Microscopic Cells

In science we have done a lot with cells. We downloaded an awesome app called iCell. It lets you look at animal and plant cells, as well as bacteria. As well as looking at virtual cells, we have been looking at real cells under a microscope. We looked at onion cells after we stained them with iodine so we could see the nuclei. Then we looked at cells from an elodea plant. I liked these better because they had chloroplasts. The next cells we are going to look at are animal cells that we are going to scrape from our own cheeks! It's going to be scary, but fun! (by Jacob)

The Cell Unit

Last week in science we started our cell unit. We have learned about the cell theory and what function every cell part does. We have looked under the microscope at an onion and saw the nucleus and the cytoplasm. We are going to look at an elodea cell under the microscope and a cell that we will take off our own cheek. I think it is very cool that we actually get to look at cells and cell walls under the microscope. I think looking at the cell wall is the most interesting part of the lab. (by Izzy)

Cells

In 6th grade science we have been learning about the parts and functions of a cell. We have been examining onion layers under the microscope so we can view the plant cells. When we viewed the cells we were able to see the nucleus and cell wall in only a tiny layer of the onion. We learned that we are not able to see the chloroplasts because the onion bulb lives in the ground. We are transitioning to looking at our second plant cell called the elodea leaf. We all plucked a small sample of the elodea leaf and placed it on the slide. When we looked at the magnified sample, we can see the chloroplast slowly moving throughout the elodea leaf. This has been a blast so far. I can't wait to continue what we have started!  (By Jane)

Cell Study

In science lately we have been studying plant and animal cells. A plant cell shape is rectangular and an animal cell shape isn't any shape it's blobby like. The plant cell is stiff because it has a cell wall, a rigid layer of non-living material that surrounds the plant cell.The animal cell is flexible because it doesn't have a cell wall so it's a cell membrane that surrounds the animal cell. While studying cells, at the same time we're going to look at them. For the animal cell we are going to look at our own cheeks cell. We are going to take a toothpick and rub it in the inside of our cheek. For plant cells we're going to look at two plant cells. One is a layer of onion scale and the other is elodea. The difference is the elodea has chloroplasts which makes the plant green. Onions don't have chloroplast because they’re not exposed to the sunlight.To see all the cells we're going to use a compound microscope. I am so excited for all the labs. (by Cocoe)

The Platypus

I chose the platypus because I have always wondered about its unique features. We are doing a cell unit and a platypus relates to it because the platypus is made up of cells. Platypuses lay eggs like birds however they are mammals. They are part of a species called monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs. It is also one of the few venomous mammals the male platypus has a spur on its hind foot that can cause swelling and can be very painful to humans. Platypuses use their bills for electrolocation. Electrolocation is a sense to find prey by sensing electric fields made by muscle contractions. The platypus' electrolocation is the best out of all the mammals that use electrolocation. The platypus is semiaquatic, so they have webbed feet to help them swim. They live in small streams and rivers over a large range. A platypus' life span is 17 years in captivity. What do you know about the platypus? Click here and here to see my resources. (By Courtney)

Cells in 6th!

In 6th grade science class we are gradually moving on to the study of cells. Our first homework assignment was to fill out a page and you could check mark the things that you think are made up of cells. After we gave the sheet back we reviewed it and filled in the correct answers if we got it wrong. Our second homework assignment was to answer questions on a worksheet by reading pages in our science book. So far we have learned about human cells and animal cells, and the textbook had us compare animal cells and plant cells and it asked us which two parts were in the plant cell and not in the animal cell. We explored an app called iCell that showed us what animal, bacteria and plant cells look like. The app showed different parts of a cell and if you clicked on it, it would tell you what the part was, which is very helpful. We have only just started the study of cells and I can't wait to learn more about them! (by Laney)

The Amazing Rabbits!!

Rabbits are herbivores that feed on grass and leafy weeds. A consequence on that is that their diet contains big amounts of cellulose which is hard to digest. Cellulose is a substance that is the main part of the cell walls of plants and that is used in making various products. Rabbits solve the problem through a form of hindgut fermentation. Hindgut fermentation is a digestive process seen in herbivores with a single chambered stomach. Hindgut fermentation is what allows rabbits to digest cellulose. Rabbits habitats include meadows, forests, woods, grasslands, deserts, and wetlands. More than half the worlds rabbit population lives in North America. They are also native to southwestern Europe, southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and in parts of Africa and South America. I chose to write about rabbits because I've always thought they were an interesting animal. Did you know The World’s Largest Rabbit weighs approximately 50 pounds and is currently 4 feet, 3 inches tall. I hope this blog post expanded your knowledge on rabbits. Thanks for reading!! (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit)

By Grace

My Microscope Blog Post

Recently in science class we have been learning how to use microscopes. We already had a quiz on the parts of the microscope and now we get to use them in our labs. We are examining all sorts of objects such as hair, thread and paper under magnification. Sometimes Lisa lets us look at whatever we want under the microscope but in order to use the microscopes, we have to follow these certain steps: plug in the microscope, turn it on, look to see if the object is in focus, turn the coarse focus knob to bring the object into general focus.  If it's still blurry then we turn the fine focus knob, then we adjust the power to our liking, and enjoy the view!  It has been fun looking at objects up to 400 times their normal size!  (by Connor)

Dropping Populations

For many people, fishing is satisfying and rewarding because you are able to eat what you catch while being in nature. There is a high demand for fish all over the world. Fish is popular in restaurants and grocery stores, fish is used in pet food, bait and in some supplements. There is so much fishing going on that some species are getting to extinction. Some species cannot reproduce fast enough to keep up with the demand. People are also farm raising fish like red snapper, Atlantic salmon, bluefin tuna, and king crab to help make up for shortage. Fish farms are not always environmentally friendly because they give the fish unnatural diets and their enclosures are small which spreads disease. Do you think that some of these species will get wiped out? Go here for more information. (by Ned)

Introduction to cells

Have you thought about how there are things that make up your body and make it work or how you can move your fingers without really having to think about it? Right now as you are reading this just stretch out your arm, move your fingers and just think about it. How the brain messages travel down to your fingers then how do your fingers interpret them, and then eventually, which is really a split second, move. Well some of the things that help do that are cells. Cells can range from spidery starfish looking things (nerves) to flat plate lookings things (red blood cells). They all have a different function to them, like the nerves feel things and the red blood cells move oxygen to your tissues. But then it is almost like the cell has a body of its own. It has an outer layer like skin called the cell membrane, a brain called the nucleus, etc. There are about 200 different types of cells in your body and about 20 different types of organelles or parts of a cell. There are about 2 billion muscle cells in your heart. So based on that information how many cells do you think there are in the body? Click here to see the cell rap. (by Ilo)

Dog Blog

You know that dogs roll over on their backs when they meet each other because they are surrendering, right? If you don't know that, that's good because it's not true. Let me tell you what is. Dogs roll over on their backs when they meet so it's harder for the other dog to bite the back of their neck. Also the dog is in a good position to spring up and bite the underside of the other dog's neck. It would make sense that the smaller dog would roll over on its back but actually the size doesn't matter... But you'd be happy to know that 90% of dogs are defensive, 10% offensive and 0% submissive or surrendering. Now you know your dog's not always surrendering all the time. Click here to read an article about it. (by Henry)