Week of 12/15/14

Biology- This week our focus is on respiration, another difficult topic. We will lecture anaerobic respiration on Monday. Muscle Fatigue lab will be Tuesday with the report due by the end of class Wednesday. Wednesday we will lecture aerobic respiration and plan for a 50pt test for Friday this week. Thursday will be work time as well as a review periods 1-4 you are on your own if you are involved in the elementary concert. AP biology- Monday will be a work day to prepare for your presentation on who came to dinner. Tuesday will start with the presentations and follow with a discussion on speciation. Wednesday will include an activity on speciation. Thursday lecture primate evolution and an activity on the human species. Friday Test Evolution.

Week of 11/24/14

Biology-We have a short week this week guys and we will be starting a new topic. Photosynthesis. This is one of the most difficult topics of the year. I hope you are up for the challenge! Monday will be an intro lecture on how organisms get energy and the electromagnetic spectrum. Tuesday will be research questions on the spectrum that are due for Tuesday. Have a nice Thanksgiving! AP Biology- Well we made it to Thanksgiving. We are working on cladogram worksheets and will have some time in class to finish them off. I plan on spending a little time reviewing for Tuesday's quiz. Wednesday we will practice some AP test questions. Happy Thanksgiving!

Week of 11/17/14

biology...Lots of lecture this week as we finish our big topic of cells. We still have the cell cycle cancer connection which will be our topic on Monday. Make sure you have your cancer RS ready to hand in! Tuesday we will focus on meiosis comparing the process in males and females and providing reasons for those differences. Wednesday we will finish our cell topic with how genetic variations are introduced during meiosis. We will end class with a review work sheet. Be sure to have it finished for Thursdays jeopardy review day. Remember Cell Test is Friday!

Week of 11/11/14

BIOLOGY...Lots going on this week that will interrupt class schedules. We are working with the stages of cellular reproduction and managed to complete lecture last Friday. Tuesday we will pick up with a lab activity that will test your ability to identify the stages of the cell cycle in an onion root tip. The lab will run 2 days and be due Thursday. Wednesday is a 2 hour delay schedule for the board meeting so we will finish our labs in that 1/2 hour period. Thursday we will look at the cell cycle connection in lecture first and then reinforce with a reading strategy that must be finished for homework. Friday is a pep rally schedule but we will make the most of class time and lecture on meiosis. No tests or quizzes are scheduled for the week.

Week of 11/3/14

Biology- Hopefully everyone worked over the weekend on their portfolios masterpieces. I look forward to grading them! This week we continue our discussion of cells with the topic of transport on Monday and Tuesday. Monday will be lecture on active transport followed by lab set up for potato osmosis. Tuesday will be a transport quiz remaining time will be for reading lab results and answering analysis questions. Completed labs are due on Wednesday. The plan for Wednesday is a movie Segway between transport and cell reproduction processes. It is a discovery school production and a perfect fit with our topics. Thursday will be lecture on the cell cycle followed by a worksheet if time allows. Lecture and worksheet will carry over to Friday if we need additional time. AP Biology....This week our focus is Gregor Mendel and the science of genetics. Following lecture we will spend some time refreshing our memories on how to solve Punnett squares. I'm planning on a punnett square quiz Wednesday. Thursday will be lecture on short cuts to predicting offspring traits followed be research on techniques used in modern genetics laboratories. Friday we will discuss our research findings and watch a video on the science of genetics.

Week of 10/ 27/14

Biology- The first 3 days of this week will be lab days. We are working with our microscopes and viewing cells from a variety of plants, animals and fungi. The finished lab is due at the end of class Wednesday. We will be using Wednesday as a work day for anything that needs your attention...portfolios, labs, research or organelle worksheets. Thursday we will introduce and lecture cellular transport...passive. We will follow up with a worksheet. Friday lecture will be active transport with time to complete the worksheet. If time allows we will set up a lab that we will read on Monday. AP BIOLOGY DNA is our focus for the week. Monday will be lecture on Replication followed by a reinforcement worksheet due Tuesday. Tuesday lecture on protein synthesis. Wednesday will involve DNA research. Thursday we will watch the movie GATTACA very appropriate for our lecture topic. It will take a little extra time on Friday So after the quiz we will finish it as a nice way to head into the weekend.

Week of 10/13/14

Well guys we made it through the organic chem topic and are now heading into more familiar topics on cells. This unit will take us aprox. 4 weeks and includes a lot of labs ,research etc. so I hope you are up for the challenge! More info will follow but for now... Tuesday- Lecture History of cell discovery and the cell theory. Time line assignment( due Friday) Wednesday- Most students will be taking the PSAT...those who are with me will have class time to work on their timeline. Thursday- Lecture cell organelles- Portfolio assignment will be discussed. Friday- complete organelle discussion for animals-WS organelle chart(to be included with portfolio. AP BIOLOGY Topics this week will revolve around cell reproduction...No tests or quizzes are scheduled. Tuesday-Lecture Binary fission. Work sheet on the cell cycle. WEDNESDAY- Lecture Meiosis...Research questions assigned Thursday I will be at honor society induction practice. Students in class can continue with research questions. Friday review for test scheduled for Monday!