Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Cells, Reproduction, Embryology, and Human Anatomy

In our next unit we begin the study of life sciences. The rest of this week and next we our objectives will be to:
  • Explain that the fertilized egg cell carries genetic information from each parent and multiplies to form a complete organism.
  • Distinguish between sperm and egg cells.
  • Compare and contrast the structure and function of the sperm cell and the egg cell in vertebrates and plants and their role in sexual reproduction.
  • Identify the number and source of chromosomes in human body cells.
  • Identify the number and source of chromosomes in human sex cells. 
  • Explain the role of cell division. 

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Interesting sites

If your student is needing some help or struggling with topics, ducksters.com is a good place to look at science info.

Click here to see what ducksters says about seasons.

Another good website is neok12.com. In addition to good information, this website also includes links to videos and review games over the topics.

Click here to learn more about magnetism.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Seasons and Magnetism

In January we will be studying Seasons and Magnetism. We are currently learning about Seasons (Jan 5-15). We will look at Magnetism Jan 18-29. I have set our quiz date over these topics for Janueary 29, but this could change as we approach that day based on how quickly we can move through the unit. 


SEASONS

The Earth has 4 seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall. 

The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis away or toward the sun as it travels through its year-long path around the sun. 

When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere it will be summer in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa. When it is spring in the Northern Hemipshere it will be fall in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa. 

Vocabulary: axis, orbit, solstice, equinox, rotation, revolution, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn. 

Students have a CLOZE notes copy of the powerpoint we did in class. They had to fill in the blanks as we talked about in class. They also have a sheet called Reasons for Seasons that is helpful to use for studying. They had to read the pgs 178-183 in class from our book. There will be questions on the quiz from this reading. They are welcome to take notes from this book and it is available upon request during study hall and lunch as well as in class. 

I will update you on Magnetism when we begin later in the month.