Blog 5/9/21

This week we finished building our rockets, but we didn’t get the chance to launch them because it rained on the day we were going to. Instead we started making books about things we have learned throughout all the years that we have had science with Shane. We are taking a picture for each page to describe the subject then we also write a little paragraph about each one as well. Thats about all we did so I watched a TED-ED about how plants defend themselves, and here is what I learned. Plants have defence mechanisms that are on the inside and outside of a plant, for instance, bark is full of lignin which is a ridged web of compounds that is tough to chew. Leaves are protected by a  waxy cuticle that deters insects and microbes. Some plants use defence mechanisms like spikes and thornes to deter the bigger predators. Some plants leaves have hairlike structures called trichomes, the kidney bean plants have tiny hooks to stab the feet of bed bugs and other insects, in some species trichomes also dispense chemical iratense. For the plants the pain comes after the herbivore takes its first bite. Spinach, kiwi, pineapple, fuchsia, and rhubarb, all produce microscopic needle shaped crystals called raphides, they can cause tiny wounds on the inside of an animals mouth, which creates entry points for toxins. The mimosa plant has a strategy designed to prevent herbivores from taking a bite at all, specialised mechanoreceptor cells that detect touch and shoot an electrical signal through the leaflet to its base causing the cells to release charged particles, the buildup of charge draws water out of these cells and they shrivel, pulling the leaf closed. The motion of the leaf folding scares the insect away.

Do all plants have atleast one defense mechanism?

Do plants develop these skills as they grow?

What plants last through winter?

 

5/2/21 Blog

This week we started looking into pollution and trash, we recently had earth day and we have been studying the causes of plastics on us, animals, and the environment. We watched a documentary about plastic and the amount that animals consume and people. Then in math we picked up trash on the side of the road and sorted into different categories. We also started a new unit, rockets and thesis going to be our last unit for the year.

How much trash ends up in the ocean every day?

Is there a way to get rid of micro plastics?

how long does it take plastic to turn into micro plastics?

4/11 Blog Roller Coasters

This week was our first week back from break. We started off the week by putting the finishing touches on our slideshow and roller coaster. Then we took a walk in the woods, and once everyone was done with their roller coasters we presented them to the second-grade class. Second grade caught on pretty quick with the vocabulary and terms. Such as kinetic energy, potential energy, positive acceleration, and negative acceleration. Towards the end, they ended up showing us where all of these terms occurred. After we finished with that we started talking about the science expo and working on the roller coaster jam board. 8th grade gets to work on hovercrafts which I am very excited about and we also have a group project with our hovercraft groups about the effects of covid.

What are the other vocabulary words for roller coasters?

What is our next unit?

How many years have you been working on roller coasters?

Blog 2/21/21

This week so far we have done a second lab that was about blood types. I learned about antibodies and blood types. There are four different blood types type A type B type AB-type O people with type AB blood can have any other blood types because they don’t have the antibodies to the other types of blood. People with type A, O, and B can only have a blood donor with the same blood that they have because they have antibodies to the other blood types. When you get the wrong blood type is your immune system attacks the transfused red blood cells.

How rare is it to have type O blood?

Is it possible to have type OB blood?

does this apply to dogs?

Image result for blood types

Blog 2/14/21

This week we started a unit on the truth about smoking and doing a campaign on, then 8th grade watched wild America, I think it was called because 7th had extra music that was fun, then after that, we did a pear lab which was cool and we learned some stuff about the heart. We also cut out little paper hearts so that we had a “model” Image result for heart

Blog 1/31/21

This week we did our presentations for coming to your senses I was in the group that did the ear, we made a salt dough map of the ear and we did a slideshow of all the different parts and we also did a Kahoot, that was kind of confusing. We also finished up our drugs and that was fun. I learned a lot about the ear, and I didn’t know that we had three bones in our ears, ears are also connected to the throat and brain. I also learned that there are three different parts to the ear, the inner ear, middle ear, and outer ear.

Can you get an ear transplant?

If so will you be able to hear?

When you clean out your ears does it push the earwax towards the eardrum?
Picture of the Ear: Ear Conditions and Treatments

Blog 1/10/21

This week we started a new unit about drugs and how much it effects us and our community I chose to do psilocybin mushrooms and Lucy is doing them as well they are not a very popular drug because they are only used for pleasure and there is no positive outcome of them, the street names for psilocybin mushrooms are, magic mushrooms, shrooms, and mushrooms. There aren’t very many. and there is no medicinal use it only makes you feel very bad after you get high from it.Psilocybin mushrooms

Blog 12/13/2020

This week has just started but I just finished the storyboard for the urinary system, I learned quite a bit from it, like how all the liquid we drink is not just excreted it is also recycled and used in our bloodstreams and used for other things, and only some of it is excreted. We are close to break and I’m very excited except I don’t get to see my family. But I think Alisha and I are finished with our project so I got the chance to work on my blog, we are missing a science class for music but we are working on presenting our projects.

Urinary System: Facts, Functions & Diseases | Live Science

Blog 12/2/2020

This week we were presenting our projects, I am doing liver cancer,  I haven’t presented yet but everyone’s done a great job so far. We started a partner project with the urinary system, I am with  Alisha and we are almost done with our visual and we just started our storyboard that. We have our character as Santa and on Wednesday  7th grade wasn’t with us for the first period so we went on a walk and played predator prey.

How big are kidneys?

Where do all the names of organs come from?

Can you ever drink to much water?

blog 11/15/2020

This week in science we finished our tests and put a finish on our chairs. So that they last longer and they are very shiny, we also started working on our digestive journey projects and we watched a video about this weird dude and looked at some other people’s slides that they had done. Then after that, we did an experiment with saltines where you crush one of them up in your hand and you chew the other one for 3 minutes, it was really gross but then you put 30 MLS of water into each of them then you put in a chemical and it changes the color and the one that was chewed was a lot lighter because of all the chemicals in our mouths that are used to digest the food and the crushed one was darker.

How do the chemicals get to our mouths?

How does the color part work?

was this a new experiment?