Fun opener strategy

I learned about a versatile new strategy today at a workshop. The example given was about life cycles of aquatic organisms but I think this could be adapted for almost any topic. It goes like this: students are given a card with a picture (or text) on it as they enter the room. The cards have pictures of an organism at different phases in its life cycle (i.e. a dragonfly egg, nymph, and adult). Students are asked to find other students whose pictures go with theirs. This may be done as an introduction to a new topic (students would not be able to match some organisms) and repeated throughout the unit. By the end of the unit, students would easily group the pictures appropriately. I like this because I can imagine using it for almost any unit and any grade level. Students could pair chemical reactants and products, cell organelles and functions, etc.