Instruct each student to create a cell analogies collage. Students can cut out images from magazines or newspapers or draw images on their own, comparing everyday items to cells. Collages present opportunities for students to utilize critical thinking skills, creativity and originality to create and present the projects. Examples of items similar to cell walls with a central vacuole can be eggs, eyes, oysters and chocolate-covered peanuts.
Plant cells physically look different from animal cells. Discuss the differences between plant and animal cells, comparing and contrasting the their basic functions. Use the Smart Notebook to walk students through projects identifying plant and animal cells. "Labeling Plant and Animal Cells," a project found at Smart Exchange online, allows students to distinguish similarities between the two cells and identify each one. Students can label parts of each cell type by dragging and dropping labels from a word bank into the correct position on the cell. This project features a vocabulary word bank and an activity requiring students to draw a line from the correct word and the definition.
Discuss red blood cells and how they carry enzymes, vitamins and hormones. White blood cells (leukocytes) are less numerous than red blood cells and are responsible for the body's defense. Use the interactive white Smart Board notebook to present a visual project about blood cells. The "Blood Cells" Smart Notebook Lesson, found at Smart Exchange online is a program designed for students K-12. The project compares red and white blood cells and presents platelets, which appear purple and are not true cells. After utilizing the free Smart Notebook project lesson, instruct students to draw each blood cell type and describe each function.
Assist students while creating slides of onion root tips to observe through a microscope the various phases of mitosis. Discuss why cells divide and the characteristics of each phase. Instruct students to draw mitosis phases in order. Ingredients needed for the slides include fresh onion root tips, distilled water, 5ml 6M HCl, 1 ml Feulgen reagent in each vial, 5 ml 45-percent acetic acid, one dropper pipette per solution, beakers, slides, cover-slips and pencils with erasers. Materials needed include cups, onions, toothpicks, 5-10 ml Carnoy's solution (1 glacial acetic acid : 3 absolute alcohol) in vial and one microscope per group, as suggested by Naperville Central High School online (MyPages.lit.edu).