I live in Phoenix and recently had a gopher snake hanging out near my front door. You would laugh if you saw my reaction walking up on the doorbell camera! At first glance, gopher snakes look awfully similar to rattle snakes. Once I realized he was missing a rattle I
So you’ve finished teaching the types of plate boundaries and continental drift. Now it’s time to get to the more exiting stuff… earthquakes! I just so happened to be teaching earthquakes when the Turkey earthquake of 2023 occurred. Students were glued to news sites and I tried to really foster
I love teaching ecology. It’s a great topic to start off the year because it’s fun with easy to understand concepts for students. For many years when I taught food webs, I would gloss over decomposers. They seemed boring, kinda gross, and hard for students to see. BUT! Luckily I
The Easiest Classroom Pet You’ll Ever Have I’ve always wanted a fun classroom pet like a bearded dragon or corn snake but I was intimidated by the amount of time and effort it would take to care for one. I kept asking myself questions like: What would I do over
As biology teachers, we often spend a lot of time talking about producers and consumers during ecology. They are easy to see and understand! We often overlook decomposers even though they play a crucial role within ecosystems. If you are looking for an activity to supplement your ecology curriculum, I
Ready to kick off your genetics unit? I prefer starting with DNA and then moving onto Punnett squares and inheritance patterns. For me, it makes more sense to teach DNA first and explain what a gene actually is. If you start with inheritance and use the word “gene” or “allele,”
Teaching layers of the atmosphere? Our atmosphere is vital to life on this planet. It protects us from radiation, supplies us with oxygen, keeps us the right temperature, and the list goes on. When NASA searches for habitable exoplanets, one thing look for are planets with an atmosphere. The atmosphere
Have you tried doing a read aloud with big kids? I really enjoy kids picture books, and I’m an adult. Many people scoff when they hear I read picture books to my high school students. I’m here to say, most of them like it. They listen. They look at the
Hi, I’m Becca and I love science themed picture books. Ever since my daughter was born, I’ve been on the hunt for the best science themed picture books. I’m a sucker for a book that appeals to both little kids AND big kids, with beautiful illustrations. I’ve found quite a
Hi, my name is Becca and I love science themed picture books. Ever since my daughter was born, I’ve been on the hunt for the best science themed picture books. I’m a sucker for a book that appeals to both little kids AND big kids, with beautiful illustrations. I’ve found
Teaching osmosis? Osmosis is one of my favorite topics to teach during the cells unit because it’s so easily visualized. There are quite a few ways to easily see osmosis in action! Here’s a round-up of six labs and the pros and cons of each: 1. EGG OSMOSIS The “naked
My daughter recently discovered I-Spy books, and it brought back so many childhood memories. I would stare at those pages for hours! As I was looking them over with her, I started to wonder how I could do something similar with my students and sneak in some vocabulary practice. Science