Today the students had some time to work on the questions from the cell size lab. They needed to share data with their lab groups and construct four different line graphs.
Tuesday 11/20
Thanks to Corey S from 6th period…
Today we had a quiz on the lab about cell size in relation to diffusion we did on Friday, and then we went over some notes about the cell cycle that Mrs. Giegler has on a powerpoint. The most important thing I learned was that the centromere holds two sister chromatids together. The coolest part of class today was getting to use our lab packets while we took the quiz! The only homework we had today was to read the packet on cancer Mrs. Giegler gave us and highlight the things we found interesting. A good test question I could ask from today is: What are the names of the 3 phases of interphase?
Wednesday 11/21
According to Natasha T from 5th hour
On the twenty-first of November, we continued notes from the previous day about the cell cycle. We learned that in Metaphase, the spindle fibers from the centrioles of the cell attach to the chromosomes, which line up in the 'middle' of the cell. The nucleus completely disappears. Then the cell moves onto anaphase, in which the spindle fibers pull chromosomes apart and drag them to opposing poles of the cell. The cell reaches telephase, where the chromosomes are on opposite ends of the cell and the membrane pinches inward, creating a cleavage furrow. In this phase, the nuclear membrane also reforms, (along with the nucleolus) DNA unwinds, and the spindle fibers break apart. This ends Mitosis. After this, Cytokinesis occurs, and the cytoplasm splits, creating 2 new cells. Mitosis and cytokinesis together create the M phase of the cell cycle.
We also learned a bit about Plant cell division- it is similar except for the lack of centrioles, which form from the centrosomes. In Cytokinesis, a cell plate forms in the center of the dividing cell, and grows in either direction, splitting the plant cell.
We also did a lab, by looking at a 'frozen' onion root tip. We had to search for all phases of the cell. I think this was the coolest part of class, because my partner and I saw most of the phases. Anaphase looked really interesting because we actually saw the spindle fibers pull the chromosomes apart.
For homework we had to color code the cell cycle, which was pretty entertaining.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that everyone was able to spend some time with loved ones and eat lots of tasty food J
Friday 11/23
Personally my mother and I enjoyed some fun black Friday shopping – if you were out there, I hope you got all of the deals you were searching for!
Monday 11/26
Today we are going to break the day into two halves. The first half of the day will be devoted to a lab where the students will be determining the time that a cell spends in each stage of mitosis. To accomplish this, we will be taking a look at the following website:
Then we will finish the second half of the day by reviewing for our quiz tomorrow. To do this students will be completing a word sort with pictures of each stage. Students should anticipate finishing any questions they did not complete from the first half of the day and spending some time reviewing the different stages of the cell cycle for homework.
Tuesday 11/27
Today we are going to take our quiz on the cell cycle. There are 25 multiple choice questions and then some identification questions where students will be viewing the different stages under the microscope.
Wednesday 11/28
Today we will spend some time going over the quiz and then the students will begin to read about enzymes and their role. Their homework will be to complete some prelab questions.
Thursday 11/29
Today we are going to be starting a lab that will help the students learn about the role of enzymes and how they work.
Friday 11/30
Today we will finish the pineapple enzyme lab. Students should complete any questions they do not have finished for homework.