Class Party

PARTY!!
We had Ham and Cheese Rolls, Ranch Roll-ups, home canned garlic pickles from one of the moms (and she brought me strawberry jelly -- strawberry!  My favorite!),  and homemade cupcakes from another of the moms who runs a business making yummylicious cakes!  And she left extra for my family!  And one of her daughters made homemade cookies.  And of course we had the regular chips and dip and drinks, etc.

It's been 3½ hours since lunch... and now I'm thinking about the leftovers that are for supper.  =D  Hubby will be happy too.  He loves those ham and cheese rolls.  =) =)


When we have class parties, I always invite all the family.  After all, we can't leave the littles at home!
I wanted to include them, so I figured some allowances in our Minute to Win It games.  We had 2 teens per team and one younger sibling.  They participated in the games a little, but usually ended up running around, lol.  And "helping."  =D  But it was fun anyway.  Even for the losing team, who had a wonderful "helper."  ;)  We had a great time.

The boys' team was simply The Boys.  Courtney and Ava were Team Cava, and Bethany and Sarah had to choose between Team Barah or Team Sethany.  They chose Team Sethany.  =)


I tried to name these games, but couldn't come up with anything catchy, lol.

Without touching the balls, each teen had to thread all 3 Wiffle balls onto a pipe cleaner, then drop them all into a glass.  The littles had to place a ball on a magnifying glass and "pour" it in, one at a time.  They were allowed a little assistance, esp the 4-year-old.  =)

The teen teams had to blow 4 cotton balls onto the same sticky note (Post-it), and the littles had to do 1, 2, or 3, depending on age.  They each had their separate sticky note, placed strategically away from the older kids.  ;)

 ↑The timer  ;)          

We did this game twice because the Wiffle balls kept bouncing out, but the second time we put a hand towel in the bowl.
Each team went separately on this one.

We had about 25 Wiffle balls, and even though kids were scurrying around trying to re-gather them up for the throwers, we still kept running out.  How many balls can 2 boys throw in one minute??  A LOT!
Some girls got tired of scurrying... and decided to be catchers.  ;)

Awww, little Jeremiah hugging his sister.  =)  He kinda "launched" himself into her arms, lol.  =D

And here we have one of our helpers.  ;)

We did have to keep a lookout for helpers who wanted to put the balls into the orange bowl instead of back into the clear bowl, lol.  It was kind of chaotic, but altogether a lot of fun.  =)  I guess I wasn't very clear about where to return the balls.  ;)

We actually played a few more games than these - using straws to put beans into a glass, and a relay with 8 items that had to be picked up with skewers! (littles used clothes pins), but I forgot to get out my camera!  And... those were the pics Ava would have been in!  But she had to leave early for Driver's Ed!  First day driving.  (Hang in there, Mom.)

So... go here to see Ava.  ;)  She's one of the cute ones.

No, not those goats... keep scrolling!  =) =) =)


sMiLeS,

Biology 101, Chapter 7, Biology History, Cells, Genetics [and DNA]

This chapter had so much in it that I would loved to have taken 6 weeks!  Or more.  =)
But I did have them pre-study some things during spring break, so that just had to do.

We learned all about cells in the first class.  The composition of just the cell wall is amazing!  They also had to learn all the cell parts and their functions.  I was going to  have them do something like this, but we ended up just drawing on a large dry erase board in the middle of the table.  But I forgot to take pictures.

Then we learned about DNA, which they already knew about.

And we learned about the processes of mitosis (asexual division of cells) and of meiosis (sexual division of cells).  Did you know there are hundreds of genes on each chromosome??

We also learned about genetics, and how meiosis gives us our unique traits.  We did quite a few Punnett squares to get them familiar with how they work as well as the terminology (genotype, phenotype, alleles, homozygous recessive or dominant, heterozygous, etc.).

This just cracks me up! =D

Then we did the fun part.  We made Spud-Doodles!

They had to draw 4 letters (alleles) from cups to see what genotypes were possible for each trait.  Two gray pieces of paper for the father's alleles, and two white for the mother's alleles.  Two alleles  make a genotype [ex. BB, Bb, or bb].  They wrote these genotypes above and beside the Punnet square for that particular feature (eyes, nose, ears, tail, etc), figured the four possible genotypes that would result from the parents' genotypes.  They rolled dice to see, of 1-4, which which of those four they ended up with for that feature.
(While they were doing the drawing and figuring the Punnett squares, I did not let them see the chart that showed which genotype would give them which trait.)

They had to do this for all 8 features, then "decorated" their spud-doodle according to what genotypes they happened to get, going by this chart.

As you can see, we have 3 girl spud-doodles.  JohnDavid kept talking about his as if she was his little girl, and later when he and Bethany were making another pic, he said, "Oh, we gotta do it over; she blinked."  He is hilarious!

My very last class.  Ever.  sniff

Seriously!  The other day after getting everything printed for this class, I closed my document where I type up their schedule... and I've been doing this class for 5 years... and I realized it was the very last time I would close it.
True, it was a pitiful schedule, one I wouldn't share with the public, lol, but still...

My grandbabies?!  hee hee! =D

sMiLeS,

Biology 101, Chapter 6, The 6th Day - Mankind part 2

►Videos for this chapter

Circulatory, Digestive, Lymphatic, and Endocrine Systems

This chapter was divided into 2 parts, and we have 2 classes per 'part,' one class every other week.
So this was our third class for this chapter, and we studied the circulatory and endocrine systems.

This time we had a game within a game.  I asked questions, they earned points, and then their team got to move based on how many on their team knew the answer.
Even though this was a game about the circulation system, we also learned and had questions about the endocrine system.

The Circulation Game (printables and instructions)
In this game, there were 2 types of waste product tokens to be taken out of the body (CO2 goes to the lungs, other waste goes to the kidneys in this game), and O2 and sugar & protein tokens get taken to 5 designated cells on our little man here.  Both CO2 and O2 can only "ride" on red blood cells.

We were talking about the alveoli at the ends of the bronchioles, and I told them on some videos it was pronounced al-VEE-oh-lie, and on others, ahl-vee-OH-lee.  They liked the second because it sounds like "ravioli."  So they promptly decided his name was Chef Boyardee.  LOL!  They name everything, and I love it. =D

Team Orange moving their playing piece, Team Blue still counting, deciding on the best move.

Two teams of three, all six kids gave an answer, and for each one on their team that had the correct answer, they got to move 10 spaces.  (Seems like a lot of spaces for one turn, but this is a long game!)  And even with an hour, because of the questions we still didn't finish the game, but tallied the points to determine the winner.
Individual points won candy, and the winning team got extra. =)  Blue team won!  =) 24-26

And they were so funny.  One of the girls said she just couldn't think today, and somehow something was mentioned about tacos, and they were saying she ate too many tacos (although she didn't even eat a taco at all!) and no one really knows how that got started... so when someone got an answer wrong, or didn't know the answer, they would all say, Taco!
And once, JohnDavid didn't know an answer, so he drew a taco on his answer board, lol.



4th class for this chapter - digestive system and lymphatic system.

The kids had to name and label the digestive system, as well as distinguish which organs were part of the actual digestive tract (where food actually passes through).

Again, they brought up tacos when someone couldn't remember something, lol.  These kids are a lot of fun.  One more chapter....


sMiLeS,

Biology 101, Chapter 6 - The 6th Day, Mankind part 1

►Videos for this chaper

The Brain and the Nervous System, the 5 Senses, and the Skeletal System

We have fun in our class!  I "lecture" (if you can call it that, lol), and give an overview of the chapter.
Sometimes I have visuals or handouts for them to look at along with me, or to read aloud.  We discuss as we go.  The kids know there will be a "quiz-game" at the end, and they win chocolate, so they listen pretty well.
I ask questions aloud and they all write the answers on small dry erase boards and show me when they know I'm looking.  I don't tell who is right or wrong until all have answered, and they get one try.  We've tried several different ways, including written quizzes on paper, but we all agree that this is our favorite way.  I love that all the kids get to answer each question, and that we can discuss each answer as we go.  Often I will ask a question more than once especially if some have missed it, or just ask it in a different way.
Usually I have gone over most of them during the 'teaching' time, questioning them as we go, re-questioning ones they missed, etc.  So they do pretty well when we get to the quiz-game.


Labeling Oscar
Sometimes we get to physically do something as part of the quiz-game rather than just answer questions, but there are always questions too.
Our first class was about the brain and nervous system, and I had no activities really, so no pics.
During the second class for this chapter, they had fun labeling "Oscar."  My oldest daughter and niece had named him Oscar when we did Biology 3 years ago.  They name everything! =)

One of the teams labeling Oscar - use super sticky Post-its!

The boys putting Oscar in all sorts of silly poses =D

A couple of illustrations for fun =)

There was some discussion as to how one would know if a skeleton was male or female.
JohnDavid said one way to know, is that if the jawbone was wore down more, it was female!  Or, he said, you can look to see if the feet are pointed toward the mall!
He cracks me up! =)


sMiLeS,

Biology 101, Chapter 5 - The 6th Day, Land Animals

Bethany:  "What are we dissecting today, Mom?"
Me: "Frogs!"
Bethany: "Oh, that sounds fun!"
......
Rebekah:  Did no dissections.
This was her Biology book:

Hehehe...

Land Animals
In part 1 of this chapter, we studied warm-blooded land vertebrates, which are mammals, and we didn't have a class during that section.
In part 2, we studied coldblooded land vertebrates, then land invertebrates.  So this is where I decided to have the dissections for frogs and earthworms.  We did them on separate weeks.


Frog Dissection:
These frogs were injected with dye, supposedly to help distinguish one organ from another...
actually they almost look tie-dyed!

This one had lots of 'fat bodies' -- the yellow things there.  Fat bodies are for storage of food/nutrients
for hibernation or when food is scarce.  The girls said it looked like he swallowed an octopus!

Lifting the stomach to show organs underneath.  The black and pale
speckled material are the eggs, contained in ovaries, so this is a female.

Working in pairs... they all kind of paired up with a buddy at the first of the year and have stuck with them.
I had planned to mix it up each class, but they work well together this way, so I've let them stay with their buddy. =)

"Ramen noodles!" declared the boys, hahaha!
Actually coils of the oviduct where the eggs pass through.

Earthworm Dissection:

We have been fortunate to find great videos for all the dissections this year!  After a bit of  preview, going over
terminology and body parts while looking at diagrams, I have them watch a video or two before doing the actual dissection.  

Earthworm dissection.  This one went more quickly than the others.

Done with animals, next we are studying the human body.  But no dissections! =D

sMiLeS,

Biology 101, Chapter 3 - Aquatic Creatures

So for the first time ever in my life, I did dissections.  Well, err, I didn't do them -- I watched.  With great interest.  And wished I had my own specimen.  =)

During the first class for this chapter, we dissected a perch.
We had two males and one female.  These kids name everything, so one was named Jonah, the boys named theirs Samson (because they took out his eyes...!!!), and one was called Alfreda, after first being named Alfred and ended up being female.

exposing the gills

We ditched the saran wrap (kept sticking to the fish) in favor of freezer paper.

"Samson"

In our second class for this chapter, we dissected a crawdad, crayfish, or whatever you'd like to call it. =)

And the kids turned in their reports on an aquatic creature. =)

sMiLeS,

Biology 101, Chapter 2 - Plants

• Videos and other resources for this chapter


Leaf Identification

We used pages from Apologia's Botany (also in Apologia Biology) to identify the leaf mosaic, shape of leaf, venation of leaf, and leaf margin.  We also examined the color, texture, and any other outstanding features of the bark.
Thankfully we had two girls, sisters, who knew a lot about leaves!  They were able to identify nearly every tree or plant by the leaves that were brought to class.

This was from Apologia Biology Exp. 14.1 - Leaf Collection and Identification.
(worksheet, guide)





Vascular Plants
Plants with xylem and phloem (tubes for transporting water and minerals) are vascular plants.

Nonvascular Plants
Non vascular plants, such as moss, algae, liverworts, or hornworts, are short and do not have xylem and phloem.  They grow near a water source so that they can absorb the moisture they need.

Vascular Plants and Turgor Pressure
When the vacuoles of plant cells are filled with fluid, they are rigid and cause the plant to stand upright.  This is called turgor pressure.  Food coloring allows us to see that water flowed up the xylem.
































Cotyledons, testas, dicots, and monocots
A pinto bean can be divided into two halves.  These are the cotyledons - the plant's first food.  A plant cannot make its own food until it pokes out into the sun from beneath the soil.  Since a pinto bean seed has two cotyledons, the bean plant is a dicotyledon, or dicot.  Corn is a monocotyledon, or monocot.
Seeds have a covering called a testa that falls off as the cotyledons shrivel.  On a pinto bean, the testa is brown and speckled.
In this picture, you can see it still in the jar, and the shriveled cotyledons on the stem below the true leaves.

Tropisms
A tropism is a growth or movement toward a stimulus.
Growth toward light (the stimulus) is called phototropism.  Movement toward light is heliotropism.  Growth of roots toward water is hydrotropism.  Growth of roots downward is geotropism, or gravitropism.  Growth of a plant upward (even before it sees the sun!) is negative geotropism, or negative gravitropism.
If a plant is placed on it's side, it will curve and begin to grow upward once more.  Once righted, the plant will again curve back and grow upward, even in the absence of direct sunlight.  This can cause a plant's stem to look somewhat crooked.  =)

►More funny pics of bean experiments. =D



Transpiration
When the sun is shining, the stomata on the bottoms of leaves open to allow in carbon dioxide and release moisture (as well as oxygen).  Transpiration is also what causes the water to move upwards in the xylem -- nothing "sucks" the water upwards.  It is drawn upwards as water transpires out of the leaves.  This is made possible because of the properties of water -- the molecules tend to "stick" together because of being polar. (last year's Physical Science)
Covering leaves with a baggie then watering the plant well and placing it in sunlight will give evidence that the leaves do release water in transpiration.

All pics made by my students except for the pic of them at the table.


sMiLeS,