2/26

Our focus for the week was to discover how scientists classify living organisms. Our first activity of the week was to organize some "random things found in my room." Students had to practice the principles of classification by putting these objects into groups based on the similarities between them. We also learned about the eight levels of classification (remember "Dear King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda?") and discussed how scientific names are formed. In our "Shape Island" activity, students had to assign organisms a scientific name based on their physical characteristics. Students had to use Latin and Greek roots, suffixes, and prefixes in order to design the scientific names of each.

On Friday, we worked together to identify and describe how living things are classified. We identified the the three domains (Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya), the six kingdoms (archaebacteria, eubacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals), and the characteristics of each one. Next week, students will be challenged to use their knowledge of classification to create a classification scheme for some "creepy critters."

A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to the girls' basketball team on their first place conference tournament title! For those of you that were able to attend the game on Friday, you would probably agree with me that it was AWESOME! Those girls fought hard and truly deserved their victory!

2/19

This week, we discussed other pieces of evidence that support the theory of evolution. We talked about the fossil record, geologic time scale, plate tectonics, vestigial structures, and comparing organism similarities by bone structure and order, embryotic structures, and DNA. In our lab, students practiced using relative fossil dating techniques to find the estimated age of different fossils. They had to arrange "rock samples" in order, based on their fossil components. We reviewed for our evolution test on Thursday and Friday. Remember that the test and notebook check are on Monday! Next week, we will begin our chapter on classification.

2/12

Students presented their "designer animals" to the class on Monday. It was interesting to see the unique adaptations that students created for their animals! For the remainder of the week, we used examples to reinforce the idea of natural selection (white lizards, quiet crickets, resistant insects and bacteria, tusk-less elephants, etc.). We even did a "peppered moth simulation lab" after the reviewing the controversial experiment that was done in Manchester, England with pale and dark peppered moths. In our lab, we used two different colored backgrounds to represent the non-polluted (pale) and the polluted (dark) tree trunks. Small circles were cut out to represent pale and dark moths. Students became predators (birds), and had to use tweezers pick up as many "moths" off of each background as they could in 20 seconds. Natural selection taught us that if you have the best traits (like being camolflagued, in this case), you will survive and pass your genes on to your offspring.

Next week we will wrap up our evolution chapter. We will discuss other evidence for evolution (the fossil record, comparative structures, vestigial structures, and plate tectonics). We will also do a lab that will test the students' ability to determine the relative age of fossils. We will have our chapter test on Monday, February 22nd!

2/5

Students did their final genetic disorder presentations on Monday. Overall, students did a great job on their projects! Projects will be graded and handed back by early next week.

This week, students were introduced to the concepts of adaptations, evolution, and natural selection. We discussed the voyage of Charles Darwin and the important discoveries that he made on the Galapagos Islands. Students are currently working on creating "designer animals." In this activity, students were given four environments to choose from, and they were required to design an animal with the adaptations necessary to survive in the chosen environment. Students had to consider what their animal would eat, how it would defend itself, maintain body temperature, care for its young, find shelter, etc. After designing everything, students will choose a card that explains how their current environment will change, and then students must decide whether their animal will still have the right adaptations to survive. On Monday, students will present their "designer animals" to the class. Next week, we will discuss several examples of natural selection that occur everyday, and students will do a "peppered moth" lab to simulate how natural selection occurs.