Chapter 22 Test Tomorrow!

Chapter 22 test will be tomorrow!  Make sure that you study the study guide that I gave you in class today!  It will be very beneficial to you!  The questions that I asked on the study guide are questions that I KNOW will be on the test tomorrow!  Also due tomorrow will be your Chapter 22 Review Packet (Sections 1-5).  

Since classes are going to abbreviated tomorrow due to the PLAN test, after the test, we will discuss BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) rules and procedures.

See you tomorrow!  Please study and be prepared for your test!

~Mrs. Lawson~ 

Parent Teacher Conference Day Tomorrow!

Students are out of school tomorrow due to Parent Teacher Conference Day.  If any parent would like to schedule a conference with me, please call 423-354-1325.  Our guidance office handling the scheduling of conferences.  I will be glad to meet with any of you!

Students do not have homework over the long weekend.  But you do need to be prepared for a Chapter 22 test review on Monday and a Chapter 22 Test on Tuesday.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Yeast Fermentation Lab

Yesterday in class, students got the opportunity to see fermentation in action!  Since we have been studying fungi, we have discovered that yeast is a unicellular fungi that is able to break down sugar to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide.  Our experiment allowed us to see the carbon dioxide produced by combining warm water (a moist environment for yeast's ascospores to become active), yeast, and sugar in a test tube.  We capped off the test tube with a deflated balloon and watched as fermentation took place!  We were able to see bubbles rising in the test tube to indicate the fermentation was taking place, and eventually, the balloons started to inflate!  Students were excited to see the balloon inflate and even started thinking of different experiments and ways you could observe fermentation in action!  I was very proud of their hard work and responses to this lab.  Here are some pictures of our time in lab:

We started out by adding equal amounts of warm water to each of the 4 test tubes.

Then, we added equal amounts of yeast to each of the 4 test tubes.

Our next two steps were to add sugar to test tubes 1 and 2.  Test tubes 3 and 4 did not get sugar.  They served as our control group.  After mixing the solutions together, we capped the test tubes off with balloons to catch any carbon dioxide gas that was made.

Our last task was to observe fermentation in action!  If all went correctly, test tubes 1 and 2 should have had tremendous growth in theirs balloons as carbon dioxide was created as a by-product of fermentation.  Test tubes 3 and 4 should have had no air in them other than what may have still been in the balloon from the atmosphere before it was attached to the test tube.  No growth should have occurred.  Here are pictures of our results!

I hope everyone really enjoyed this experiment!  It was fun for me for sure!

Quick reminder that you have a Chapter 21 (Fungi) Test tomorrow!  Please study and be prepared!

~Mrs. Lawson~

Mushroom Dissection!

To introduce fungi after a short lecture, we dissected mushrooms in lab.  Students were required to view the hyphae (thin filaments that make up the body of a mushroom) and the gills under both a compound light and dissecting microscope.  I think the students found that viewing a mushroom was much more interesting than they thought.  The hyphae actually have a sparkly, glistening look to them.  Here is a peek of our lab activities today:

Don't forget your homework this evening:

1)  Finish your Section 1 Review Guide

2)  Finish your Mushroom Dissection Lab

3)   STUDY for your Chapter 21 Section 1 Quiz!

~Mrs. Lawson~

Protist Test Tomorrow!!!

I hope you will take the time tonight to prepare for the Protist test tomorrow!  We had some really great review game scores, and some that were not so great.  Fill in those gaps, and make sure you know your material before class tomorrow!

Major things that seemed to be missed:
1)  How we classify Kingdom Protista and its phyla
2)  What organisms belong to what phyla (ex:  An amoeba is a sarcodine.)
3)  What accessory pigments belong to what multicellular algae phyla
4)  All of the different phyla (animal-like, unicellular algae, & multicellular algae)

Those are some tough questions, but I have no doubt that you all can learn this information and use it to make AWESOME test grades!

Good luck!
~Mrs. Lawson~

Prepare for Test Review Tomorrow

After finishing up Chapter 20's discussion today of Fungus-like Protists, we worked the remainder of the class period on a study guide and key term review.  These are to be completed for homework if they were not finished in class!  You should also look over them several times to be able to actively participate in the review game tomorrow and to get the most benefit from it possible!!!

As extra review, see if you are able to identify to following protists:

Your Chapter 20  Test will be Friday!

Have a great afternoon!
~Mrs. Lawson~

Protists

After wrapping up our chapter on bacteria and viruses, we are now discussing protists.  Students are often very unfamiliar with these little creatures.  For the past couple days, we have been talking about protists and how they are classified.  We have also been in the lab viewing microscope slides with protists.  The students seem to really enjoy viewing the different shapes and structures that protists have!

Tomorrow, we will be finishing up our Plant-like Protists Lab by looking at several of the protists we discussed in class today.  Students will be looking at Euglena, Diatoms, Dinoflagellates, and other interesting creatures.

There will be no homework over the long weekend!  I hope everyone enjoys being off Monday and Tuesday!  :)

~Mrs. Lawson~