Biology, Module 16, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals

Videos, etc. for M16
Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M16

Well.... it is August.
And I have never written about our Biology Module 16!  I just kept putting it off.
We did no experiments; I made no pictures of the kids -- not even at our end-of-the-year party!  I totally forgot!  =(
So I just was not interested in writing a post.  bleh.
But...
Since Apologia General Science begins NEXT WEEK, I guess I better finish Biology, lol.

This module was about animals with which I am familiar.  No weird words that I had to practice the pronunciation.  Well, at least not many.  =)

We learned about each of the classes of animals listed in the title of this module, and their characteristics.
I know what reptiles are -- I just don't usually think of turtles and snakes in quite the same way, lol.
One, I'll pick up.  The other, not!
Yes, snakes are important for the ecosystem and balance in nature.  God made them, so I guess I like them in a way...  FAR away!  =)
Reptiles are cold-blooded, so they need the sun to warm up each day.  But they also cannot stay in the sun too long if it is really hot.  So if it is really, really hot, and you are in the sun, chances are you won't see snakes or lizards.  But if you're in a cool area, such as the woods, be careful about stepping over logs or rocks.  Snakes like to nestle up against the sides of these.

Remember the experiment we did with an egg in vinegar?  The shell is what retains the water in the egg.  Reptiles have amniotic eggs, which means they have a shell  so they'll retain water and not dry out in hot weather.
Fish and amphibians' eggs are jellylike, with only a thin membrane covering them.  They're much like the egg in our experiment after the shell was removed.




I think the most fascinating thing I learned about birds was about their wings.  They have these sets of feathers on the front of the wing that can be lifted away from the main part of the wing.

This set of feathers is called the alula (al' yuh luh).  Lifting the alula away from the rest of the wing prevents turbulence.
When airplane engineers discovered this, they were able to design "wing slots" in the wings of an airplane to greatly reduce turbulence.
It always amazes me that God knew all this beforehand; and that a lot of the things we humans think up, God had already designed it or said it already in the Bible.

We also learned about the wings of ostriches and penguins.  They can't fly, so what do they do with their wings?
Ostriches run very fast, and they use their wings as "sails"  to help them run faster or to make quick turns.  I think that is so cool!  =)  Penguins use wings as propellors in water.

Would you think of a dolphin, a rabbit, and an elephant as all being in the same class?  They are all mammals. They all have some hair, though it may not be readily noticeable.
Some do not think that humans should be classified as mammals, but rather have our own class.
"The similarities among animals are the result of a common Designer, not a common ancestor."
Apologia Biology, p. 526

We do fit all the criteria for mammals, but indeed, we are in a class of our own even if science does not recognize it.  =)
We are the only living creature made in the image of God.
We have souls.  We can think and reason.
We can decide for ourselves if we want to accept that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and we can also show others the way.  In fact, if we know how to keep someone from hell, and we don't tell them, we are pretty sorry human beings.
If you don't know how to be sure you are going to heaven, then I can tell you.
The first verse I learned as a child was Acts 16:31:  "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."  Pretty simple, right?  Just believe.
It doesn't say maybe.  It doesn't say if you are a good person.
The Bible says, "There is none righteous, no, not one."  Romans 3:10  None of us are good enough to earn our way to heaven!  
Heaven is free.  It is a gift.  You can't even earn your way to heaven no matter how hard you may try!
The Bible teaches that sin cannot enter into heaven.  If we are not righteous as it says in Romans 3:10, then how can we go to heaven?  The only way to enter heaven is if your sins have been covered by the blood of Christ.  He alone is sin-less, and He alone paid for yours and my sins by his death on the cross.
There is ONE way to heaven, and that is by faith, through Jesus Christ.  All you need to do is accept this free gift of salvation.
If you want to know more about how to be sure you're going to heaven, click here.
I'd love to meet you in heaven one day!  =)

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 15, Kingdom Plantae: Physiology and Reproduction

We grew this bean several years ago.
It grew unhindered from any tropism
experiments and was in the sun, so
the leaves grew large and green.  =)

Videos, etc. for M15 
Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M15 

Well, I have been putting off posting about this module, because I was doing an experiment with a pinto bean.  Actually, the whole class was, but no one got the results I was hoping for.

►The first bean actually did the best (as you can see in the pictures below), but I messed up on the timing to start the last step. So I was trying to do it over to get a different end result.  

Then the beans all decided to revolt!

On my second try, the bean didn't even sprout. =\
So I did it once more with three beans, and got vastly different results than before, but still a far cry from what I wanted.  I finally gave up on getting the preferred results, and decided to post what I have so far.
So... it was a true EXPERIMENT.
Now I think I know what to do next time.
Like raising kids.  Or homeschooling.  Or choosing curriculum.
When you're about done, THEN you know what to do next time, lol.
Shoulda-coulda-woulda.  =D

Experimenting with Tropisms.  (TRO-piz-mz)
A tropism is a growth response or a movement response toward a stimulus.  The stimulus might be gravity, water, the sun, or an object that the plant touches.
A vine growing around a branch that it touches is an example of thigmotropism.
Roots growing toward water is hydrotropism.

I needed babyfood jars, or something clear with straight vertical sides, but I had these clear cups that were larger at the top than at the bottom.  And that is all I had.  It had to do.
We folded paper towels into thirds and wound them around and taped them, then added on another paper towel, adding on and adjusting the best we could (which was not too great) to make a wedged cylinder shape.
(Is there such a shape???)
We needed it to fit against the sides of the jar cup.
We then put one dry pinto bean in the side about halfway down.  It needed to be wedged in.
Then we watered the paper towels, but not so much that the bean was sitting in the water.  If you soak the paper towel, then you can tilt the cup to drain all the excess water.

After a couple of days, the bean will be swelled right much larger than it was originally.
Ideally, the bean needs to be vertical with the "dot" on the side, as I sadly was to learn (in the last experiment).  Growing pinto beans in a cup apparently doesn't work as well as growing them out in the good ol' dirt!
This dot is from where the root will grow, and then the stem.

Root growing downward

The plan was to NOT put the bean in direct sunlight initially, and watch the root grow downward, demonstrating gravitropism.  This would be positive gravitropism since the root would grow toward gravity.

The green is the stem.

In a few days, the top of what looked like the root began to bulge upward, but this part was green.  This was not the root, but the stem.  Since the plant was not in direct sunlight, but it was growing upward away from gravity, this was evidence of negative gravitropism.
Seeds that are buried in the dirt will grow roots down, stem up, all without seeing the sun.  =)

Plant will soon begin to grow upright.
Testa is split, but has not fallen off.

After the stem began to grow a little, I moved the plant into the sun, keeping the paper towel moist.

The testa (bean covering) came loose from the cotyledons (cot-uh-LEE-denz) -- the two halves of the bean that is the first food for the plant -- and should have stayed inside the cup and up against the side.  If planted in the dirt, the testa would likely have stayed below ground.  The tapered cup didn't hold the seed firmly enough, and it grew on up with the plant for a bit, which was no problem.
(Remember, a bean has two cotyledons, and is a dicotyledon, or dicot.)

Evidence of negative gravitropism as
plant stem curved to grow upward.

As soon as the plant reached the top of the cup, I placed the cup on its side with the bottom of the cup toward the window, and in just a few hours, the plant stem had curved like this, demonstrating heliotropism. (movement, not growth, toward light.)

I then sat the cup back upright and put it in an upside-down square kleenex box with a small hole at one corner, and placed it in the sun.

The idea was to show phototropism -- growth toward sunlight.  But my box was short, and my plant was already nearly to the top, so instead of growing out the hole (as I saw on a video on youtube), it wound round and round in the top of the box!  haha.







I had resisted the urge to open the taped-shut box, and instead tried to peer inside with a flashlight, but couldn't really see much.  When I finally took the plant out, it had a very curvy stem!  =)

Shriveled cotyledons on stem.  Testa below, on the table.

The cotyledons stayed with the plant for quite a while (might have done differently in direct sunlight?), but were shriveled once they had supplied the plant with its first food.  God designed it this way so that a plant can have food even before reaching the surface of the ground and before growing it's first "true leaves" with which it can make its own food by photosynthesis.
These first leaves are called true leaves because the cotyledons resemble leaves on the stem.

But I found from my class that some plants didn't fare so well.  They weren't even be able to do the box part of the experiment.

One had a moldy bean that didn't grow.  (I think it might have been in the dark, and maybe I should have clarified that it just can't be in direct sunlight, but in the kitchen, etc, is fine.)
One just simply didn't sprout.

Curly root - top left.  It showed up
more before it got into such a tangle!

Um... where are you going, little root?

My kids had grown a pinto bean plant several years ago (pic at top), and had success with one try, so it didn't occur to me all the ways this experiment could fail.
And, as I was soon to discover, there are even more ways!

See the true leaves on there?  And
it's still in the cup!  Also, somehow the
stem grew through the paper towel.

On the second try, the bean didn't sprout, so with my third experiment, I determined that I should put in three beans around the sides of the cup.  I would keep the best specimen and throw out the others.  (yeah, right!)

My, my...  Those little beans were determined to thwart me! Not one did well, and on one, the root curled upward, then round and round, defeating my ideal of gravitropism!  haha.

After 3 weeks, they are still not above the rim of the cup!

Well, next time (which should be 3 years from now when my twins do Biology), I will make sure I have babyfood jars on hand from somewhere.
No, I do not plan on having more children just so I can utilize my vast knowledge of child-rearing, thus proving I have learned much with my three experiments wonderful teenagers, lol.
No, next time I will find a younger mom who will donate her babyfood jars to the cause.

Rebekah's bean plant.  She was in and out for several days
and neglected the gravitropism part of the experiment.
See the true leaves emerging from between the cotyledons?

More things I would change:
I do believe if the bean is held firmly against the side, it would do better.  And I will make sure the beans are in a vertical position with the dot on the side.
Since the in-the-box part of the experiment failed, and since some beans didn't grow, I decided that next time (yes, hindsight is 20-20), I will have the kids do three cups with several beans each, and go ahead and place one cup in the box as soon as one bean begins to sprout well, one cup will be the experiment for gravitropism, and one will grow in the sunlight, unhindered from any tropism experiments.
I had started my experiment a couple of weeks before the kids did, so from my error, I learned to have them tape their cup to a square of cardboard cut from another kleenex box to keep the plant from getting turned inside the box.  This is placed over the oval hole where the kleenexes come out, and the cup will not fall through.  The square of cardboard will not turn and does not need to be taped  to the box itself.
Also, this experiment takes more time for some beans than others, and I will begin it halfway thru module 14 when we are learning about monocotyledons and dicotyledons.
Next time... yes, next time, I will be smarter and wiser!  lol.

sMiLeS,


P.S.  I did have a video on here of my girls and their cousin singing, but they got older and more self-conscious and asked me to take it off, lol.
It was The Bean Song.  I think they had heard it on Zoom a long time ago!
♪♫ "My dog Lima likes to roam, one day Lima left his home.
He came back, nice and clean, where, oh, where has Lima bean?
Lima bean, Lima bean, where, oh, where has Lima bean?"
Other verses include Pinto bean, Coffee bean, and even Human bean! =)


All my bean plant pics (cause I know you want to see them!)

Biology, Module 14, Kingdom Plantae: Anatomy and Classification

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M14

Videos, etc. for M14  

Kingdom Plantae!  Yeah, I know what that is.  =)
This module has words that I recognize, lol.
We learned about xylem and phloem, the "straws" that transport things the plant needs.  Those may be new words to some, but I did already know them. 
We learned about the macroscopic structure of the leaf.  Macro means something you can see with the naked eye, and micro means you'd need a microscope.  Which means your eye isn't naked then -- it has a microscope lens covering it, lol.  =D

palmate venation, serrate margin

Experiment 14.1, Leaf Collection and Identification
We had to classify leaves as well as observe the type of bark and the fruit, if any.

There's a lot of parts to a leaf, including many shapes, as well as various types of edging on the leaf, called margins.  We also learned about the different vein patterns, called venations.

dentate margin, pinnate venation

whorled mosaic

I ended up having the kids to bring small branches so we could also see whether the leaves were simple or compound leaves, as well as be able to tell the mosaic -- the pattern of the placement of leaves along the branch.



We did about 9-10 classifications, including drawing the leaf, and they were to finish the rest at home. 
►Here's the page I typed for them:  Experiment 14.1, Leaf Identification 
(My printer feeds the page back in and prints on the back side, so I just did 2 of the same page in this document so I could print a batch without turning the pages over.  Am I lazy or just very clever?  lol)

We also learned a little about the microscopic structure of a leaf.  Since we have naked eyes, lol, we just looked online.

For Experiment 14.2, How Anthocyanins and pH Help Determine Leaf Color, we just discussed it a little, and looked at pictures from when we did the pH Experiment in Module 5.

Experiment 14.3, Cross Sections of Roots, Stems, and a Leaf
We were to look at the stems and roots of dicot and monocot plants.  The words dicotyledon and monocotyledon  tell how many cotyledons the plants have.  A cotyledon is the part of the seed that contains "starter food" for the plant.  A seed with two cotyledons (like a bean) is called a dicotyledon, or dicot, and can be split into two pieces.
Again, our poor eyes were naked, so we looked at pictures online.
►Links are at Homeschooler's Resources.

We learned some more about classification, and plants that have seeds, and those that don't.  Those that have xylem and phloem and can grow really tall because of the ability to transport food and water through their stems, and those plants that don't have this system, like moss.  And of course, we learned a little about seeds and reproduction.
I really learned a lot in this module.  God's creation is amazing!

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 13, Phylum Chordata

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M13 
Videos, etc, for M13 

Bones!  The members of phylum Chordata have some kind of backbone.
Mostly, we think of a backbone as being made up of hard bones, but there is also a kind of backbone in some animals called a notochord, that is like a very tough, flexible cartilage. 
There are also some members of this phylum that only have a notochord for the first part of their lives.  Some of these notochords disappear, and some harden into a true backbone.
So phylum Chordata is divided into three subphyla:

• Subphylum Cephalochordata - has a notochord their entire life
• Subphylum Urochordata - only has a notochord through the larva stage, then disappears
• Subphylum Vertebrata - has a notochord during early development, then hardens into a true backbone

Which one are you?  hee hee!  (I'm guessing you didn't have a larva stage.)

In subphyla Urochordata and Cehpalocordata, we learned a little about one organism each. 
Because humans fall into the subphylum Vertebrata, our studies were concentrated there.
We have an endoskeleton, (in) rather than an exoskeleton (out).  Wouldn't that look funny!

Since the majority of my class may not take the advanced biology course, The Human Body, I decided to go a little further than what the text introduced, and at least have them learn the names of the bones.
My birthday was the week before, so I decided to make it a party.  I had all the siblings and Moms to come, too.  They talked and/or played while we had class, (It was a very easy day) then we had cake, chips, and pop.  Not soda, or coke.  Pop.  We had Mt. Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Coke.  It's all pop.
Every party needs a game, so we had a game.  Pin the Tail Bone on the Skeleton, or um... Stick the Post-It Note on the Bone.  Yeah, that works!
I bought this skeleton at Dollar Tree this past October.  Wasn't that brilliant strategy?  =D
This is what we did:

 

Came in close second.

 

Winner!

Since this Contest is Every Man for Himself, they each had to label Oscar individually.  No teams.  Yes, he has a name!  =)
The names of the bones were written on sticky notes (that's what we call Post-It Notes).  I got super sticky ones so they'd last a few times.  We had 2 rounds (one at 3 min; one at 2 min.) multiplied by 4 kids, and time to check answers before pulling the sticky notes off between turns, then tally scores, and a few giggles here and there, all took about 30-35 minutes.  I should have bought two skeletons.  They could have raced.  =)
Whichever ones were labeled wrong or were just not labeled when time was up, counted off their points.
It was a good thing to do before the quiz.  Some got radius and ulna mixed up (the two bones in the lower arm), and one student put patella (kneecap) in the middle of the sternum (chestbone).  Um... that would be difficult if your sternum bent when you started to kick a ball!  hahaha! 


Labeling Oscar helped them review for the quiz.  =)
Something must have been funny. ↓ Something is always funny with these girls!  I know they weren't overjoyed at a quiz, haha!

Even the little boys got to play w/ Oscar.  =)

spiny puffer

We went on to learn about the circulatory system, the nervous system, and reproduction.
We learned several classes in this phylum, staying a little longer with class Osteichthyes (ost ee ICK thees), which have bony fish.
There are some vastly different fish!  Some do not look like regular fish, like the spiny puffer and, at certain angles, the lionfish.

lionfish

We learned about the major internal structures and the circulatory system in fish.  Can you tell there was another dissection coming?  Yep, perch.
Class Amphibia called for yet another dissection.  Frog.
We didn't do either of these. 
Some girls students were glad.  =)

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 12, Phylum Arthropoda

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M12 
Videos, etc, for M12

Wow, these phyla and class names just keep getting better and better!
Arthropoda?  Well.....   okay.
We've got more stuff about invertebrates in this module, but only about a specific phylum.
The organisms of Phylum Arthropoda all have:

• an exoskeleton (that they shed/molt -- until they are adults -- as the body grows and needs a larger exoskeleton)
• body segments (head, thorax, abdomen, OR, cephalothroax, abdomen)
• jointed appendages (not just the legs, but also the chelipeds - claws)  Chelipeds (peds - feet) make me think of jelly shoes, lol.  We called them jellies. 
  So... arthropoda... arthro means jointed, poda is talking about a leg or foot... Yep, that word does mean something after all!
  
• a ventral nervous system (ventral means on the belly side) For more protection, that's where God put the nerve cord, unlike our spinal cord that has a protective backbone.
• and most interesting to me, an open circulatory system

I had never heard of an open circulatory system!  No, it does not mean that their veins are open to the air, or even that you can see their veins.  It means their blood is pumped upwards within short vessels, then allowed to just wash down over all the their innards instead of being enclosed in veins.  lol, I like that word.  Innards. 
This process was carefully designed, however, by the Great Designer.  These blood vessels empty into specific body cavities, not just a free-fall to where ever.  God knows what he's doing.  (And He did not need to use evolution -- He is Super-intelligent enough to get it right the first time!)  =)

"Sparky" - covered in dirt

The first organism we studied in this chapter was a crawdad.  The text calls it a crayfish, but admits it can be a crawdad.  Someone must have lived in the south!  lol.  =D  (Thank you, proofreader!) hee hee!
What was really cool was that right after we finished this module, the girls brought some dark dirt up from the creek to put in their flowerbed, and they found a small crawdad in the dirt.  =)

Jellies -- these are not his size.

It was missing one of its jelly shoes chelipeds and one walking leg, but we had learned that when that happens, a membrane seals off the opening so the crawdad will not die from blood loss.  Also, we knew that the crawdad can regenerate it's missing appendage!  Yay!
The girls were glad because Sparky needs his legs and chelipeds.
Yes, they named it.  =D  And yes, we did return him. 


While we were trying to get pictures of Sparky in his sour cream container, he got turned over.  I told Bethany to make sure he stays upright.  Rebekah knew that because of the open circulatory system, he needed to stay upright or his blood would pool up in his dorsal side (back side -- opposite of belly -- not backside like its rear).  Gravity, ya know. 
So now Bethany will not need this to be explained when she gets to Biology.  Younger siblings' exposure to older siblings' discussions is really beneficial in homeschooling!  =)
JohnDavid already knows so much about various aspects of science that since I'll have already studied Physical Science and Biology, I'm looking forward to effortless science for the next few years.  Effortless?  Well, one can hope!  =)

We also leaned about Sparky's respiratory system, circulatory system, digestive system, nervous system, and reproductive system, only we didn't know it was about Sparky at the time.  His poor kin-folk!  lol.  
There was also a dissection to be done, but I, personally, have never done a dissection.
I guess I could follow the directions, but not remembering anything about Biology except those leaves I've mentioned before, I opted to simply find pictures online, or maybe even a virtual dissection.  (Links to those are at Homeschooler's Resources).  I think when the twins do Biology, I might try it.
Maybe they won't remember Sparky.

This is what Rebekah thinks of pictures of dissections.  =D

I'm glad we had not found Sparky yet.


Next in our module:

• Class Arachnida (spiders)
• Classes Chilopoda (centipedes) and Diplopoda (millipedes)  Again with the poda - foot. 
• Class Insecta (bet you can't figure that one out!)  =)

►These all have exoskeletons, segmented bodies, jointed appendages, ventral nervous systems, and open circulatory systems.
The module went into more detail with the insects than spiders, millipedes, and centipedes.
We learned the specifications to be an insect, (I didn't qualify, although I think I did have wings once... along with my halo, hee hee!) and what kinds of wings they might have, their respiration, circulation, feeding habits, reproduction and development.
We also were to classify some insects the way we learned to in Module one.
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.  We only did the ones in the book. 

Would you have ever thought of an ant as being in the same phylum as a crawdad?

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 11, The Invertebrates of Kingdom Animalia

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M11
Videos, etc, for M11

In this module, we learned about animals that have no backbone - li'l squishy fellas!  =)
Some not so squishy, and some protected by an exoskeleton to protect their squishy li'l body. 
Well... some invertebrates have a big squishy body.

Exo- like exit - gives you an idea that the exoskeleton must be on the outside.  And it is!  Insects have an exoskeleton to protect them.  That is why they crunch if you step on 'em!  (ugh!)
Other invertebrates are worms, snails, crayfish (crawdads), shrimp, and more.
In the kingdom Animalia, there are way more invertebrates than there are vertebrates.  In fact, all the phyla in kingdom Animalia except one are invertebrates!  That's quite a few!

We also learned whether these various organisms had radial symmetry, bilateral symmetry, or spherical symmetry. 

• Spherical symmetry is when an organism can be cut into two identical halves by any cut that runs through its center.  A ball has spherical symmetry.  That's easy, right?
• Radial symmetry is when an organism can be cut into two identical halves by any longitudinal cut through its center.  This might be from the top, any cut.  Like an oatmeal box can be cut from the top by any cut, front to back, right to left, or diagonal, etc., running straight down through the center.
• Bilateral symmetry is when an organism can be cut into two identical halves by a single longitudinal cut (only one option, not "any longitudinal cut" as in radial symmetry) along its center which divides it into right and left halves.

  

Phylum Porifera:  The Sponges
What?  A sponge is alive? 
Yes!  It meets the 4 criteria for life.
Though they're animals and not plants, they can't think; they have no internal organs, no blood, no eyes, or ears, but can reproduce, digest food, and protect themselves.
If you have a sponge from the ocean, it is no longer living.  It would need to stay in the ocean in its environment to be able to eat and stay alive.
♦ See more beautiful sea sponges.
The name of this phylum, Porifera, makes me think of perforate.  Something that is perforated has holes, and so do sponges.  That's how I can remember that sponges are in phylum Porifera.  =)
Sponges have no symmetry.

Phylum Cnidaria

sea anemone

Jellyfish, sea anemones, coral, hydra...
What is a hydra?  See that picture up there?  Picture a?  That is a hydra.  It has radial symmetry.  A jellyfish also has radial symmetry.  So does a sea anemone.  You know, the plant-looking thing in the ocean (that is not a plant) on Finding Nemo.
All members of this phylum have radial symmetry.  They have tentacles which catch prey by releasing nematocysts, small capsules that contain a toxin that is injected into prey or predators. 
This toxin can cause stinging or even paralysis.
The hydra's nematocysts are triggered by a pressure-sensitive device, but those of the sea anemone are not.  The sea anemone will only sting if it senses a specific chemical.  That is why it does not sting the clownfish that lives within and near it.

The nematocysts in some jellyfish are very toxic, and can even be fatal, like the box jellyfish.  

I have seen jellyfish before in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  It was so warm and we loved it, but because of the mild stings of the softball sized jellyfish, my friend and I didn't stay in long.
Some jellyfish are quite large, and look kind of scary!   




Phylum Annelida

Feather-Duster worm

Who comes up with these names anyway?  
Phylum Annelida has only one kind of worm, the segmented worm.
So right away, you may think of an earthworm.  Yes, that is the most common and familiar type of segmented worm.  Another one is the leech.  Also, among the segmented worms is a Christmas tree worm and even a feather-duster worm!
We aren't doing any dissections this year, but we did study the innards of the earthworm, and even looked at some really clear pictures online.
All these have bilateral symmetry.

Phylum Platyhelminthes:  The Planarian
A planarian is more commonly called a flatworm.  It's not exactly flat, but it isn't shaped like a cylinder like most other worms.  The most amazing thing about planarians is their ability to reproduce not only sexually, but asexually by regeneration.  They tear themselves apart on purpose in order to do this!  The two halves will then regenerate its missing half to make two complete planarians.
Other worms in this phylum are tapeworms and flukes.  All these have bilateral symmetry.

Phylum Nematoda
These are often called round worms.  They are not round like a ball, but their bodies are cylinder-shaped, but are much smaller than segmented worms.  The members of phylum Nematoda have bilateral symmetry.  These kinds of worms are found in many different environments.  Many are parasitic, and can cause diseases and permanent damage to organs.  In some cases, they are fatal.

Phylum Mollusca

Sounds like mollusks, doesn't it?  That gives you a clue about this phylum.  There are many organisms in this phylum, including mollusks, clams, snails, oysters, and squid.
They have several mutual characteristics, the most common being a shell.  We studied the snail and learned that is has one foot!  I would never have called the part of the snail that is used for movement a foot.

Who knew that invertebrates were so diverse?
God is indeed the Creator of all things.

sMiLeS,

My daughter's Biology book...

Hee hee!  This is what I found in Rebekah's Biology book.
I guess we can safely say she will not be taking Advanced Biology or Marine Biology...

Oh, and I have no more Post-it Notes left, either.

sMiLeS,

Biology, Module 10, Ecology

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M10
Videos, etc, for M10 

Ecology is "the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings."   Plants (producers) supply food for animals (consumers).  There are primary consumers that only eat plants, secondary consumers that eat the animals that eat plants, and tertiary consumers that eat animals that eat other animals.
You may remember that all food chains begin with a green plant.
Well, there are also food webs.  A food web, when drawn on a diagram, looks just like that -- a web.  Some animals can be more than one type of consumer.  A hawk is a tertiary consumer because it will eat a snake that eats mice.  But a hawk is also a secondary consumer because it will also eat mice.

We had planned to do a food web in class (I was gonna copy Michelle), and everyone was bringing stuffed animals that belonged to their younger siblings.  But due to illness (mine), we were unable to meet, and I had the kids do their own food webs at home and send me pictures.

I thought this was a clever use of a little sister's toys!

Animals and plants in a certain environment make up an ecosystem.  An ecosystem is categorized by climate, animals, and plant life.

We learned about different kinds of symmetry, and I had also planned to copy Michelle in this fun experiment, We Are Not Created Equal, but we didn't get to have our class.  (I rely on her posts, can you tell???)  =)
I guess I could always use photos I already have and bisect my student's faces, lol.  =D

sMiLeS,