Get tips, resources, and ideas sent to your inbox! ➔

Welcome to the Blog!

Search

Tips for a First Year Science Teacher

Your first year teaching is going to be one of the hardest years of your career. I frequently went home near tears thinking “I just can’t do this. It is too hard.” But I promise you, it gets easier! I’m in my 10th year teaching and I spend a lot

Read More »

Top 10 Tips for Teaching In Title 1 Schools

This blog post was co-written by Becca from Science Lessons That Rock  and Tara from Science In The City. They have 22 combined years of teaching experience in the inner city.  10 TIPS FOR TEACHING IN THE INNER-CITY Always treat students with respect– Every year I give students a student

Read More »

PBL#4- Beyond the classroom

You made it to the last blog post in this 4 part series! If you missed any of the previous posts, you can click below to get caught up: #1: What is PBL? #2: Getting Started #3: The Product This last blog post will be about extending learning beyond the

Read More »

PBL#3- The Product and Student led inquiry

You are on part 3 of a 4 part blog post on PBL in the science classroom. If you missed the previous posts, CLICK HERE to head back to blog post 1- “What is PBL?” or CLICK HERE to head back to blog post 2- “How to get started”. This

Read More »

PBL#2- Getting started on a project

In this blog post we are going to cover the first 3 steps to project based learning: the entry event, the driving question, and student need-to-knows. In case you missed the first part of this blog series- “What is PBL?” you can click here to go back and read it.

Read More »

PBL#1- Project Based Learning- What is it?

The past few years I’ve had the opportunity to teach a course entirely through project based learning. Our local university approached a couple of schools in our district and asked us if we were interested in teaching a cross-curricular PBL program where our grade 12 students can earn college credits.

Read More »

Metric System Teaching Hack

The metric system is so important for students to understand in the sciences. And frankly, it’s so much easier to use than the imperial system. One issue I’ve come across when teaching is that students don’t always understand what the units represent, and which unit is appropriate to use for

Read More »

Make Your Own Microscope Slides Tutorial

Ordering class sets of prepared slides can be pricey. Want a fun and free way to make your own? All you need are some slides, clear tape, and some animal hair samples. Put a few pieces of hair on a slide and carefully cover it with clear tape. A couple

Read More »

How to use an onion for your osmosis lab

I’m excited to share with you an EASY PEASY way for students to see osmosis in plant cells! In the past, I always used elodea leaves for this lab. Elodea can be hard to find at pet stores and is a little temperamental to keep alive. This year I decided

Read More »

Step by Step Guide for Making a Hay Infusion

As fun as prepared slides are, students always LOVE looking at living organisms under the microscope. I generally order mixed protist specimens from Wards or Carolina Biological, but this year I didn’t get an order put in on time (if your district is like mine it often takes months to

Read More »

A better way to teach cell division

One comment I frequently hear from biology teachers is “My students keep mixing up mitosis and meiosis.” I had this problem for many years (the first 5 years of teaching to be exact). During my cells unit I would teach both mitosis and meiosis. I would begin by teaching them

Read More »