In My Classroom #12: Endosymbiotic Story Books

I can’t get away with not following the rules *cough cough Ising cough* so I’m going to keep it fairly brief (and simple)!

Endosymbiotic Cover Page

My biology class was working on an extremely challenging photosynthesis and cellular respiration test, and when they finish I always have them start on a set of notes for the following unit (cells). My timing was off, and students started getting done faster than I had anticipated. Now, I can’t have students just sit around, right? So, off the top of my head, I told the kids that were done to write a story about the endosymbiotic theory. Well, they became extremely excited, asked if they could include pictures and if we could have ‘story time’ to show them off. Low and behold, this took off and became a full-fledged project, with a rubric to go along with!

“…covalent bond slingshot…”

The students were required to create a storybook to explain the endosymbiotic theory to a 1st – 4th grade audience while including key  vocabulary words (mitochondria, chloroplast, bacteria, endosymbiosis). It was kept simple, allowed for creativity, and produced some very entertaining results! We did, in fact, have story time. This not only held them accountable and encouraged them to be punctual in regards to the deadline, but also exposed them to the meaning of the endosymbiotic theory multiple times in a variety of analogies. We had stories featuring outlaws, Spiderman, romance, and even cannibalism. What more could a biology teacher want?

For my next trick? … Brittany Roper TAG, you’re it!