Are you tired of using Kahoot, Quizlet and Quizizz for digital vocabulary review? Me too! Here are a few new, fun and engaging distance learning vocabulary activities!
The Best New Distance Learning Vocabulary Activities for Breakout Rooms
Review the Cell With This One Easy & Unusual Activity!
Looking for a fun way to review the Cell? This activity combines creativity, competition, and collaboration – your class will love it!
The goal is for students to make analogies between the parts of the cell and the very random objects I have give them.
BONUS: post includes idea for making the activity Digital for distance learning!
Continue reading “Review the Cell With This One Easy & Unusual Activity!”Daily Differentiation in the Classroom with Google Forms
Differentiation in the classroom is one of the best ways to meet students where they are, and move them forward. But how do you find which students need re-teaching, or just a bit of extra practice, or are ready for something more?
Daily monitoring of student progress is so important – but it does not have to be hard, or take a long time! This simple and fast method lets Google Forms do all the work!
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4 Ways to Build Relationships During Distance Learning
Many of us are starting the school year doing virtual classes. It is a tough situation – for a lot of reasons. I think the worst part is how difficult it will be to connect with my students. This blog post came out of a deep need for ways to build relationships during distance learning. It is also a sincere invitation to offer your own ideas that we can all benefit from.
Continue reading “4 Ways to Build Relationships During Distance Learning”Turn Any Website into an Interactive Virtual Lesson
With one simple Chrome Extension, you can easily turn any website into an interactive virtual lesson- in minutes! Highlight text, insert questions, initiate whole class discussion, include videos and even embed Google Forms! It is like a miracle, and I am hooked.
Continue reading “Turn Any Website into an Interactive Virtual Lesson”ClassTag: New Favorite Tool for Teacher Communication with Parents & Students
Teacher communication with parents and students is always important. Somehow, though, I imagine that this coming year communication will be even more essential. There will likely be (many) days that I do not see my students in person. Parents will need to be in close connection with the workings of the classroom and the school. I need a communication tool that can do…a lot.
Continue reading “ClassTag: New Favorite Tool for Teacher Communication with Parents & Students”Great Ideas for the First Day of Forensic Science Class!
Forensic Science is an awesome class. With topics like ballistics, blood, and dead bodies – it is almost hard to make it boring! But how do you start? What can a teacher do on the first day that hooks students and lays a solid foundation for the rest of the course?
Continue reading “Great Ideas for the First Day of Forensic Science Class!”Make a Bitmoji Virtual Classroom with Google Slides
Making this bitmoji virtual classroom for my students was so much fun! Google Slides makes it simple to create, and easy to share with my class. Here is a quick tutorial on how to make your own interactive virtual classroom!
Continue reading “Make a Bitmoji Virtual Classroom with Google Slides”Digital Project: Make a Gif With Google Slides
Challenge your students to create an animated gif of what they are learning! It is so easy to do! Students can make an animation of any process or event. It can be as long or short as you would like.
Continue reading “Digital Project: Make a Gif With Google Slides”Six Best FREE Interactive Biology Websites (that don’t use flash!)
If you are like me, you have spent hours trying out interactive biology websites, only to get frustrated and overwhelmed. Many of them are overly complicated, or require so many instructions that the message of the activity is lost to your students.
And then we lost Flash! That was a huge blow to me, and to science teachers all over the world! Compiled here are six of the best interactive biology websites. These online activities are well designed and easy for students to understand. Post includes tips for how to use the activities with your students.
Continue reading “Six Best FREE Interactive Biology Websites (that don’t use flash!)”Remote Learning Using Padlet to Teach Digital Lessons
You and I are probably in the same boat – trying to figure out how to take months of instruction and make it available to students for Remote Learning. There are many ways to do this, the learning curves of some ways are steeper than others! That is why I love Padlet. Padlet provides a simple and easy way to give students notes, videos, links, and instructions – with their responses – all in one place, and all online.
Continue reading “Remote Learning Using Padlet to Teach Digital Lessons”Results! Classroom Management & 21st Century Skills
Can 21st Century Skills be used for classroom management in High School? Yes!
This is the third and final post in a series that explains how one teacher turned around the toughest class she has ever taught.
Continue reading “Results! Classroom Management & 21st Century Skills”Skeletons, Play Doh and Muscle Groups!
Last week I was in Lowes Hardware and I found a bag of little skeletons for a price that I could not pass up. For years I have wanted to use little skeletons in Anatomy class to learn the bones and the major muscle groups! Now (near Halloween) is the perfect time to find skeletons at a good price!
Continue reading “Skeletons, Play Doh and Muscle Groups!”Make Any Worksheet Into an Escape Room in the Classroom
Using an Escape Room in the classroom is a super fun way to engage your students in any topic. But you do not need to spend countless hours making one, nor do you need to buy locks and boxes.
It is easy to turn (almost) any worksheet into an Escape Room!
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How to Make Digital Lessons with Google Forms
Here is a fast, simple way to make digital lessons using Google Forms! Google Forms provides an easy, organized way to present information and guide students through a lesson.
Digital lessons are great for differentiation for your students, making Distance Learning work, or when you turn over your class to a sub! BONUS: Free Google Forms digital lesson template available at the bottom of the post! Fully editable for use in your own classroom!
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Best Way to do Test Corrections: Simple & Engaging
We all want our students to learn from their mistakes. Tests are not just a grade, but a measure of where a student’s understanding is. We want to help fill in the gaps. This usually includes going over the test, or some form of test corrections.
But what is the best way to do test corrections? I was searching for a way that truly helped students learn from their mistakes, but did not take up a lot of time. I needed a test correction method that was meaningful, and motivated even hard-to-motivate students.
And I found it! It even works for Distance Learning!
Continue reading “Best Way to do Test Corrections: Simple & Engaging”The New AP Biology 2019 Curriculum Resources
We have all been waiting, and the day has finally arrived – access to the new AP Biology 2019 Course and Exam Description! What does this new curriculum mean for AP Biology teachers next year? Will we be spending summer break re-making our entire course?
Continue reading “The New AP Biology 2019 Curriculum Resources”24 Ways to Add Fun To the Last Weeks of School
As the school year is winding down, do your students seem to be more wound up each day? They are excited to begin summer, but you don’t want them to check out on you too soon. Use just a few of these ideas to make those last weeks of school the best weeks of the year – for both you and your students!
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5 FREE Online Forensics Activities & Teacher Resources
Here are some of the best FREE online forensics activities for High School and Middle School Forensic Science (no Flash Player required)! Resources cover DNA, Anthropology, Autopsies and more! All free and available online.
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Four Tips for the New Teacher: Growth for Next Quarter
Being a new teacher can so overwhelming! If you are a new teacher, be encouraged, we all felt the same way that first year.
You have come so far already, you have a lot to celebrate!
Next quarter is a chance to grow just a bit more. Take what you are already doing well, and with just a few simple changes, make it great!