New Subject: Biodiversity, Meaning LOTS & LOTS of different kinds of animals!

What did I say an ADAPTATION was? --an inherited trait which enables an organism to "fit" into its environment.  It could be camouflage (spell that!) or long legs or sneezing salt, or something much weirder.  Here is an animal that is so crazy I cannot even imagine what all those features are for--the mantis shrimp--Why the Mantis Shrimp Is My New Favorite Animal       


Anyway, here's the real homework:

1.Read the handout from class (one page) 

2. A short research paper: Choose a small animal, like an ant, a frog, a barnacle, a beetle, etc. Research it on the Internet.  These are the questions you should answer:

1. How many different species of [ants,beetles,frogs...] are there in the world?  (Just Google the question, How many species of ant are there in the world?)

2. And where are they found? What types of habitat?

3. Find pictures of 5 of the species.  Copy and paste them onto a Word document.  (Ask your older brother or sister to help.  Or your mom...)

4. Find examples of adaptations that those species have which enable them to fit or survive in their own environment.  For example, of the 10,000 different species of ants, one kind of ant, called a citronella ant is brilliant yellow and emits a strong lemony odor which is expelled from a gland in its head to warn nestmates and drive off enemies.  They are nearly blind and live underground.

Citronella ant

 

Digging Deeper with DNA

How do pirates make proteins?  With Aaaarrrh-NA.  (just a little Harmon family humor.) Get it???

OK< Class was fun; good work on your models. On to the homework: more videos:)

Brainpop.com >>>  pcshome / ilearnathome
Just movie, quiz and FYI

http://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/immunesystem/

http://www.brainpop.com/health/diseasesinjuriesandconditions/vaccines/

=====================
But wait, there's more!

Self-Assembly: The power of organizing the unorganized


And....More Pirates...
RNAi Discovered

RNAi Therapy

 

Viruses: Little Bits of Pirate DNA

Next class we will be making models of viruses, which are little bits of rogue DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat which wiggle their way into cells.  They hijack the machinery of the cells to make copies of themselves, then they blow up the cells and escape to infect more cells, and so on and so on.  So for background, here is some Brain.pop to clue you in:


First, a review of RNA:
login:  pcshome   ilearnathome
http://www.brainpop.com/science/cellularlifeandgenetics/rna/
Print/copy out activity page (vocabulary) and either write down what the words mean or draw it.  Watch the movie, take the quiz and read FYI.

Then, the Virus:
http://www.brainpop.com/health/diseasesinjuriesandconditions/viruses/  Print/copy out activity page (vocabulary) .  Watch the movie, take the quiz and read FYI.

A few shorties: 

 

 

By the way, I just wanted to say how much I respect the level of attentiveness and seriousness this class generally gives to their studies--I loved the reports I got to watch.  HOWEVER, PLEASE DISCOVER THE PENCIL POUCH, AND NEVER AGAIN TELL ME YOU DON'T HAVE A PENCIL!  (pens are cool too.)

You Knit Me Together...

  Now that we have extracted DNA from strawberries, split peas and broccoli, can you agree with me that DNA is amazing and beautiful?  How about just amazing??  Every living thing has DNA, which stores the information to copy itself, to make new proteins and to direct the activities of the cell.

On Monday we will finish our unit on DNA by watching some videos that will put it all together for us--DNA in ACTION!  And we'll take a look at how our technology has been revolutionized by the discovery of Watson & Crick  back in 1953, when they walked into a bar and said, "We've found the secret of life!"

Homework is to complete the Chapter 4 review (not section review, but the questions at the end of the chapter.) 

By the way, has anyone seen my copy of the textbook? It  has "teacher" written on the sides.

DNA-->mRNA--> [ribosomes-->amino acids] -->PROTEIN! -->TRAIT!

Today's Lesson: We learned about how DNA does the job. DNA, the double helix that codes for all the genetic information of  life, does more than make copies of itself. It copies pieces of itself to mRNA, which then travels out of the nucleus and inserts itself into a ribosome.  The ribosome reads the code and then assembles the protein.  The protein is a string of amino acids that curls up into a useful shape.  The protein does its job, and that results in an inherited trait, like eye color, or even hitchhiker's thumb!
Finish up the bugs from class and paste them in your lab books.  If you need a new copy of the handouts, see here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B07s3-bcUr7ta0pOVkl1eGR2SXc/edit

ALSO: READ CHAPTER 4, SECTION 2 AND ANSWER THE REVIEW QUESTIONS. 

Mother's Day coming up. Have you thanked her for your DNA?/

DNA Replication

Homework for Monday:  Read textbook Chapter 4, section 1, What Is DNA? and answer the chapter review questions.

Also, a brainpop lesson:
brainpop.com DNA
movie, quiz, FYI
[ pcshome / ilearnathome ]

ThANks!