Thursday, March 24, 2011


Tuesday, March 22 Scribe Post!



Today we started class by turning in our Flower Lab ( UP 41-44). Next we went over the Plant of The Day... which is called the "String of Pearls" (Senecio rowleyan). We learned that this plant is native to dry regions in south west Africa. It's leaf shape reduces the surface area to prevent water loss. It is also a "succulent" plant, which means that it is a water-retaining plant.[Image] [Image]

Immediately after going over the P.O.D, Mrs. Stein asked us if we had any questions about the Lab quiz that we had today. After reviewing for a couple minutes, it was finally time to take the quiz.


Then, after we took the quiz, we took a few notes about POLLINATION. Here are just a few KEY points that we took notes on:
~Pollination is the transfer of pollen from anther to stigma.~Self Pollination.~Cross Pollination.~Fertilization.~Double fertilization.~Coevolution.~Cross Pollination methods -Can be pollinated by wind and also a vector pollinator!~Seed Dispersal -Wind, Barbs that stick to animals, animals eat/excrete seeds.

The HOMEWORK is as follows: -UP 45-46 colorcode. -Read 704 & 705. -PRESENTATIONS DUE TOMORROW Before 8:00 am! -Weird plants practical test on Thursday. -Plant TEST on Friday!!!

The Next Scribe will be............ Natalie!


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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tuesday, March 22 Scribe Post!



Today we started class by turning in our Flower Lab ( UP 41-44). Next we went over the Plant of The Day... which is called the "String of Pearls" (Senecio rowleyan). We learned that this plant is native to dry regions in south west Africa. It's leaf shape reduces the surface area to prevent water loss. It is also a "succulent" plant, which means that it is a water-retaining plant.z5128996N,Starzec-Rowleya.jpg phoca_thumb_m_Senecio rowleyanus..jpg


Immediately after going over the P.O.D, Mrs. Stein asked us if we had any questions about the Lab quiz that we had today. After reviewing for a couple minutes, it was finally time to take the quiz.


Then, after we took the quiz, we took a few notes about POLLINATION.
Here are just a few KEY points that we took notes on:

~Pollination is the transfer of pollen from anther to stigma.
~Self Pollination.
~Cross Pollination.
~Fertilization.
~Double fertilization.
~Coevolution.
~Cross Pollination methods
-Can be pollinated by wind and also a vector pollinator!
~Seed Dispersal
-Wind, Barbs that stick to animals, animals eat/excrete seeds.


The HOMEWORK is as follows:
-UP 45-46 colorcode.
-Read 704 & 705.
-PRESENTATIONS DUE TOMORROW Before 8:00 am!
-Weird plants practical test on Thursday.
-Plant TEST on Friday!!!


The Next Scribe will be............ Natalie!



Where are those powerpoints????

IF I DO NOT HAVE YOUR POWERPOINT BY 8AM, YOU WILL LOOSE POINTS!!!! SO FAR, I DO NOT HAVE ANY PRESENTATIONS FROM THIS CLASS! GET THEM TO ME!!!!

Monday, March 21, 2011

"That's Plant Sperm!"

Hey guys!
We started off the biology class today by turning in our homework which was to read 24.1and do page 39 in the UP (which counted as a stamp) and the virtual transpiration lab which was pages 33-34B in the UP (we turned this in).
After this, as a class we got to ask Mrs. Stein questions about the lab and some kids were having confusion about homeostasis and the surface area of a plant's leaves. The surface area of a plant's leaves has to do with the stomata and how much transpiration will occur in the leaf.

We then went on to do a lab where we had to "dissect" a daffodil. This lab can be found in your unit packet pages 41 through 44. We had to locate multiple structures of the flower and we also had to cut open the ovary of the flower and locate the ovules, which are the structures in the ovaries that hold the flowers' seeds. The ovary is a female part of the flower.

We spent the class doing the lab with our lab groups and Mrs. Steinwent around the class assisting everyone when they had questions. We viewed pollen grains, or in other words--"plant sperm" under a microscope after dissecting that from the flower, as well.

All in all, the class was an interesting one. Let's keep in mind though that even though spring break is just around the corner, we have a busy week for bio!

Here's the following assignments:
1) Finish flower lab on UP pages 41-44: due tomorrow.
2) Lab quiz (a quiz on all of the labs we've done so far in this plant unit!): tomorrow.
3) Read 24.2 (pages 704-705) only, by Wednesday.
4) UP pages 45-46 dueWednesday.
5) National Parks project to be turned into Mrs. Stein by 8:00 AM on Wednesday morning!
6) Weird plants test (this is just a quiz/test on our eccentric plant of the days where we have to identify the plants, and then have 4-5 multiple choice questions on the information we've learned) on Thursday.
7) Plant test on Friday.

Good luck studying everyone!
The next scribe is Adrian R.

Here are pictures from the flower lab we did in class:
The ovary of the flower split in half. The white "things" in the middle are the ovules--they contain the flower's seeds.

The materials/set up for the lab. From left to right: (top row): water for slides, slides, daffodils, (bottom row): razor blades, cover slips for slide, and hand lends for viewing during the lab.

Here is just a general idea of the lab.


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Thanks Dana!


Hey guys. Friday was a pretty busy day. To start off, everyone handed in up pages 25-32, and took out their other homework so Ms.Stein could stamp it. Next, We did our POD. The plant of the day for Friday was the madagascar plant, which was pretty neat! After that, we discussed Transpiration activity, and each lab group showed what they really knew about it. To continue with transpiration, we did a Demo lab. Luckily, Ms. Stein got a great volunteer, me, and I helped her and desribed to the rest of the class what the specimens looked like. Here are a few pictures showing what we did:










After doing the Demo lab shown above, we did a virtual lab at our lab stations. In this lab we also looked at transpiration, and we used the booklet shown below, to help determine the rate of transpiration.



We pretty much worked on the lab until class ended.

HOMEWORK!

1. UP 33- 34B due tomorow!

2. National Park project 3.23!

3. Read section 24.1 and do UP 39 due tomorow!

4. LAB QUIZ TUESDAY! Know your stuff kiddos!



NEXT SCRIBE IS THE ONE AND ONLY ANGEL TOLEDO (:




You'll all be reading this Monday... so Happy Monday!






Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wednesday- Tuesday Big Lab!


WAKE UP WE'VE GOT MORE LAB TO DO!

So to start of here are just a couple of photos of just a few of the 9 lab stations. You have station 5's radish plant were we learned about how the sunlight effects the plants growth. In this case the plant will actually tilt itself towards the light. Also in station 5 there was the corn. The corn showed the effect of gravity on a plant and its roots. Roots alway grow down because of gravity so when looking an the sideways corn seeds all the roots are trying to go
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Your next picture is of station 3. In station 3 we learned all about nonvascular plants like mosses. So we studied four different types of mosses as well as reading about nonvascular plants in the textbook. The next picture is of radish seeds in station 2. We put these under microscopes and viewed the tiny thin white hairs that came out from the root. We decided that the hairs were used for efficiently getting more water and nutrients by creating more surface area as well as helping the plant stay grounded. So there is a very small short overview of just a couple of the labs. And heres a review of what we (or what you should have) learn!

REVEIW

You should know.....
  • how to identify the Zone of Elongation found in the Meristematic Zone
  • What the difference between Vascular and Nonvascular plants
  • ----------What each has and doesn't have
  • How gravity effects plant growth
  • How sunlight effects plant growth
  • ----------Temperature and position
  • Difference between Dicot and Monocot and how to identify them
Hopes this helps with the studying. The homework was just to finish the lab and 4 questions on the first two pages of 23.5

AND the next scribe is ....... JORDAN! Love you!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Plants are interesting...more or less

Hello! Classes today were shortened by the late arrival and in the time we had we took a quiz on photosynthesis after the 'Plant of the Day' which is the moss ball. We won't be taking much notes in class anymore but doing plenty of labs! We have a lab tomorrow that will take two days and another new lab on Friday. Here's helpful diagram of the light-dependent process of photosynthesis:


6CO2 + 6H20 = C6H12O6 +6O2

P.O.D
The Moss Ball


Homework 23.2 & 23.3 w/ Double Bubble Map - "Stems vs. Roots"
Nation Parks Project due 3/23

The next scribe will be...Dana

Monday, March 14, 2011

Data for Factors Influencing Photosynthesis

Below is the data from the factors influencing photosynthesis from UP 73-76.

Quiz on photosynthesis will be tomorrow!
Our Next Scribe will be Chloe

Thursday, March 10, 2011

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Hey guys today we got a stamp for 67-68 in our UP for those of you who were sick. After that we started talking about Photosynthesis and the different cycles. Then started a lab on leaf pigments. The notes are...


Photosynthesis Overview
  • reactants: co2 h2o light and energy
  • Products: o2 c6h12o6
  • Two reactions

-light reaction

-Calvin cycle

Chloroplast Structures

  • Thylakoids - sacs contain chlorophyll
  • Granum - stacks of Thylakoids
  • Stroma - open space and where Calvin cycle occurs

After the notes with finished a lab we had started called the pigment lab. i cant get the pictures uploaded but it was a cool lab. What we did was take 2 leaves, a spinach leaf and red leaf and used a coin to crush and press pigment onto a Chromatography paper After that we took the paper rolled in, stapled it, and dropped it into a solution for 10 minutes. When taking it out we saw an array of colors separated on the paper. These colors were the pigments found in the plant. In the paper there was 2 greens, 2 yellows, and a red. Whereas in the spinach leaf we saw only 2 greens and 2 yellows. This shows us that even though you may only see red or green, there can still be many many more pigments. That's why even though the red leaf is red there is still chlorophyll to carry out photosynthesis.

homework:

  • finish lab analysis questions
  • Do notes on 8.2 and 8.3 or complete Up pages 81-85
  • Work on national park paper

Fridays Class

Today in class we went down to the lab to work on our National Parks paper. We also went over how do do a correct PowerPoint...

  • No bright colors
  • Font should be readable
  • Not to much info on a page (In communications we leard to only have 5 pionts with 5 words)
  • make sure colors dont blend with words
  • don't make things to busy on the page
  • and.....DONT OVER LOAD ON THE ANIMAL SLIDES, STICK TO PLANTS

the homework is;

  • finish National Parks paper 3/23
  • Read pages 643 and 664-666

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

"Does it eat spiders?"

We turned in the leaf lab.

The Plant of the Day is... the Spider Plant. It can self-propagate, meaning it can take a part of itself and grow a new plant out of that part. It is native to South Africa, however it is a common house plant. It is also a flowering plant.



We mostly discussed ATP, Energy, and Visible Spectrum.



Things about visible spectrum:


  • Light travels in waves

  • Each color has a diferent wavelength

  • There are some colors we cannot perceive (i.e. ultra violet, infared, etc.)

  • All the colors put together will make white

  • Color can be absorbed and/or reflected

Note: Energy is what makes you do stuff, and ATP has Adenine, Ribose, and 3 Phosphate Groups


Homework:



  • Unit Packet 67-68, Due Date: Tommorow

  • Read Section 8.2 and 8.3 with Unit Packet 81-85 OR a reading strategy/notes of your choice, Due Date: Tommorow

  • National Park Research, Due Date: 3/23/11


A Spider Plant Flower.

Next Scribe is...Alex.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Structures of a Leaf

Today in class we started off by observing our plant of the day, which is the venus fly trap (dionaea muscipula). The venus plant is a carnivorous insectivore plant. Insects provide minerals and nutrients for the plant, mainly nitrogen. Trigger hairs inside the trap cause the "jaws" to close. Digestive enzymes break down the insects. These plants are native to North and South Carolina. They also produce white flowers and they are found in acidic soils.

After we observed the venus fly trap, we started a lab dealing with the structure of a leaf. In the lab we observed a prepared slide of lilac leaf and a walking jew leaf.

The next scribe will be Sam.

Homework:
-Finish leaf lab.
-National Parks Project





Leaf Lab Images

Wandering Jew Leaf 100X
Lilac Leaf Cross Section 400X

Plant Kingdom!

Have you ever wondered about the 'vegetables' that you eat?  What are they? Where did they come from? What purpose did they serve in a plant?? We started off the unit looking at edible parts of plants and trying to determine what function they serve.  Throughout the unit, we will refer back to this exercise.

We also examined our weird plant of the day - the baseball plant.  It is a succulent that can store water to allow it to survive in dry environment.

Below is an image of the  plant kingdom. You will be responsible for knowing the basic characteristics of each group of plants!

Micheal Dowd is the next Scribe!

Monday, March 7, 2011