Events of the Past Week
Monday - The first thing we did in class was take 5 minutes with our lab partners to look over our heart anatomy labs that were due. Afterwards, I chose one student's lab from each group to collect and grade. We then looked at our digestive system quizzes so that the students could figure out what they did not know that they were asked about on the quiz. Finally, we watched the movie "Hemo the Magnificent," which does a nice job of giving an overview of the heart, blood circulation, and characteristics of arteries, veins, and capillaries.
Tuesday - I lectured to the students on the circulatory system. We covered the functions of the circulatory system, the parts of blood, the anatomy and physiology of the heart, and the anatomy of blood vessels.
Wednesday - All of the freshman biology teachers were given a time grant on Wednesday to work on developing our ecology unit. Ecology is a topic we usually do not spend much time on, but given the new push globally for going green and finding renewable resources, we thought that this ought to be a topic we spend more time on in class. While we were meeting, the students were working on interpreting a graph related to the circulatory system, labeling a diagram of the heart, completing a crossword puzzle of vocabulary from the circulatory system, and working on a study guide that corresponded with their textbook on the circulatory system. For homework the students completed the study guide.
Thursday - We took a quiz on the circulatory system. Afterwards, the students completed a diagram that had them label the parts of the respiratory system, which we then checked afterwards.
Friday - We completed our final dissection of our fetal pigs! This included the parts of the respiratory system both in the mouth and the thoracic (chest) cavity, as well as the parts of the urinary system. Your kids should be able to tell what the four parts of the urinary system are and what the general function of each part is. For homework they should be completing all of the questions in the lab handout from our dissection.
Upcoming Events
Monday - We will be using our textbooks in class to review some of the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system. Please let your children know that they need to bring their textbooks to class, as I forgot to remind them on Friday. Thank you!
Tuesday - I'll be lecturing on the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system, including the functions of each of the parts of the respiratory system as well as the mechanics and control of breathing rate.
Wednesday - We will review for our test on Thursday. We may use our CPS system (remote control quiz setup) to do this. The test is usually relatively difficult because there is a lot of material to remember, so make sure your children start studying before Wednesday night. They should study their class notes and their lab handouts.
Thursday - The test will include approximately 75 multiple choice questions and 25 lab practical questions. The lab practical will involve 8 stations with 7 pigs and my calf heart. At each station the students will have one minute to look at various parts of the pig or heart with pins in them. There will be about 3 questions per station that either ask the students to identify a body part or tell me something about what the body part does for the organism.
Friday - We will review our test results and begin our ecology unit with a handout called "Introduction to Ecology," which the students will be completing for homework.
Graba Geek of the Week
This week's geek of the week goes to Matt Faust, who works really hard at everything he does in biology. As a result, he is consistently at the top of the class on quizzes and tests. His homework and lab work are also very well done, which is probably one of the big reasons he does so well on quizzes and tests. Matt also asks very good questions in class and is not afraid to answer questions, either. Congratulations, Matt!
Thank you for publishing this blog. I know it's extra work for you, but it's very helpful as my student doesn't seem to fully communicate with us. Not untypical for high schoolers, but frustrating for parents!
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