This comprehensive 27 day cells unit takes the guesswork out of teaching cell biology. Your students will build a strong foundation as they explore cell theory, compare prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and learn the functions of organelles. From there, they will move into the key processes of cell transport such as diffusion, osmosis, and active transport before wrapping up with a clear understanding of mitosis and the cell cycle.
By the end, your students will understand how cells function and reproduce, and you’ll have a blast teaching it!
This comprehensive unit comes with everything you need to teach cell biology with confidence. This cells unit is part of my full-year biology curriculum bundle.
Cells Unit Topics:
- Cell Theory
- Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells
- Cell Transport
- The Cell Cycle
- Mitosis
What’s Included in the Cells Unit:
- Daily Lesson Plans: Each day has an editable lesson plan with clear objectives, warm-ups, teaching points, and activities. No more guesswork – know exactly what to do each class period.
- Engaging Daily Warm-Ups: Each lesson begins with a warm-up prompt designed to spark curiosity and get students thinking. You’ll find built-in discussion prompts, sample answers, and exit ticket ideas right in the speaker notes of each slide—making your warm-up routine seamless and effective.
- PowerPoints Google Slides Presentations with Notes: Student-friendly presentations for each major topic (cell theory and cells, cell transport, and mitosis) to facilitate direct instruction. These slides are ready to use as is, or easily customized to fit your style or flipped classroom needs.
- Hands-On Labs: Fun, memorable labs like the Gummy Bear Osmosis Lab (to investigate osmosis and cell transport) and an Edible Cell Model activity (students create cell models from cookies and candy to learn organelles!).
- Interactive Activities: A variety of stations, comics, coloring pages, and games are built in to reinforce learning. For example, students rotate through cell stations to explore organelles, create a comic strip to illustrate membrane transport, and complete color-by-number coloring pages featuring science careers related to cells. These activities cater to different learning styles and keep students engaged.
- Built-in Remediation & Sub Plans: I included scaffolded remediation worksheets and reading comprehension activities for students who need extra help, as well as ready-to-go sub plans for each topic. If you have an unexpected absence or need differentiated work, you can relax knowing there are meaningful, standards-aligned materials for students to work on independently.
- Assessments, Study Guide, & Question Bank: You’ll get editable quizzes for each unit section (cell theory, cell transport, mitosis) and a comprehensive unit exam (with two versions to prevent sharing). To make review easy, there’s a fun review game and a student-friendly study guide. Plus, you’ll have access to a question bank of over 275 editable questions (multiple-choice, short answer, etc.) organized by topic – perfect for creating your own quizzes, tests, or homework assignments.
- Answer Keys & Teacher Guides: Activities come with answer keys or teacher guides to save you time. The unit also includes a curriculum pacing guide to show how everything fits into the 27 days.
- Standards Alignment (NGSS): This unit is fully aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for high school life science. Each lesson and activity is designed to meet key standards, and an overview is provided so you can easily reference which standards are covered each day. Teach with confidence knowing that all objectives match your required standards.
- Career Connections: Included in the unit are fun Careers In Science activities that highlight how cell biology concepts apply in real-world jobs. From immunologists to genetic researchers, students will see how understanding cells is important in various STEM careers.
See all this bundle has to offer by downloading the free sample of the unit plan here.
Ready-to-Use Teacher and Student Friendly Activities!
I designed this cells unit for busy teachers, by a busy teacher. All materials are ready to use, so you can literally print or digitally assign and teach. Each day’s lesson plan lays out the objective, a warm-up question, the lesson activity, and a closing or exit ticket – taking the planning load off your shoulders.
Teachers who have used this resource appreciate how organized and easy to follow it is. The pacing guide helps you see the big picture, and all files are neatly labeled and sorted so you can find what you need quickly. I want you to feel confident and prepared each day, without spending hours the night before on Google searching for ideas.
Get a closer preview of all this unit has to offer here.
Why this cells unit bundle is a win for your sanity (and your wallet):
If you pieced these resources together one by one, you’d spend over $130. Grab the whole unit bundle—plus bonus daily lesson plans, a pacing guide, and more—for less than $2 a day and save yourself hours of prep.
Aligned to Standards with Real-World Connections
Nothing in this cells unit is “fluff” – it’s all designed to meet important learning goals and standards. I’ve carefully aligned lessons to HS NGSS life science standards, and I provide an overview so you can easily show administrators or parents how each activity meets specific standards.
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