Making Wet Mount Slides

On Friday, students made wet mount slides using yeast cultures. Below is what yeast cells look like on medium power (100x) on our microscopes.


At the end of the mini lab, we review why yeast is a living thing. Yeast is alive because:
1. it is made up of cells
2. it grows and divides
3. it responds to its environment
4. it uses energy
5. it reproduces (asexually, by budding)
and lastly
6. it evolves.

In our experiment, we were able to see #1-5 on the list, but watching evolution is more challenging. As Jose correctly said in class, evolution takes a long time!

Our next unit, starting on Monday, will be on DNA, the code of life. It is changes to DNA that are the basis for all evolution!

Since you had a lab report due on Friday, you do not have homework due Monday. Have a great weekend!

It's Alive?!?!

Dr. Frankenstein exclaimed, "It's aaaaalllliiiiiivvvve!" He sure was excited about his creation, but what does it mean to be alive?


Today we learned about the six characteristics of living things:
1. All living things are made up of cells
2. Living things obtain and use energy
3. Living things grow and develop
4. Living things reproduce
5. Living things respond to their environment
6. Living things evolve.

In order to be a living thing, the organism must meet all six criteria. These salt crystals grow, but they aren't alive.

Make a table, like the one below and fill it in using the list of things below. If you don't know what one of the items is, LOOK IT UP! Not knowing an item is not an excuse for neglecting to complete the assignment.

Cell Type Presentations

Yesterday in class students did a great job teaching their peers about each of the five major types of cells. Below you can see one of the presentations that three students gave.

Muscle cell_Student Presentation

View more presentations from ilanasaxe.

When we return from the long weekend, we will be comparing single celled organisms and multicellular organism.

We'll try to answer the question: What does it mean to be alive?

Notebook Test & Tour of the Cell

Today students had a notebook test for which anything we have done since the beginning of the semester was fair game.

Students also received a letter that described their next assignment (click the picture below to view a larger copy of the letter).

You should start working on this assignment tonight for homework and you will have all of class tomorrow to work on the assignment as well. You may do this by hand or on a computer.

Last day of Microscopes

Today we had our last day working with the microscopes. We looked at complete organisms, including ticks, daphnia and fruit flies. In the second half of the class, we compared plant and animal cells.

Tonight for homework, you need to click on your name below. That will take you to a specific part of the cell. You should make a want ad for that cell part. Your want ad should include a description of the function of that cell part and a picture.

Do NOT include the name of the cell part, you will present your ad to the class on Friday and we will guess to what cell part it is.

Below is an example,
you can make your want ad on the computer or by hand, it doesn't matter :)
Click on your name to find out your cell part.

Malcolm
Francesca - the smooth one
Paul - the rough one
Adam
Jose
Antonella
Gabriella
Isabella
Ivan
Mathilde
Jonatan
Tomi

More Microscopes!

Today we looked at more things under the microscopes, some of favorites were Spirogyra (see above) Dogfish skin and the xylem of plants.

Homework: Use the information below to answer the questions about cells on the second page from class today. Click on the pictures to make them larger so you can read them more easily.


For the box at the bottom of the worksheet you will need to draw a cell.

If your name is:
Carlo
Malcolm
Francesca
Paul
Adam
Jose
Antonella

Click here and draw this type of cell

If your name is
Gabriella
Gianromano
Isabella
Ivan
Mathide
Jonatan
Tomi
Edo

Click here and draw this type of cell.

Today we continued to look at slides using light microscopes. Below is a cross section of the gallbladder. In addition to slides of the digestive system, we looked at slides of the circulatory system.


Homework: Read and take notes on the information on this webpage. You will have a reading quiz. A good ol' fashioned paper quiz.

Eewww! That smells gross!

Today we had a lot of success with our soil bacteria cultures. We also learned about the basic parts of a bacterium as well as how quickly one bacteria can turn into 5,000 billion billion bacteria. You can watch the video clip we watched in class below the picture.



We also continued to practice how to identify controls and variables in an experiment. You have no written homework for tonight, other than to study for your test on Friday. Tomorrow we will be reviewing for your test.