4/30

We began the week with discussions of the Mollusk and Annelid worm phyla, which are more complex than those we discussed last week. On Tuesday, we began our external and internal exploration of earthworm anatomy (structures and functions). We learned a little about their body systems and anatomy, and we also learned important direction terms (anterior, posterior, dorsal, and ventral). We practiced our new vocabulary terms on gummy worms before we ate them. On Wednesday, we put our new knowledge of directions and earthworm anatomy to work. We did a live earthworm observation lab. Students had the opportunity to observe a real earthworm's movement, structures, and they even had to test the earthworm's reaction to environmental stimuli (being placed on its dorsal side, dry/wet paper towel, and presence of food). A special thank you goes out to all of those who brought these earthworms for us to observe!

I dissected an earthworm as a demonstration for students on Thursday. Students will be doing the real thing on Monday! On Friday, students reviewed information about earthworms by exploring several web sites.

4/23

We discussed 4 simple invertebrate phyla (Porifera, Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, and Nematoda) on Monday, and students were able to see video clips of them "in action." On Tuesday, we did an observation lab in order to review what we had learned. In this lab, students were able to identify and view hydra, planaria, sponges, coral, flatworms, roundworms, and jellyfish. On Wednesday, students did a Porifera (sponge) lab. Students conducted an experiment to see whether natural or artificial sponges held more water. Our class results varied quite a bit! Every natural sponge is a bit different, so it isn't surprising that our results were not consistent throughout the day. We took our simple invertebrate quiz on Friday. Next week, we will focus on mollusks and annelids (segmented worms).

4/16

In our fungi lab on Thursday, students had the chance to observe two types of fungi in more detail: yeast and mushrooms. Students dissected the mushroom and used the microscope to identify the hyphae in the stem and the spores in the gills. We wrapped up our chapter on protists and fungi this week and took the chapter test on Thursday.

We have finally made our way into to the animal kingdom! Students explored the diversity of the animal kingdom with an activity on Friday. They had to list animals that fit into given categories, and then as students shared answers with the class, they had to cross off any animal that was listed by another group. We discovered that there are WAY more animals than we could have anticipated. Remember, though...most animals (more than 95%) are actually invertebrates!

Next week we will study the phyla of simple invertebrates in more detail.

4/9

We reviewed our protist notes on Monday by playing "protist bingo." On Tuesday, we discussed and identified the important structures of three common protozoa: the amoeba, euglena, and paramecium. Students had the opportunity to view prepared slides AND live cultures of these three protists as well. We ended our week with an overview of the Fungi kingdom's general characteristics and its four major groups.


On Wednesday, students took an online career survey in order to help them prepare for the career project that they will begin in LA/Reading classes next week. The students were required to answer around 80 questions, and then they were able to review what "career clusters" were best suited for them based their answers. Students were asked to investigate these "career clusters" further and choose three careers of interest.