"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.