Very simple worksheet to get students thinking and visualising living things With blank table on the back for students to make up there own

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

A nice graphic worksheet which allows students to use a mirror next to the worksheet and "tick off" colour in or even mark in missing teeth or fillings. At the same time finding out what they should have and practice the terminology. Has been used as a before the dentist and after the dentist visit....if the students are up for it

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

A basic worksheet with my drawing of a baby inside the womb. Works well with most students and promotes discussion

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

Short simple quiz that allows you to judge the understanding and level of your students

Students use hand lenses, magnifiers, whatever you have available....this can lead to a "not fair" discussion as some students only have low magnification. The worksheet contains pictures of very small living things with varrying amounts of legs, antenae, wings, spots, colours...students must use the magnifier to draw as carefully as they can the pictures. The students can then mark their own efforts after you tell them what detail you expected and they should have spotted..be prepared for lots of moaning and a bit of banter.

Straight forward worksheet that can be used to introduce the world of microbes, especially the fact that they multipky so quickly and can cause proiblems for us, as well as benefits for us quickly

A measuring lung capacity activity, staff lead. You will need a large plastic bottle, I used a 5litre (windsreen wash topup bottle-empty and washed, and for smaller children a 2 litre coke bottle), mark the volumes with permanent pen on the outside of the bottle (add 100ml of water at a time to see where the marks should go. Have a steriliser solution in a beaker(baby bottle tablet types are great, as well as a rinse beaker to clean the mouth part of the pipe each time. In one big breath students blow into the upturned bottle and their lung volume is recorded. For younger students you can give each student an identical balloon (care with latex allergies) and get them to blow in one breath, tie up and stick "same size" balloons on board like a bar graph but made from balloons. Different colours look great. Visualy you see a bar graph on the wall made from balloons with the most common lung capacity having the tallest column of balloons.....then you can work on "real" bar charts

I love these activities...you must be prepared for all sorts of ideas from the students...but more importantly allow them to try it out..PLEASE DO NOT tell them "this won't work because" and then give them all the answers that are required by law and the curriculum....let them excercise their own problem solving skills and love you for letting them try it out..in a controlled way of course. Basically they need to find out/ try out/ explore what conditions seeds need to germinate successfully I have had students burn some seeds with a bunsen as they had seen plants growing after a forest fire..indeed you can discuss thet some seeds need extreme heat before they germinate. Other ideas students have had: put in freezer overnight, soak in water, hit with rock, put in acid, keep in dark, keep in light, and so it goes on

This is the bar chart that students end up with after having completed the excercise and lung capacity activity. It can lead nicely on from the "balloon" bar chart (if you chose to use it) for younger/less able students...or even more able but a "twist" on bar charts (see how big are your lungs)

Worksheet that enables students to draw what they see under the microscope, suggested samples are on the sheet but of course you can add your own or even leave some blank for students to suggest. I have had students hunting for insects, leaves are popular, worms, ants are tricky but petri dishes are helpful, dust, finger nail dirt, etc etc Students love to enter the world of the microscopic..be prepared to allow a couple or 3 lessons to let their imagination soar.

A simple activity which could last a few lessons..depending on what you/the students find. Possible extra apparatus you could use: mirrors, cotton wool buds to help counting (don't use cocktail sticks unless you have a few hors spare to fill in the incident forms). The clear picture on the worksheet shows students which teeth are which and all they have to do is count their own and record the numbers. They can try on their own in pairs, use their tongue to keep track or cotton wool buds to "tap" the teeth as they count. A mirror is very useful. The activity usyually lends itself to much discussion regarding missing teeth, extra teeth, decay, bad breath, bacteria, diet etc. I like it because you can just watch the students find out about "themselves" remind them it is not a competition, unless you want it to be.

Getting students to think about any changes to their body due to excercise. This involves 3 levels of excercise (more if you wish) after which the students need to measure/monitor changes in their body. This leads onto the 2 more activies/worksheets about lung capacity

A differentiated test which assesses studenta around level 1 to 4 (old NC levels) You can of course alter in any way you wish. The assesment requires students to use a hand lens to draw what they see. The scores are 0, 1 or 2 (you change or delete as you wish) the idea being 0=no understanding, 1=some understanding, 2=understands fully...this helps you gauge the level of understanding for this topic Good luck