Visual vocabulary practice improves learning. How can you implement this practice into your existing life science curriculum?
What are the Life Science Vocabulary Doodle Notes?
- Standards-based vocabulary practice
- Reviews key ideas for each life science standard (middle school)
- 3-4 words covered on each page
- Standard listed in top corner of each page
- Words are chunked by topic/key idea
- Tasks are concise and age-appropriate
How will they help my students?
- Blends visual and linguistic information
- Visual note-taking improves content memory
- Improved retention through dual coding
- Provides essential vocabulary review through meaningful tasks
- Students DON’T write definitions. They read and respond to them!
What does a sample BLANK page look like?
What does a sample COMPLETED page look like?
Two suggestions for guiding your students:
- Complete one page together as a class using a document camera or by projecting the image and drawing on the board. We recommend doing this at least once to model for your students the doodle note process. As you go over each key idea, ask for student input. Talk about responding clearly yet concisely. Model how to emphasize using underlining, bolding and shading. Here are some questions to ask your class while you model.
- What words should stand out most on the page? How can we emphasize them?
- Should we write a paragraph here or use bullet points?
- How can we use color to separate the different concepts on the page? Are there certain colors that make sense for this topic?
- Share the interactive link for the pages with your students. Each page has a link to an interactive version that will help your students complete each task. This is included with the file when you download the pdf. Once they open the link for the page they are doing, they click each icon to gather information to help them understand the content and doodle to show learning! Once kids understand how to access the link to the interactive, they can do them independently for bell work and early finisher work. Here’s what that interactive page looks like when you share it with your students.
How can I get the pages that match my curriculum?
The doodle notes are available for purchase by standard or as a bundled standard set (discounted by 10-25% depending on the set). Here are the links to the life science sets available. Please keep in mind that they work together as a larger set. Purchasing a single file will not cover the standards as well as buying the set!
ENTIRE LIFE SCIENCE SET (Large Bundle Discount 20% off)
Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes (LS 1 Bundle)
MS-LS1-1 Characteristics of Living Things
MS-LS1-2 Cell Function
MS-LS1-3 Body Systems
MS-LS1-4 Reproduction
MS-LS1-5 Environmental and Genetic Factors
MS-LS1-6 Photosynthesis Matter and Energy
MS-LS1-7 Cellular Respiration Matter and Energy
MS-LS1-8 Information Processing – How Memories are Formed
Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics (LS 2 Bundle)
MS-LS2-1 Ecosystem Dynamics
MS-LS2-2 Interactions in an Ecosystem
MS-LS2-3 Energy in an Ecosystem
MS-LS2-4 Ecosystem Dynamics
MS-LS2-5 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resources
Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits (LS 3) MS-LS3-1 MS-LS3-2
Biological Evolution Unity and Diversity (LS 4 Bundle)
MS-LS4-1 Fossil Record and Life on Earth
MS-LS4-2 and 4-3 Evolution Comparative Anatomy
MS-LS4-4 and 4-5 Natural Selection
MS-LS4-6 Adaptations
Save 20% by purchasing the life science set as a BUNDLE HERE.
Save even more by purchasing the ENTIRE NGSS (Life, Earth, Physical) Set Together!
