Class: Science 8 Date: March 24th, 2023 Lesson: Cells introduction

GLO: SLO:
2. Investigate and describe the role of cells within living things ● describe the role of cells as a basic unit of life
● distinguish between plant and animal cells (e.g.,
distinguish between cell walls and cell membranes)

Skills outcomes: Attitude Outcomes:

Initiating and Planning - Interest in science
Students will: Ask questions about the relationships between - Scientific inquiry
and among observable variables, and plan investigations to - Collaboration
address those questions - Mutual respect
● identify questions to investigate (e.g., identify questions
that arise from their own observations of plant and
animal diversity)
Communication and Teamwork
Students will: Work collaboratively on problems; and use
appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas,
procedures and results
● receive, understand and act on the ideas of others
● communicate questions, ideas

Overview:
Short class so we are going to get into starting to learn about and understand cells (plant and animal cells). Learning about
different structures (organelles).
Introduction: Materials:
New seating plan!
- Have this on the screen as they come in, if there are any complaints or “whys” I will Slide show
simply explain that its time for something new.

Quick review about microscopes, calling out to the class for answers to questions such as
“what do we use them for, why do we use them, name some parts and what they do -
structure and function”
- This review is important. I will also ask who was NOT here last class and provide
them with the workbook, explaining to them that they must get the microscope
pages done before wednesday. You can work through them with the textbook or
with a friend but not during this class. As I need your attention so you can keep
going with the learning process.

Moving on, we are going to be learning all about cells!

Before getting into the bulk of today's lesson. I am going to ask students to put all their stuff
on the floor. Textbooks too. Too many people are distracted by their stuff during class and it
takes away from their learning experience when they are not paying attention

Body: Materials:
We are going to start off with listening to “Cells Cells” the rap about cells. It's a Cells song
super catchy song that goes over the basic functions of the cell and its organelles.
- After we listen to this I will ask what the structures in cells are called?
Answer: organelles
- Cells are made of?? ORGANELLES
- Do this with variation as many times as needed to get them to all know and
remember organelles are the structures of cells.
- Chant it if needed, get the students “hyped” up before moving forward.
Once we have established that cells are made of organelles we are going to jump head
first into our notes

- First page of section 2.2 The Cell is the Basic Unit of Life!
- 7 quick lines of notes, combination of fill in the blank and sentence writing. This
page will cover fundamental basics of cells (units of life, what a cell is, tissues,
organs)
● Make a point to stop and make sure the students have the notes written down.
Explaining as we go what the lines are, reading them aloud and providing additional
details.
● For the cells, organs, and tissues definitions, explain these in detail and also
mention that knowing these and understanding them will be important for this unit.

Flipping to the next page we have the basic cell structures

- Cells are made of what? Response: Organelles.
- Time to talk about some of these organelles.

- This page has some of the most basic organelles that will be found across both
plant and animal cells. These cells are easily spotted when looking at a cell under a
microscope.
- Cell membrane, cell wall, cytoplasm, nucleus, vacuoles.
- We will write a brief description of each, and state if it's in both plant and
animal cells, or just one.
- I will also show an image that highlights each structure so I can point out
how we can recognize them when looking at cells with a microscope.
● As I go through each I will ask if there are questions, see if I can clarify some things
as we go and just generally get students to try to engage in what we are working
on.
– this may take us straight to the end but if not we can move forward with the rest of our
organelles.

● For the remainder of our organelles, we have another table within our workbook
that will break down the structure and function. I will go over each and also add in if
it's found in a plant cell, animal cell, or both.
● Continuously stopping to ask if there's questions, make sure students are keeping
up and understanding what we are going over.
 ● I will also have images of most / if not all the organelles to point them out and how
we could see them under a microscope.

Conclusion:
● Before the bell, (2-3 minutes)
○ Quick review: what did we do!
■ Cells are made of?
■ Tell me about _____ (choose an organelle we have talked about) what does it do? Plant, animal or both?
● If I am not finished before the bell goes, make them stop and sit down. Wrap up, then release them after telling them to
have a great weekend and to make sure they have this booklet for Monday's class. Microscope lab Wednesday.
 Reflection

What aspects of the lesson went well?

- Students were quickly settled into their new seating plan with minimal grumbles about it. I extended the offer that if their new
seat was absolutely not going to work for them for some reason, they could speak with me and I would see what I could do
about it. When no one came to speak to me about the seating arrangement at the end of class, I see that as a mini win as
even though some students may not be thrilled about their spots, I did not choose spots that were negative for them. Seating
plans are new for me and I chose their seats very deliberately.
- I got the students to “wake up” a bit, getting them to respond to me saying “what are cells made of” with “organelles”, I got
them to repeat it a few times but slowly I got them to engage in stating it loudly. Some students who I have spoken to one on
one and specifically gotten them to have their voices be heard, feel more comfortable acting silly in my class. During the cells
rap song I had a few students bobbing their heads or pretending to rap which was great!

What did students struggle with?

- Some students struggled with opening their books and following along, I checked in with them, showed them the page we
were on and got them going. Checking in on them periodically to see how they were doing and if they got the notes down.

What did you struggle with?

- As science is not my specialization I struggle with explaining some things In a way that 1 makes sense and 2 does not
change the students course of thought on cells. I need to watch my wording very carefully while teaching so i dont
accidentally mis teach something. I said something along the lines of how all cells will look different and quickly reversed it to
explain that they all have the correct organelles but will be different in shape and size. And that some organism have one cell
some have more.