September 23, 2012

September 23, 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful first official weekend of fall!  Hopefully all of our freshmen enjoyed their first Homecoming experience as well.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - To begin class, I collected a lab activity that we had finished in class on Friday.  We then took notes on carbohydrates.

Tuesday - All of our class periods were shortened due to the late start day.  The students busily built models of carbohydrates during the course of the class period.  We ended up building a polysaccharide that was 28 monosaccharides long.  We used our model to review some of the characteristics of carbohydrates that we had learned the day before.  Homework was to complete the section on proteins from the students' biocchemistry worksheet.

Wednesday - The students took notes on the functions and characteristics of proteins.  When we were done, they built models of proteins by joining together many amino acids.  When we were all done, we used several of the students models to review some of the characteristics of proteins.  Homework was to complete the section on lipids in their biochemistry worksheet.

Thursday - The periods on Thursday were only 28 minutes long.  We began class by taking prefix quiz number 3.  When everyone was done, we then built models of triglycerides.  Homework was to complete the section on nucleic acids in their biochemistry worksheet.

Friday - Class periods were shortened to 42 minutes due to the Pep Assembly at the end of the day.  We began class by taking notes on lipids.  We then reviewed the lipid models the students had built on Thursday, and then the students were given 3 separate graphic organizers to work on.  There was one graphic organizer for carbohydrates, one for proteins, and one for lipids.  I encouraged the students to work on them over the weekend, but did not require it since it was Homecoming weekend.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will complete day one of our biochemistry lab, identifying molecules using three different indicators:  Benedict's, Iodine, and Biuret.  The students should learn from doing the lab which macromolecule each of these indicators is used to identify.  Homework will be to complete the graphic organizers the students received on Friday.

Tuesday - We will complete day two of our lab, using our indicators to identify the components of an unknown solution.  Homework will be to answer the questions that go along with the lab.

Wednesday - The students will hand in their labs, and then we will complete two different review sheets to help prepare for our test on Thursday.  Homework will be to study for our test on Thursday.

Thursday - The students will take their biochemistry test that will cover the periodic table, chemical bonding, properties of water, acids and bases, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.

Friday - The students will take the district assessment on biochemistry, which is 15 questions long and should be relatively easy for the students.  We will then review our results from the biochemistry test, and if time permits, begin our unit on graphing, the microscope, the metric system, and scientific notation.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week goes to Billy Maniscalco, who makes significant contributions to class on a daily basis by volunteering frequently and staying on task at all times.  Way to go, Billy!