Investigations in Science 7 October 27, 2017

Announcements:
Just a reminder that students are not allowed to dress up in costume for
Halloween.

Recently we have had a number of different labs. All labs are graded in 7th
grade and put in the formative category. They are not retakable so I talk with the
students about completing quality work particularly while completing labs. Labs
make up the largest part of their grade for the quarter.

We are seeing work completion as an area of improvement that is needed for

some students. I will start including a list of assignments that were/will be graded
from this week.
1. HW: Review Sheet: Photosynthesis (Since the answer key is now on Google
Classroom, they can make flashcards for this information to receive credit.
I will no longer be accepting the study guide)
2. QUIZ: Assessment: Photosynthesis
3. CW: Lab: Guard Cells
4. CW: Lab: Evidence of Photosynthesis
5. CW: Lab: Cycling of Matter during Photosynthesis
6. CW: Warm Ups

Coming Up:
Topics:
Cellular Respiration

Dates:
October 23-27 - Red Ribbon Week
o October 27 - Wear FMS Colors
October 27 - FMS Dance @ 6:00 pm
November 2 - RETAKES Photosynthesis Assessment
November 2 - RETAKES Environmental Factors and Plant Growth
Assessment
 November 2 - Band Trip Parent Meeting @ 7:00 pm
November 3 - Medieval Times
November 7 Cellular Respiration Study Guide due
November 8 Cellular Respiration Assessment
November 9 - End of 1st Quarter
November 9 - Early Dismissal
November 9 - Parent Conferences
November 10 - Early Dismissal
November 13 - Professional Day
November 14 - PTA Meeting @ 7:00 pm
November 15 - Town Hall Meeting - Period 2
November 17 - Early Dismissal
November 19 - Social Studies Family DC Museum Field Trip
November 22 - Early Dismissal
November 23-24 - No School
November 27 - Bill Nye's Birthday

What we did this week:

Monday, Cycling of Matter during Photosynthesis, takes a look at what the

molecules are doing while going through photosynthesis. We used different color
beads to represent different elements: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. We made
molecules with the beads of both water and carbon dioxide to represent the
REACTANTS or what is needed before the chemical reaction of photosynthesis.
Students then rearranged the same beads to create molecules of glucose and
oxygen which are the PRODUCTS or what is created because of a chemical
reaction, of photosynthesis. Students should notice that the number of atoms (or
beads), is the same for the reactants and products. The atoms just get
rearranged and attach to new things to make new molecules.
Tuesday, we started off with a lab to show evidence of photosynthesis in
plants. We looked a chemical called bromothymol blue. It is a dark blue color and
in the presence of carbon dioxide, it turns yellow. We watched a demonstration of
someone blowing bubbles through a straw into the bromothymol blue and watching
the color change from blue to yellow. Then we watched a demonstration of 3
different air tight test tubes which all contained carbon dioxide rich bromothymol
blue (so they were yellow in color). Two of the tubes contained a plant elodea. One
of those test tubes that contained elodea was wrapped in foil so that light could
not get to the plant. The other two test tubes were placed in direct light. We
noticed the test tubes that had elodea and in the direct light, the bromothymol
blue changed from yellow to blue because the elodea was using the carbon dioxide
to go through photosynthesis. The test tube that was wrapped in foil and no light
could travel to the plant, the bromothymol blue stayed the yellow color because it
was unable to go through photosynthesis and was not able to use the carbon
dioxide. You can see the experiment at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpgZG9T0y34
Wednesday we read about food our basil plants will need. Students have
been busy constructing their hydroponics systems in class. We will be adding our
nutrient solutions next week. As we read about the food our basil plants need,
they looked at what nutrients we need to make sure are present in the food
chosen.
Another lab we conducted this week was allowing the students to see the
type of cells that takes in carbon dioxide so that it can go through photosynthesis.
We had a leaf and put some clear finger nail polish on the underside of the leaf
(carbon dioxide enters through the bottom of the leaf so the cells can only be
found there). We applied a 2nd coat and then waited for the nail polish to dry.
Once it was dry, we put a piece of clear tape on top of the nail polish and carefully
pulled the tape off. Attached to the clear piece of tape was the nail polish and the
cells from the underside of the leaf. We put the tape on a slide and looked
through the microscope to be able to identify guard cells and the stomata
Today, we will model the similarities and differences between the equations
for cellular respiration and photosynthesis. Students will use beads and clues to
try to determine the equation for cellular respiration.

Have a great weekend!