Investigations in Science 7 – February 16, 2018

Announcements:
Today, 7th graders will be completing a grade reflection. Students will be
looking at their grades in all classes, and writing down all assignments marked as Z’s
(can still be turned in for credit). We will be completing this reflection every
Friday during different content classes. Science will be this week and next
week. The purpose of this task is for students to see the impact of their missing
assignments now and not wait until the end of the quarter, along with improving
their work completion and making up work when they are absent.

Graded Assignments Turned in this week:

 Lab: Small Intestine, Fat Digestion
 Lab: Hands
 MiniQuiz: Intestines
 Assessment: Digestion
 Lab: Balloon Breath
 Grade Reflection Sheet

Coming Up:
Topics:
 Respiratory System
 Circulatory System

Dates:
 February 19 – No School
 February 21 – Chick Fil-A Dine Out Night!!!!
 February 22 – Student vs. Staff Basketball Game at 3:00 pm
 March 2 – Early Release Day

What we did this week:

 This week, we continued to follow the path of our food from the stomach to
the small intestine. The small intestine is lined with villi. The villi absorb the
nutrients from the food and send it to the blood. Students measured their hand
with closed fingers and opened fingers to show how villi increase the surface area
of the small intestine. This helps the intestine absorb more nutrients.
The small intestine is aided by the liver which produces bile to break down
fat. Groups were given oil, water, and baking soda. One beaker had only oil and
water. The other beaker had oil, water, and then baking soda added. Both cups
were stirred. They were able to see that the cup with baking soda broke down the
oil into smaller blobs. This is the same thing the bile does in the small intestine.
The small intestine ended our lab journey through the digestive
system. Although the undigested parts travel to the large intestine and out the
anus, it would be a waste of time to observe (get it, waste, waste of time ;-
). Throughout the week we completed a graphic organizer labeling the organs of
the digestive system and their function after seeing how they worked first hand.
Then, we finished up the digestive system. We reviewed for the assessment
with a crossword puzzle, and reviewed the functions of the digestive system by
looking to see how they relate to other systems of the body. Then on Thursday,
we took an assessment which is retakable. Retakes will be announced once I pass
back the assessment.
Then, we breathed a sigh of relief to be done with the digestive system and
began the respiratory system. We started by looking at the respiratory system
and how our respiratory system is the reason our cells go through cellular
respiration which creates energy for our body. We use the oxygen we breathe in,
and use the food we eat, to create energy for ourselves.
Today, we will take a look at how much air we breathe in and out with a
balloon breath lab. Every person will get their own balloon! They first will take a
normal breath and exhale into the balloon. They measure the diameter of the
balloon and compare it to the lung capacity chart. After repeating for 3 trials they
then will take a deep breath and measure the diameter. We will go over how gases
are inhaled from the mouth or nose and travel to the lungs from the trachea.

Have a great weekend!