worksheet that checks the students' understanding of the first page. (Byrnes at Hiatt)



The attachment above asks students to explain why certain foods do NOT spoil. Old-timers will remember the Biogene Company Picnic--and I still use it because kids like it and I think it's awesome. Anyway, this worksheet is a follow-up to that "mystery lesson." If you don't use the BCP, you can still adapt this lesson in a zillion ways. (Byrnes at Hiatt)