In Case You Didn't Get it....

Second Day of the New Unit

Tuesday November 30th, 2010
Today was the 2nd day of our new unit. When we first got into class, Mrs. Stein had us turn in our color coding homework into the bin, and we also got a new stamp for our Meiosis 11.4 homework. We also picked up our graded Protein Synthesis Activity.

After that, Mrs. Stein started to discuss a little more about Meiosis and how it differs from Mitosis. We took some notes, but Mrs. Stein reassured us that it is beyond necessary to understand what she's talking about before we write it down. If not, we can always ask for help. She pulled up a slideshow with the notes below, first giving us the phases in each Meiosis I and Meiosis II. Later, were slides on Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment, Crossing Over, and Meiosis in Men vs. Women.

Some things she pointed out were that:
-Dna replication does not occur between Meiosis I and Meiosis II.
-Meiosis II looks A LOT like Mitosis!
-Crossing over occurs only in Prophase I of Meiosis I.
-Meiosis has a greater variety of gene combinations.

Notes:
Independent Assortment:

• Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment
• Alleles (form of a gene) separate independently of each other
• Leads to formation of MANY different genes

Here is the link for the slides that you may of missed:

http://www.slideshare.net/debdstein/meiosis-phasesiosis-phases


The Homework is:
**Read 11.1 in textbook (Mrs. Stein is trusting us to read on our own without notes!)
**UP Pages 29-31
All for tomorrow^

With the last 10 minutes of class, Mrs. Stein showed us some slides and explained a few genetic terms you can find on UP 21. This will help on the homework (pages 29-31)
Also, she discussed Punnett Squares and how to create them, along with ratios, percents, and fractions for phenotypes and genotypes. She went over the pages for homework, and all the important steps on creating a punnett square and finding the Genotype and Phenotype.
Examples:
Genotypes- ex. 1 Aa : 1 aa, 50% Aa, 50% aa
Phenotypes- ex. 3 green : 1 yellow, 75% green, 25% yellow


aaannddddd...the next scribe is ZoE!

The Start Of Something New

November 29, 2010

Today we started the new unit of "Meiosis, Genetics, and Genetic Technology."

We started off class by getting back our graded tribune articles and online activity that we started in the computer lab November 23rd.

Next we started notes on chromosome numbers, meiosis, and interphase( to your left)

We ended class with some extra time to do the homework which was:

-read 11.4 and do the double bubble map "mitosis vs. meiosis" OR a flow "steps of meiosis"

-color and annotate UP 13-14

I found this video that I thought might help if you don't understand meiosis and the chromosome numbering.

And I thought this was funny:

The next scribe is...Gianna

Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break with lots of rest and family time!  I have been spending my break getting caught up of grading, making pears for Max, and hanging out with family. I finally finished all of the classes Cancer Papers... phew! Overall, you guys did a nice job on the DNA/RNA test.  We will get grade reports on Monday with those scores.  I hope everyone is ready to get started on MEIOSIS... NOT MITOSIS!!!!  If anyone wants to get a head start on homework... Monday night's homework is... (drumroll please!)

READ 11.4 and do EITHER a double bubble map comparing Mitosis and Meiosis... OR a Flow Map titled "Steps of Meiosis"

We will be working on a colorcode in class on Monday... whatever you don't finish of that is homework too! Gobble Gobble!

Our next scribe is... Calie

More Restoration Dates for Extra Credit!!!

More Dates for extra credit! Same rules as before... take pictures there, post it to the blog... write about your experience on the blog... You may do this ONCE a semester for extra credit. But you may go as many times as you would like... however, you can only get extra credit once a semester.


Saturday, December 4th: Restoration Work Day at Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie
Help the Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie's restoration team remove invasive plants to make way for native prairie grasses and forbs. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Tyner Interpretive Center, 2400 Compass Rd.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/Air-Station-Prairie-Tyner-Center/restoration-work-days.htm


Saturday, December 11th: Restoration Work Day at The Grove
Help The Grove restoration team remove non-native, invasive plants to make way for native wildflowers, grasses and trees. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Grove Interpretive Center, 1421 Milwaukee Ave.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/The-Grove/get-involved.htm

Sunday, December 12th: Restoration Day at Harms Woods
Sponsored by the North Branch Restoration Project. Activities include brush cutting, weed removal and seed collection. Please meet at the Forest Preserve Glenview Woods parking lot on the west side of Harms Rd. just south of Glenview Road; 9:00-12:00 or 1:00-4:00.
https://webmail.glenbrook225.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=f6c5a1bd8e3549a880bef69ca287cf62&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.northbranchrestoration.org%2fcalendar.html

Saturday, January 8th, 2011: Restoration Work Day at Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie
Help the Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie's restoration team remove invasive plants to make way for native prairie grasses and forbs. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Tyner Interpretive Center, 2400 Compass Rd.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/Air-Station-Prairie-Tyner-Center/restoration-work-days.htm

Saturday, January 22nd: Restoration Work Day at The Grove
Help The Grove restoration team remove non-native, invasive plants to make way for native wildflowers, grasses and trees. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Grove Interpretive Center, 1421 Milwaukee Ave.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/The-Grove/get-involved.htm


Saturday, January 22nd: Restoration Day at Harms Flatwoods
Sponsored by the North Branch Restoration Project. Seasonal activities include brush cutting, weed removal and seed collection. Please meet at Forest Preserve parking lot on the west side of Harms Road, directly west of Old Orchard Road where it ends on Harms Road; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.northbranchrestoration.org/calendar.html#

Sunday, January 30th: Restoration Day at Harms Flatwoods
Sponsored by the North Branch Restoration Project. Seasonal activities include brush cutting, weed removal and seed collection. Please meet at Forest Preserve parking lot on the west side of Harms Road, directly west of Old Orchard Road where it ends on Harms Road; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.northbranchrestoration.org/calendar.html#

Saturday, February 5th: Restoration Work Day at Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie
Help the Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie's restoration team remove invasive plants to make way for native prairie grasses and forbs. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Tyner Interpretive Center, 2400 Compass Rd.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/Air-Station-Prairie-Tyner-Center/restoration-work-days.htm


Saturday, February 19th: Restoration Work Day at The Grove
Help The Grove restoration team remove non-native, invasive plants to make way for native wildflowers, grasses and trees. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Grove Interpretive Center, 1421 Milwaukee Ave.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/The-Grove/get-involved.htm

Sunday, February 20th: Restoration Day at Harms Woods
Sponsored by the North Branch Restoration Project. Activities include brush cutting, weed removal and seed collection. Please meet at the Forest Preserve Glenview Woods parking lot on the west side of Harms Rd. just south of Glenview Road; 9:00-12:00 or 1:00-4:00.
https://webmail.glenbrook225.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=f6c5a1bd8e3549a880bef69ca287cf62&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.northbranchrestoration.org%2fcalendar.html
Sunday, March 6th: Restoration Day at Harms Flatwoods
Sponsored by the North Branch Restoration Project. Seasonal activities include brush cutting, weed removal and seed collection. Please meet at Forest Preserve parking lot on the west side of Harms Road, directly west of Old Orchard Road where it ends on Harms Road; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.northbranchrestoration.org/calendar.html#

Saturday, March 12th: Restoration Work Day at The Grove
Help The Grove restoration team remove non-native, invasive plants to make way for native wildflowers, grasses and trees. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Grove Interpretive Center, 1421 Milwaukee Ave.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/The-Grove/get-involved.htm

Saturday, March 19th: Restoration Work Day at Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie
Help the Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie's restoration team remove invasive plants to make way for native prairie grasses and forbs. Bring work gloves if you have them. Please meet at the Tyner Interpretive Center, 2400 Compass Rd.; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/Air-Station-Prairie-Tyner-Center/restoration-work-days.htm

Saturday, March 26th: Restoration Day at Harms FlatwoodsSponsored by the North Branch Restoration Project. Seasonal activities include brush cutting, weed removal and seed collection. Please meet at Forest Preserve parking lot on the west side of Harms Road, directly west of Old Orchard Road where it ends on Harms Road; 9:00-12:00.
http://www.northbranchrestoration.org/calendar.html#

BUCKTHORN EXPERIENCE

Yesterday, Anastasia and I were a part of the North Branch Restoration Project, and cut buckthorn at Harms Flatwoods. When we got there, we signed in and went went to the west side of the forest preserve to cut buckthorn. With us were normal volunteers and also students from New Trier. The person in charge of the group told us that buckthorn was being a problem in that it surrounds native trees like the oak tree and doesn't allow them to reproduce. He told us that whatever was green, was buckthorn. Buckthorn was the only plant still standing with its leaves, so it wasn't hard to miss. When me and Anastasia got to the site where we were going to cut buckthorn, we saw SO much of it! It was everywhere. It was taking over everything else. When we went inside the forest preserve, we took a clipper and we went and cut buckthorn, while the experienced people were putting up controled fires so we can burn the buckthorn. For some odd reason, this computer isn't leting me upload the pictures onto the post, so see Anastasia's. SORRY.

Anyways, Anastasia and I thoguth we'd be cold so we dressed up so warmly, and when we got there, with the four fires and the hard work, we were dying of heat. It was pretty interesting in that me and Anastasia helped the forest preserve from this invader, buckthorn. It was a lot of fun, and I would do it again any time!

Website to help with protein synthesis

I found a link on this website with the University of Utah that helps you learn genetics. Under the column transcription and translation, there is an interactive little game to help remind you of the base pairs and how tRNA and mRNA create a protein. It also shows the Genetic Code chart. Underneath, there is a animated example of protein synthesis. Hope this helps!

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/dna/

Buckthorn Adventure!

Today Vicky and I went to Harms Flatwoods. When we got there we signed in, and they explained to all of us what buckthorn is. Buckthorn is an invasive plant that causes a big problem. It out-competes native plants for nutrients, light and moisture threatens the future of forests and serves as a host to other pests.
We then walked to the forest preserve and there they gave us saws, and clippers.

Materials we used:



Clipper



Saw



Me cutting buckthorn



Buckthorn





Buckthorn was EVERYWHERE! We knew what plants were buckthorn because they had marked them with orange paint.

After cutting the buckthorn we took it and added it to the fire they made. The purpose of the fire was to burn the bucktorn down. They had set up 4 fires and this is how they looked:



Fire

We had a lot of fun!  

DNA, RNA, Protein Synthesis Practice

Check out this review link... it should help you to review for the test on Tuesday! Be sure to log in using your name.

http://www.quia.com/quiz/891796.html

DNA Workshop!

Check out the DNA Workshop!  Complete the activity and email me the following:
1.  What color is the backbone of the RNA molecule?
2.  What three amino acids are formed at the end of the protein synthesis activity?

Have Fun!

The next sribe is........................................ Matt

DNA vs. RNA

Today, we started off class as usual. Mrs. Stein stamped our homework, the 13.1 double bouble bap. next, we went over the homework. we took some notes. Sorry that the pic is sideways, turn our head. Next, we went up to the computer lab. The objective was to better understand RNA replication by looking on the online textbook. The homework is as follows:

13.2 flow map, protein synthesis

Tribune article, due 11/23

Test 11/23

You Can Clone Something!

Today's class got interesting toward the end, but let's start with the beginning. We turned in Unit Packet pages 7-14. There were there little picture handouts to pick up as you came in. Homework from the weekend was read 12.3. So to make sure we read it, we took a mini quiz reviewing info covered. Next, we labeled the pictures:

A Simple Pic of DNA Replication
<---- 1. Parent DNA 2. H bond breaks, "unzipping" the DNA 3. New DNA strands form with help from DNA polymerase 4. Two new DNA molecules



A More Detailed Pic of DNA Replication
<---- 1. New Strand 2. Replication Fork 3. DNA polymerase 4. Original Strand 5. Nitrogen Bases












A DNA Molecule Up Close ^^^^^

1. Chromosome 2. Nucleosome 3. Coils
4. Supercoils 5. Histones 6. DNA

Then, we took some notes:

DNA replicates during S-phase of interphase
>2 copies needed for mitosis

Results in 2 identical DNA molecules

Semi-conservative replication
>each new molecule contains one old strand and one new strand

The remainder of class was where it got interesting because we talked about...CLONING! We talked about how people are trying to clone a woolly mammoth, animals, and humans and why? We were going to watch a movie about the Human Genome but we didn't have time so we will watch it tomorrow. Mrs. Stein said she only had about 5 cancer papers left to grade and we might get them back tomorrow! FIN

Homework:
>Tribune Article due 11/23
>Read 13.1 with Double Bubble Map "DNA vs. RNA" due tomorrow
>Read 13.1 with Flow Map "Protein Synthesis" due Wednesday

The next scribe will be Andrew

DNA activity - friday 11/12/10

Agenda:

- star & wish/attendence

-DNA demo

-DNA models (UP 11-14)

^ will be collected on monday

HW:

-read 12.3

-UP 9-10

-tribune article (11/23)

On friday in class we did a DNA activity. First Mrs. Stein explained our task and then assigned us new lab groups. She told us that we were going to build a model of DNA and show how replications occurs. First we answered some questions and then started our first activity. A diffferent colored tube represented a different kind of nucleotide. Yellow - Guanine, Orange-Adenine, Green -Thymine, and Blue-Cytosine. A white tube stood for phosphate, a white rod stood for hydrogen bond, and a lack pentagon stood for deoxyribose. We assembeled these together to make a DNA model. Mrs. Stein then came around, and if it was correct she initialed our packet. We then moved on to the second activity which was to show how DNA replicates. The DNA untwists and "unzips" into two halfs between the base pairs. Then new nuceotides are added and there are two identical DNA strands. We then asnwered some more questions and before we knew it, the bell rang and class was over.

The next scribe will be Chloe

"It's In Your DNA!" NEW UNIT!

Today in class we started off by handing in our 12.2 notes. Then we got a current grade report which had our test score on it. After, we took a look at them, Mrs. Stein explained out Tribune Article assignment. It is located in the UP packet pages 3-4. The purpose of the assignment is to pretend we invented the structure of DNA and write a newspaper article on hoe it all happened. After she was done explaining, we started our new unit on DNA. We got into a group of 3-4 people and discussed by writing a paragraph with 7 words. They were nucleotide, nitrogen base, DNA, double-helix, phosphate, structure, and genes. My groups went something like this:

-DNA is genetic material that transfers genes and is in a cell. The structure of DNA strands is a double-helix discovered by Watson and Crick. DNA consists of nucleotides which are adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. They are held together by phosphate groups and nitrogen bars.

We then picked up two pictures that looked like this:
                                    

-Then using those pictures, we went into talking about the basic structure of DNA.

  



Notes we took in class:
     -DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid.
     -Nucleotides are subunits of DNA.
           *All nucleotides have a:
               -Nitrogen Base
               -Phosphate group
               -Sugar (deoxyribose)

     -Types of Bases:                                      
           *Purines
               -Guanine      
           *Pyrimidines                        
               -Thymine
               -Cytosine

     -Order of Nitrogen Bases: Give instructions for making protein.

     -Base Pairing:
           *A pairs with T
           *G pairs with D
           *Bond using hydrogen bonds
           *Back-bone is made of deoxyribose phosphate.

We finished off class by watching a Bill Nye Video, as a recap of all the things we had just talked about!

Homework:
 -Tribune Article- 11/23
 -UP 7-8- Due: Friday
 -HW Pass- Today was the last day!
 -Read UP 11-14

 The next scribe will be Natalie!

Test Today!!!

Today we took the Unit 4 Test on Diseases and Viruses. The test lasted the whole class period, so we didn't have time to do anything else. At the end, Mrs. Stein passed back a lab we had done.

Homework:
Read 12.2 with a reading strategy of your choice!
(Skim the chapter and think about which strategy would be BEST)
---Make sure that on the top of your sheet, you write why you chose this strategy (This should be only one to two sentences).

I will probably be the scribe for tomorrow too because we did not do much today!

STUDY STUDY STUDY!!

Today we started class by turning in our homework, which was the postcard to Grandma Gertrude and UP 32 and UP 37-42, and to read 35.4 by tomorrow. After we finished the tree map on the Immune System, the acquired immunity branch.

In acquired imunity, you should know that it can either be active or passive. Active immunity means that the body makes the antibodies. An example of active immunity is vaccines or exposure to the disease, and active immunity lasts for a long time. Passive immunity means that the antibodies are obtained passively. An example would be breast milk or injections of antibodies. This is more temporary than active immunity.

After, we got the chance to ask Mrs. Stein questions because, we have a test tomorrow!! STUDY HARD EVERYONE!! It's going to be difficult considering there's a lot of difficult material covered in the test. Remember to go over the objectives page in the first page of your yellow UP packet.

The test covers pretty much all of chapter 35 and chapter 20.

Remember to review...

VIRUSES
-capsid, bacteriophage, prophage, retrovirus
BACTERIA
-prokaryote, bacillus, coccus, spirillum, binary fission, endospore, conjugation, and nitrogen fixation.

GERM THEORY, KOCH'S POSTULATES, VECTORS

IMMUNE SYSTEM
-non specific defenses
*first line defense: skin, tears, mucus, saliva, cilia
*second line defenses: inflammation, fever, histamine signals, and increase in blood flow and fluids

-specific defenses:
Humoral immunity: B CELLS (antibodies)
Cell Mediated Immunity: T Cells (attacks your body cells)

REVIEW ALL LABS

LOOK AT DIAGRAMS AND PICTURES MRS. STEIN GAVE US

Please, please, please make sure you understand the objectives page, if not, go to the review session tomorrow morning!! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!! :)

The next scribe is...Anastasia :)

Reminder: Save Your Daylight

This Friday we started off by stamping UP 28-31. Then did the disease of the day, Lyme disease. Lyme Disease is caused by a bacteria transmitted through a vector, the tick, causing a bulls-eye mark.

Afterward, we went over UP 22-25. Then we took notes on "Specific Immunity". Next, we looked over 28-31 and answered a few questions on it as well. finally we finished watching the mythbusters experiment.


HOMEWORK

• Postcard-11/8
• UP 32
• UP 37-42
• Read 35.4-Tuesday

A Good Example of a TreeMap

This treemap was a challenging task!  Below is a sample from one of your classmates... notice the structure, how the categories are divided... this map came pretty close to "nailing" it! 

The Spread of Germs

Today in class we first checked in the homework, looked over the scribe for the day, went over some of the tree map that was the night before homework, and finally watched the first five minutes of a Mythbusters clip about the spread of germs.

We also made another contribution to the Disease of the Day chart that we have been working on for the past week. Today's disease was Pneumonia which comes in the form of a virus, bacteria, of a fungi which are called pathogens. Pneumonia is transmitted by casual contact such as saliva or mucus. The disease caused an inflammation of the lungs and can be treated with antibiotics.

in the first half of the Mythbusters video, we watched Adam spread the liquid from the rig attached to the edge of his nose one drip at a time. after the first experiment was finished they turned off all of the lights and put all of the items covered by the liquid under the black light. it was surprising to see how far the mucus from one person's nose can spread to places not even thought possible is such a short period of time. The next experiment consisted of a party where Adam was hooked up to the same rig camouflaged so it looked like a irritated patch of skin. there were three people who knew about the liquid drippings and were supposed to avoid it as much as possible. There were also three other people who didn't know about the liquid drippings and were just invited to the party. Adam's party ended at the same time class ended so we have yet to see the ending.

HOMEWORK

-UP pgs.28-31 (use your book)
-Bio Day Tomorrow
-Postcard due 11/8/10
-Test on 11/9/10


THE NEXT SCRIBE WILL BE............................

SAM

Intertesting Tuesday*

In the beginning of class, Mrs. Stein went over the agenda, which included the homework pass. Mrs. Stein described how important homework passes are and when we can get them. The deadline is next Wednesday, November 10, 2010. They are really reliable to stay away from a zero on your grade print-out. Nevertheless, next we went over Dana's scribe from the previous day about the lab we did. We then transferred to another topic on how the results were surprising. Some had swapped dirty objects and some other objects that were not as quite obvious to have many bacteria.

The Disease of the Day is: #6 Tuberculosis. (In our 'Current Infectious Diseases' chart).
- agent of disease: bacteria
- endemic
-spread through air (airborne)
-infects lungs, brain, kidney, and spine
-treated with antibiotics

In class we took notes on Antibiotic Resistance.
This just basically included:
-natural selection
-mutation~spontaneous
-conjugation
-problem in hospitals

In relation to the D.O.D., Mrs. Stein asked the class who was born in a different country. Nobody raised there hands . . . except me. I was born in Poland, and therefore, I have the vaccine mark on the my left shoulder ( a little lower). Mrs. Stein also said that I am immune to Tuberculosis, but if they tested me here in the United States, I would come out positive. Also, Mrs. Stein added that this doesn't mean that I have it, it just means that the vaccine/antibiotic is resistant/not resistant towards the disease. (I didn't really know how to explain this very well...)

For the rest of the class, we got to work on UP 22-25 (packet). We could, with a partner or individually. It was based on Eva's story on when she fell from her bike. If we didn't finish, unfortunately, it became homework.

Today, was full of information.


The Homework:

-UP 22-25 - tomorrow
-"Immune System" Tree Map

• read 35.2 / 1st page of 35.3-Postcard 11/8

-Postcard 11/8
-Test 11/9

• HW Pass by next Wednesday!

P.S. If you have trouble with the tree map, here is the link to the format on Moodle:

http://gbs-moodle.glenbrook225.org/moodle/file.php/1521/Reading_Strategies/Tree_Map.pdf

Immunity Monday

Hey everyone sorry for posting way to late, but here is your recap of our Monday class.

We finished our two labs about bacteria that we had started on Friday with Mr. Peck. For the first lab we had swabbed different areas around the class room and some groups even went around the school. Each group swabbed an area and tested for bacteria by putting three different area swabs in a petrie dish and leaving on section blank as a control, but we had to wait over the weekend to find out the results.
For my group, we tested the floor of the classroom, the top of teh germ-x container, and a sink handle. WE found there to be the most bacteria on the sink handle which is quite surprising because the floor is very dirt and was our hypothesis for having the most bacteria.

The other lab we finished on Monday was about antibiotics. We put peppercorn broth on a petrie dish and put on that same petrie dish three different antibiotic discs and then another blank disc as a control. After waiting we got to see the results today.
For my group, we found the neomycin was strongest against the bacteria, having a bigger diameter of non-bacteria around it then the other antibiotics.
Today we also had our Disease of the day.

Today our disease of the day was Malaria.

Malaria
-The agent of disease is protist
-transmitted by mosquito bites
-attacks the human liver
-prevented by bug repellents and reduction of standing water

Homework...
- finish UP 13-18
-read section 35.2 and 1st page of 35.3 about immune systems and use the note taking skill tree maps
-- Due Wednesday