Biology, Module 6, The Cell

Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M6, part 1
Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M6, part 2
Quizlet Vocabulary Game, M6, all 
Videos, etc. for M6 

We have been looking forward to this module since last year when we were doing Physical Science!  I had seen the posts at Applie's Place, and I told the kids we would make pizzas for our Incredible, Edible Cells.  (Links at my other blog to Applie's and Julie's cells.)   I think the boys liked this "experiment" the best.  =D

Our Incredible, Edible Cells.  
Animal Cell.  I love the celery centrioles (Isaac's idea) and the sausage link mitochondria.  The ham is supposed the be the rough and smooth ER, but the bacon bit ribosomes are lost in the cytoplasm (cheese).   Do you like the secretion vesicle?  Looks like someone took a bite.  =)  We also made another pizza since there were three boys here!  On that one, we just put whatever toppings we wanted.

The girls took care of the dough, sauce, and cheese, and I had the boys cutting and chopping.  =) That Endoplasmic Reticulum ham was a little tedious.  Isaac had gotten a good piece cut, and JohnDavid ate it thinking it was a leftover piece! It was our best piece of ER.  Oh, well!  (My son is not in the Biology class, so he didn't know something in such a strange shape would be important! lol)  They all had a lot of fun sneaking bites now and then.  I knew they would!  We had some extra.

Our Plant Cell - We forgot the Golgi body!  So this is a non-functioning plant cell, hee hee.  =)  The rough and smooth ER were improv since the poptarts that we had planned to use crumbled when cousin A tried to cut it to shape.  The green jelly beans are chloroplasts so I guess the pink marshmallows will have to be both vacuoles and leucoplasts.  (oops!)  But it was a pretty tasty cake!  =)

As you can see, we learned about plant and animal cells.  We learned the 11 functions that a cell performs, and which organelles do which jobs.  All that going on in one tiny cell.  Wow!  Isn't our Creator marvelous!?!
Then we learned about cellular respiration - how cells make their energy.   We learned that the formula for cellular respiration was the opposite of photosynthesis.  Your cells take in glucose and oxygen, and from the reaction of those two molecules is made energy, water, and the carbon dioxide that we breathe out.
It is a very complicated process, more so than what is in our textbook even!  I've never been to college, nor do I remember much about biology from high school.  (I do remember something about leaves...)
So it took me awhile to plow thru the explanations, and looking up stuff online.  Once I got the gist of it, I decided to make a game.  The kids love games.  They will listen better if they know we're going to play games so they can win points for their team.  So.... a game it is!  =)
We had the 4 stages of cellular respiration to learn, plus the overall effect of what was used and what was the end result of cellular respiration.  They learned a little at a time, and kept adding stages until they had (temporarily) memorized all 4 stages and the overall effect.  We only played about 4 rounds because we were running short on time.  This was a preview of the next part of the chapter, so we had to study it first!
Rebekah and cousin C's team won.

They placed the names of the molecules on the "blanks" to fill in the chemical formula.  Each time we added a stage, they had to mix up all the cards.  Eventually we had all 10 posterboard pieces on the bar!   =D  Even though they won't retain without more studying, at least they got a jump start on it.
Later I was commenting to Rebekah that it was amazing that all that could go on in such a tiny cell.  And 2,000 of them can fit in a line across your fingernail!
She laughed, "Yeah, and we used the whole bar!"  =D
We also learned about how substances traveled in and out of cells and about passive and active transport.  Since we don't have a microscope, I posted pictures and videos at Homeschooler's Resources so they could see closeups of cells.
Each time I look through an upcoming module, I'm slightly overwhelmed at all the stuff that's way over my head!  But I just keep re-reading until I get it, and I am pleased at how well I actually do understand it.  I'm also a little astounded!  I learned all this?  And it's just a drop in the bucket compared to the vast information there really is!
I'm just in awe at all the things God created and how intricate they are!