How are plants like humans? By Reed

You may think that a plant is not like an animal because it can’t move, and it can’t defend itself. But that is not true - if a plant is in the shade, it can grow towards the sunlight. This is movement, but it is just too slow for us to see. Plants also have many ways of defending themselves. While humans have weapons, plants have thorns and poisons.

Humans and plants are made of the same basic substances. There are similarities in their reproductive systems. Both systems include sperm cells and egg cells. The female part of flowers also have ovaries.

Humans have evolved to live in certain climates, but then when they want to live in other climates they have to invent ways to stay warm or cool or to find a way to survive. Plants have also found ways to survive in many different climates such as the desert to the alps. This has happened slowly through evolution. You may never have thought that plants are like humans, but when you think that they move, and defend themselves and can survive in very challenging environments, it is astonishing how similar plants and humans really are.

THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM by Alden

You may have already heard but we recently finished our body systems unit and model building project, but I just want to get into the specifics of a single body system. I want to talk about the muscular system. Did you know that to take one step you're using just over 200 muscles? That just makes napping not seem to bad after all.

In your body you have three types of muscles. The smooth muscle, the cardiac muscle, and the skeletal muscle. The skeletal muscle is a muscle attached to a bone, a cardiac muscle can only be found in the heart, and the smooth muscle is only found in organs. Something I should mention is if you are dedicated to getting strong and you work really hard at it just know that it takes half as long to gain muscle than it does to lose it. That is not an excuse to sit on the couch all day.

Muscles are very important in everyday life and are necessary to survival. They are really important because they help you move, help your heart beat, and help your other organs function. I chose this topic because I wanted to address how cool and interesting muscles are. Trust there is so much more to learn than I have just told you and I encourage you to learn more.

Mountain Lion: One of the “Big Cats” by Erin

This incredible cat is one of the “big cats” because of its powerful predatory skills. The mountain lion is also called the cougar or catamount. The mountain lion is found throughout North and South America. The mountain lion now is found mostly in the western U.S. instead of all over like it used to be found. They are comfortable in many different habitats. They have the widest geographic range of any cat in the Western Hemisphere. Mountain lions in North America mainly eat deer, but they also will eat smaller animals. They have excellent vision and hearing, but a poor sense of smell. They mainly hunt in the evening and in the early morning. Like a house cat, the mountain lion stalks its prey then-pounce! Their hind legs are so powerful they can jump 40-45 feet! Mountain lions hide their prey under leaves and soil so they can feed on it for several days. Surprisingly, mountain lions don't roar. Females “scream” loudly to attract males though. Generally, there are 2-4 cubs per litter, and they are born in a den. The cubs are born with spots! The spots disappear when they are about nine months old, and their eyes turn from blue to yellow at about 16 months. 18 months at the latest the young mountain lions leave their mom. Mountain lions are powerful predators. They are big and strong. Because of this, they are one of the “big cats.” The mountain lion is an amazing animal because of its adaptations to hunt. I chose this topic because I watched an episode of a TV show that had this adaptable cat in it, and I thought it was cool and I wanted to learn more. This topic connects to our class because earlier in the year we learned about animal adaptations, and the mountain lion has adapted with strong legs to be a formidable predator. Do you think the mountain lion’s poor sense of smell impacts their hunting in a negative/positive way?

Here's a link to a video about mountain lions

From this:

To this:

The Human Reproductive System by Elijah

In science right now we are doing human reproduction. We are learning about puberty and physical changes like when the body grows hair. I chose this topic because it is interesting to learn how many changes there are in your body during puberty. I think that what we are learning is very important for middle schoolers to process. We have done some different work sheets for the female and male reproductive system. So far I think this unit is going really well for my class.