All about Kingdoms!

Today, we started off class by turning in our Cornell Note on 18.3 that were due yesterday. We then moved on by talking about the Animal of the day #2. Today's animal was...the...STAR NOSED MOLE! Its class is a mammal.  It had an odd looking nose, which made it unique.
After that, we took notes on Kingdoms:

6 Kingdom System:

-As things evolve they get more complex
-They share a common ancestor
-"Protista"-they don;t know if they should call it a   kindom.







Three Domain System:
-3 Domains: Bacteria, Archea, and Eukarya.
-A more current taxonomic arrangement.
-Based on comparisons of tRNA sequences.

Archeabacteria and Eubacteria: (REVIEW)
-Formally the kingdom Monera
-Single-celled prokaryotic
 -Archeabacteria
    -No pepridoglycan
    -Found in harsh environments
 -Eubacteria
    -Peptidoglycan in cell wall
    -Most bacteria we encounter

Kingdom "Protista":
-Eukaryotic
-Most unicellular, some are multicellular
-Heterotrophic or autotrophic (photosynthetic)
-Very diverse kingdom
     (amoeba, paramecium, algae, euglena)

Kigdom Fungi:
-Eukaryotic
-Single or multicellular
-Cell wall made of chitin
-Decomposers/Heterotrophs
     (mushrooms, yeast, mold)

Kingdom Plantae:
-Eukaryotic
-Multicellular
-Autotrophic
- Cell Wall composed of cellulose

Kingdom Animalia:
-Eukaryotic
-Multicellular
-Heterotrophic
-No cell wall

After all those notes, we started the Shark Key. It is located on pages 9-12 in the UP. On page 12, we have to make our own biological key in both the fish and the leaves!

HOMEWORK:
*Finish Shark UP (9-12)
*Invert Profile, Due: 2/22
*Read Section 26.1
*TV add Due: 2/28


Calie is our next scribe!

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!  

"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!

Vicky and Anastasia's Oil Spill Video

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday classes

On Monday, we met in the IMC from the beginning of class, so that we could work on our projects. You had a choice to either work on your Oil Spill project with your partner, or work on your Alien Species Poster individually. Mrs. Stein collected Lab 58 which was homework over the weekend, and gave us each a stamp for completing the Cornell Notes.

-Homework:
Read Section 6.4 and make a chart/table.
LOOK: At both suggestions for your graph/ chart:
http://gbsmoodle.glenbrook225.org/moodle/file.php/1521/Ecology/6.4_Comparison_Chart.pdf
(this is a suggestion, so make sure you make your own grap h!)
http://gbsmoodle.glenbrook225.org/moodle/file.php/1521/Ecology/6.4_Comparison_Chart.pdf
-Due: Wednesday

On Tuesday, we met in the Auditioium for our montly Science Day. There, we watched part of the movie Planet Earth. While we were watching it, we were told to fill out a bubble map that was to be turned in at the end of the period.
-Homework:
Same as Monday's.

On Wednesday, we met in the classroom. Mrs. Stein collected the homework from whoever had it. Some people had concerns/questions so Mrs. Stein explained the homework again. If you did not understand it or did not complete it for any reason, you have one extra day to complete it. Then, Mrs. Stein passed out our quizzes from last week. We looked over them and went over any questions we had. We then continued with us learning about population density. We got into groups of four and filled out a workesheet. The worksheet was simply asking us questions like:

• What is the earth's population?
• What might become a major problem as the population keeps on increasing?

We went over a couple of those questions after we had a short discussion with our group members. After that, we ended class by watching a video on population density and how it has increased over the years.

-Homework: (important reminders)

1. Oil spill project -Due: TOMORROW (upload it to the blog and be ready to hand in all written work.)
2. Alien Poster -Due: 9/27
3. Extra Credit, Grove -9/25
4. Skim Section 5.3 for diagrams and key ideas BEFORE test.
5. Start Studying for the Ecology Test on Tuesday