KWL - Cells

Today in science class we started off by getting some of our old graded work back. After, we went over what the homework was to make sure we knew what to do. Then we took a look at the charts that each class made. Every class wrote what they know about cells and we went over it to see what was true or false. Many classes did a great job. During the last couple of minutes, we played a quick cell quiz game. To see details on what students know - check out the smartnotes posted on first class titled "KWL Cells Intro"

Homework : Read Cell Packet (Page 20), and complete index cards.

Cells Part II

Today in Science, we all continued to use the microscopes to see if we can locate the nucleus in living cells. We observed cheek cells, onion cells, and elodea plant cells. As we looked and focused on the item underneath the microscope, we noticed that the animal cells, or cheek cells, were more grouped together and clumpy, as I said in science, We also saw that on the elodea plant, the cells were packed together, much like a brick wall. all in all, this science class was interesting and memorable, not at all like what you see on TV shows!
Tonights Homework: Read Cell Packet (page 19), and answer questions 5-7.

Cells Intro, Using a Microscope

Hey everyone! Today in 7th Grade Science, we started to look at Cells of different things using a microscope. Some people looked at Cells of onions, some of their own cheeks, and drew them. Some things we learned:
1. Different Magnifications (multiply by 10- 4x is really 40x)
2. Different parts of a microscope
3. How to handle a microscope
4. Different types of cells: eukaryotic cells (with a nucleus) and prokaryotic cells (without a nucleus
Tonight's Homework: Read Cell Packet Pages 9 and 18, and answer questions 1-4 in the worksheet which is posted on first class.
Looking Ahead: Tomorrow: More Cells, looking under a microscope

Graphing the Oh Deer Data

On friday we talked about the Oh Deer game. We also downloaded and made a graph and a data table on our class data based on the Oh Deer game.

Oh Deer!

Yesterday (Wednesday the 14th of November), we played a game called "Oh Deer!". It taught us about CARRYING CAPACITY which is the maximum number of individuals that can live in a habitat. In the game, we started out with two deer. The rest of the class were necessary resources (either food, water, or shelter). The deer would go and get the resource needed, then that resource would be come a deer. Then it all happened again, but sometimes there was a drought, so no water. Then, some of the deer died (and became resources). This showed CARRYING CAPACITY. Finally, we added a another factor that prevented or limited the deer population from rising, which was a newly built highway with cars passing through. If you were touched by the car, you died, and became a resource. The car was a non natural limiting factor, but we could have added a predator as well! All throughout the game, Mrs. Cartwright took data of how many deer there were versus how many resources.

Today, we have no school because of conference day. Also, starting this Monday, November 19th, we will have blog entries EVERY DAY and a WEEKLY SUMMARY! So, stay tuned!

Learning Styles and Study Strategies

Today (November 7,2007) 7th Grade Science had a very fun and helpful day. Our assginment was to create a some knid of studying tool to help us study for our upcoming test on Monday on Ecology. Students found out their learning styles. Some were Visual, Linguistic, Kinesthetic, and some were Musical. After we figured out our learning styles we applied them to our studying. We made podcasts and Smart Notes and study the terms Symbiosis, Mutualism, Parasitism, Commensalism, Competition, and Predator/Prey. After all, I think this day was very helpful and productitive and I hope we have another one just like it.

Invasive Species and USDA Funding

Hello everyone, and thanks for checking out the Science 7 Blog! This week, we have been trying to determine which invasive species the USDA and National Invasive Species Committee should fund.

Tuesday: We decided as a table, which invasive species project should be presented to the class.

Wednesday: We started presenting to the class our projects by table.

Thursday: Mrs. Cartwright was out.

Friday: We will finish presenting our projects to the class, and vote which species should get funded.

That’s all for now… stay tuned for more information about Mrs. Cartwright’s 7th Grade Science to come!