Do you use bell-ringers or warm-ups in your high school science class?  Some teachers may call these “bell work” or “ticket out the door” I actually use them as both depending on the situation. I have found that students may understand a concept in class but when the concept is in a diagram, a graph, or a chart they get confused and have a tough time applying that knowledge.   I like to use them to review what the students have learned and have them apply it. We do this activity for no more than 1-2 minutes and because they are small they don't require a lot of paper. These are a nice way to get my students engaged in their learning from the second they walk in the door. They pick it up at the door and get started right away. When completed we then go over the questions.   By creating a “folder” in their Interactive notebooks they do not need to waste time cutting or glueing them in; it simply goes into the folder in that unit and minimal class time is u...

I want to start off by saying that Partner Games have changed my classroom for the better! Partner games are perfect for practicing science skills. Because there are only two students working together, both students are working, and none are left out. There is also instant accountability as the partners (when chosen appropriately) hold each other accountable. The partner games I use (and the ones I am sharing with you) are very consistent. This allows me to teach my students the directions and expectations for the five types of games at the beginning of the year. Then, I can use those same partner games all year long with different math content and skills, and my students immediately know what to do. Let’s take a look at my partner games. Roll and Calculate To play this game the students take turns rolling the 3 dice and calculating the gradient. Since each pair of students has different numbers they cannot copy from their neighbors. Each student double checks ...

To start the school year I like to have my students work as a team to color in a poster. Each student receives a piece of the puzzle and colors it as directed. Some pages have more areas to color than others and can be used to differentiate the activity for students with different abilities. Once colored, the students work together to assemble the poster to hang on the wall.  There are approximately 24-30 pages per poster and there are 6 different posters in this set. This activity requires you to print the pages and supply crayons or markers in 6 different colors. That's it! To purchase this activity click here To see the rest of my creations click here