Week of 3/21

On Monday, students watched a video that described how a virus infects its host, the discovery and use of vaccines, pandemics from the past (influenza, smallpox, and polio), and how researchers are finding new viruses everyday.

We reviewed for our Bacteria and Virus Test on Tuesday and took the assessment on Wednesday. On Thursday, students were introduced to the weird (and creepy) organisms that live in a drop of pond water (this is also one of my favorite labs of the year!). Students had to identify the different creatures that they found living in a local sample of pond water. We found lots of protists (protozoa and algae), and some students even found worms and arthropods. On Friday, we discussed the characteristics of the protist kingdom, and we will continue to do so after break.

I cannot believe that my last day at Lakeview has arrived so quickly! I cannot thank everybody enough for all of the well-wishes, cards, and emails. I will miss working with all of you more than I can say! I know that Ms. Hopkinson will do a wonderful job finishing the school year (and YES, you will still get to do DISSECTIONS)!

Week of 3/18

Students were able to experience "bacteria in action" as we watched a great video on Monday. On Tuesday, students were asked to design an experiment to determine where bacteria can be found in our school. Students had to construct a question to investigate, make a hypothesis, and then swab their selected samples into a Petri dish. Students took swabs of locations including teachers' desks, water fountains, computer keyboards, doorknobs, and much more! We let the dishes will incubate over for a couple of days and then checked our results on Thursday. Most students were surprised by their findings. Ask to see what they found!

We also spent time in class calculating and graphing bacteria growth rates over time. From these activities, students discovered that, in ideal conditions, bacteria reproduce quickly over a short period of time (exponential growth). Finally, we discussed viruses, and came to the conclusion that they are non-living particles.

Next week, we will watch a great video about viruses to finish our chapter. Our chapter test will be on Wednesday!

Week of 3/7

This week, students finished their "Creepy Critter" classification labs, and we spent time reviewing for Thursday's classification test. On Friday, we discussed the two domains of bacteria (Archaea and Bacteria) and how each was classified. We also examined how bacteria are beneficial for humans and the environment and a little bit about pathogenic bacteria. Students will watch a great video about "good and bad" bacteria next week, and we will do an investigation to discover where bacteria can be found in our school.

Week of 2/28

This week, 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. I showed students a mnemonic device to help them remember the six kingdoms and some characteristics of each (using six of our fingers). For example, the ring finger represents the fungi kingdom. Because there is no ring on your finger, you must be a "fun guy." "Fun guys" hang out together (multicellular), usually sit on the couch playing video games (no movement), and definitely don't make their own food (consumers)! Hopefully this will help students better remember these kingdoms for the test on Thursday!

We also worked on a "Creepy Critter" classification lab. Students were required to study the characteristics of 20 aliens and put them into groups based on their similarities. Next week, we will take our classification chapter test and move on to our next chapter: bacteria and viruses.