Looks like school on Friday!

Tomorrow in AP Biology we will start our 2100 points of quizzes ... check blog for some of the ecology vocab.  We will again prep up our Photosynthesis Lab which will now be on Monday.  We will finish our study of biochem and more ...

In Selected Topics in Science, we will continue our study of genetics and modes of inheritance ... we will generate a pedigree during class ... check you plants in the Great Plant Growing Contest ... several have germinated when I checked them today.

See you tomorrow!  Below the best picture I took on our last snow day vacation ....

Nearly forgotten ... this tombstone is lodged in the roots of a tree on Granny's farm near Long Creek.  It is very small family graveyard ... stones are over 150 years old ... I plan to do some work here this summer to reset some of the stones.

Snow, Snow ... Stay Away!

Today in our AP Biology classes, we checked the graph of our data and handed in the data sheet.  Next we went over our next Lab ... Chromatography / Photosynthesis.  We did 20 sample MC questions on ecology and started our study of biochemistry.  Tomorrow we will continue our student of biochemistry ... Chapters 3-5.

Tomorrow in AP we start our Big 2100 quizes ... I would know ... and more!

--- Gause's Competitive Exclusion Principle - When two species compete for the exact same resources (same niche) one will be successful and the other will either adapt or dies out.
--- r-selected species - opportunistic species that demonstrate rapid growth ... J-shaped growth curve!
--- fundamental niche - the niche an organism occupies when there are no competing species.  (realized niche when coexisting with other competing species)
--- ammonification - part of the nitrogen cycle ... when bacteria convert organic molecules to ammonia ... as waste ... NH3, urea or uric acid.
--- carrying capacity - The maximum number of individuals of a population that can be sustained by a particular habitat ...
--- biotic potential -  The maximum growth rate for a population under ideal conditions.
--- catalase - an enzyme ...

In Selected Topics in Science, we checked our plant containers and some watered their soil ... The Great Plant Growing Contest!  We also studied cell division today, mitosis and meiosis.  Toward the end of class we worked through some simple genetic problems (autosomal and Punnett Squares)  Tomorrow we will continue our study of genetics and do a lab on Chromatography.

Hopefully the snow will miss us and we will be in class.  Keep working!
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Enzyme Catalysis Lab in the book!

Our AP Biology classes finished up AP Lab #2 this morning.  We had varying results ... second block AP Group of Terika, Keith and David had the best results ... close to ideal data!   In this lab, the amount of hydrogen peroxide (the substrate)  catalyzed by catalase (the enzyme) increased with the time intervals (10, 30, 60 ... 240 , 360 seconds).  We will hand this lab data sheet in tomorrow after everyone finishes graphing the ideal data.  We used sulfuric acid in this lab so had to goggle up!  Daniel went a little over the top with this safety issue using ... is that 3 or 4 goggles!

One of the problems with this lab is the catalase (which is shipped separately) came in during our big snow break ... I came in to look for it twice but it had been delivered to the Central Office where it was room temperature for at least a day or more ... thanks to Jimmy Barlow to noticing it and bringing it back to the high school and putting it in the freezer. This might have been a factor.  

Students were able to do several titrations using a burette ... all in all a good lab!  Tomorrow, we will do a review of Ecology and start our study of biochemistry.  Later this week we will do Lab #4 - Photosynthesis.

In Selected Topics in Science, we finished our Regeneration Lab (regeneration the head of a planarian over a two week period).  We talked about how that happens ... genes are activated to make proteins that rebuild not only its head but also its brain ... real life applications and fixing neural tissue problems in humans ... Alzheimer's and spinal cord problems ... 

We also started our Plant Growing Contest using pea seeds.  This contest will continue for three weeks through which we will be talking about photosynthesis, crops and horticulture.

We also worked on and took a few notes on Replication of DNA, Transcription of DNA to RNA ... and, Translation of mRNA to a protein.  This will lead into our study of DNA and Genetics.  Tomorrow we will prep up a chromatography lab and continue to work on these concepts.

Congrats to Erika for being selected a semi-finalist for Emory Scholars (Emory University / Atlanta) ... this is a really big achievement and a prestigious honor!  Wow!

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Snow - No School Today! ... but, the snow was beautiful!

Our school was called off late yesterday evening.  Probably a good thing ... when I went up to Holland about 8:30 AM, snow was still on Hwy 100 and slick.

Fed the birds today and added a feeder up close to the house so I could get some picts.  Above and below are pictures of a slate colored junco ... one of my favorite winter birds.  They winter here but migrate to northern Canada for the summer and breeding season, a long trip for such a small bird (a little larger than a golden finch, shown in the bottom pict)  They love feeders, but feed on the ground so I threw out some extra sunflower seed close to the feeder by our back porch hoping to get pictures.

Today, I started building some supers for the summer ... all mediums.  I am setting up two 8 frame hives with mediums.  I picked up supplies at Kelley's in Grayson County the week before last.  Trying to buy local.  I will begin painting them tomorrow.  I need to order some bees for the spring ... I am thinking of ordering two swarms with queens from BeeWeaver in Texas ... they deliver to TN.  Last Spring I got 5 swarms from the brother, RWeaver (when our high school softball team played in Texas) and they were great bees ... quick buildup and actually made some surplus honey even thought it was well into April before I installed them.  I am hoping to get a diverse group of drones available when I start making splits.

I took a long walk down to Long Creek in the afternoon.  It was cold but a good time to see lots of animal tracks in the snow.

Students in AP need to begin working on your Chapter 3-4 discussion questions ... biochemistry is basic to understanding biology ... build in this foundation! ... especially protein structure and function!

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School out early but all my classes meet!

Our schools let out 2 hours early to beat the snow ... as of 7:00 CT ... we have about 2" or so ... doubt if we have school tomorrow.  Since my classes all meet early, we got all three in before leaving school!

In AP Biology ... we did the major portion of Lab#2, Enzyme Catalysis Lab ... students worked through parts 2B, 2C, and 2D ... establishing a baseline for our 1.5% hydrogen peroxide.  Then students ran the reaction hydrogen peroxide / catalase for different lengths of time ... 10 seconds to 360 seconds.  Most groups saw a decrease in the amount of hydrogen peroxide over time in the presence of the enzyme - catalase.

We will finish this lab on return ... remember we have a snow day assignment ... discussion questions on Chapter 3-4 ... do it!

In Selected Topics in Science, we continued our regeneration lab using planaria ... changing water and logging an observation.  We finished our study of biochemistry and organic molecules of our life with a spirited game of biochem poker.  In this activity, you take small molecule and try to make larger molecules by combining them together correctly ...  two rounds were won by the top hand, ATP!  

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Club Day ... Labs tomorrow!

We had club schedule today so students were in and out of class ...

In AP Biology (first and second blocks) we finished up on our discussion questions on Ecology.  Tomorrow, we have our Enzyme Catalysis Lab (AP Lab #2) ... Students will be using hydrogen peroxide as a substrate and catalase as an enzyme ...  students will set up reactions for several different time intervals and calculate the rates of reaction for each.  

In Selected Topics in Science we finished our review of biochemistry ... tomorrow, a little biochemical poker ... The beginning of the Plant Growing Contest was delays tomorrow.

After school, we had a meeting with the staff of Advance Kentucky concerning expanding our AP program.

Tomorrow we will have softball conditioning after school.

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Back to Work ... finally!

After missing six days of school for snow ... we are back to work.

I got a lot of work done at home during our time off.  Cleaned the basement and garage ... ugh!  Checked and fed (sugar candy and protein patties) our bees on one warm afternoon ... all fifteen hives are still buzzing!  Fed the birds daily ... we had common flickers in our yard almost daily and lots of birds are our four feeders ... cardinals, golden finches (now brown in winter), bluejays, doves, nuthatches, sparrows, slate colored juncos (my favorite, will try and get a pict), sparrows and many more.

Today at school, in my AP Biology classes, we prepped up our next lab ... Enzyme Catalysis Lab #2.  We also went over our discussion questions over Ecology ...  tomorrow is club schedule but we will continue on in Ecology ... our Enzyme Lab will be on Thursday.

In Selected Topics in Science, we checked our regenerating planaria and finished our molecule modeling lab.  Tomorrow our Plant Growing Contest begins and we will be working on biochemistry concepts.

After school our softball team had conditioning ... running then lifting weights ...

Most students had a hard time getting back in the routine ... evidently some people were sleeping in during our days off!  ... that would include me too!
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No School Friday and Monday ...

I am going to post on my website some discussion questions for biochemistry to work on this weekend.  Missing six days of AP is a serious problem and we will have to make some adjustments next week.  I will post again tomorrow when I update the website with discussion questions.

Also, our catalase came in for the enzyme lab which we will now have to do on Wednesday or Thursday lastest ... I put the catalase in the freezer but we need to use it asap.

If you are reading ahead ... skip Chapter 1 and move on to 2, 3 and 4.  Most important is anything on enzymes and proteins ...

Check back tomorrow evening!
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Long Weekend ... school tomorrow ... maybe!

No school last Friday on the threat of snow ... we will try again on Monday.

Over the weekend I drove the Science Olympiad team to north of Dayton, OH for a SO scrimmage.  Lots of good teams there ... at least one multiple national champion ... competition was the best in the country.  We had a few entries that finished in the top ten which was a very good start for this year's team.

Lots of slush on the way up ... was in a traffic jam south of Cincinnati for over an hour.  On the way back, we had some fuel trouble on the bus but finally got it going and returned by midnight via Lexington to drop off Erica for the Junior Miss State Competition ... best of luck!

Cleaned the bus today and I am getting ready for school tonight.  Will see if we have it!

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First AP Lab finished! Ecology continues

We finished our first of twelve AP labs today.  Generally good results.  We are continuing on our study of Ecology tomorrow ... students have a list of discussion questions.  Our second AP Lab - Lab 1 - Diffusion and Osmosis Lab is scheduled for the middle of next week and we will start to prep this lab tomorrow.

In Selected Topics, we checked our regenerating planaria, worked on a biochemistry lab we will be completing tomorrow and some vocabulary work on flatworms.  Also, tomorrow we will start the Great Plant Growing contest ... make sure you bring your containers!

Softball lifted today with Coach Bunton and Coach Carter ... I had a meeting after school.  Hope they were not too hard on you!

Hitting tomorrow in pairs at BSA ...

Got home about dark but wrapped a couple more hives in tar paper ... to help with the cold weather.

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Dissolved Oxygen lab results were great!

Today in AP Biology, we tested our samples left under gro-lights over night.  Using LaMotte kits for DO, we found higher dissolved oxygen levels than our initial bottle (baseline tested yesterday) proving that photosynthesis not only replaced the oxygen used by respiration but resulted in an increase of dissolved oxygen (net productivity).  Our dark bottles had very low levels of dissolved oxygen showing the algae used a lot of oxygen over the past 24 hours to stay alive (aerobic respiration / mitochondria).  Our screened data was good also.  We will finish analyzing and graphing our data tomorrow and continue our discussion questions on ecology.

In Selected Topics in Science today, we operated on our planaria ... cutting them in two pieces.  We will make observations over the next two weeks as they regenerate a head on the tail section and a tail on the head section.   We started our study of biochemistry today and will continue that tomorrow.  Friday, we will start our Great Plant Growing Contest ... we are hoping some Grandparents will provide some gardening / plant growing tips.

We have softball conditioning after school tomorrow.

Snowing in Holland this evening but, does not look like a serious snow fall.

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Back to school and softball starts!

Sorry I missed on Monday ... long day and lots of recommendations to write this time of the year ... I am back on schedule.

We started preseason softball conditioning today ... some running and a weight-lifting circuit... Coach Mark Carter is helping this year and had some new and good ideas ... players just loved that final ab workout!  Thanks Coach Carter!

We have started AP Biology ... actually we started before Christmas break.  Today in first and second blocks, both AP Biology, we started our first of 12 required labs ... the Dissolved Oxygen and Primary Productivity Lab.  In this lab we tested different temperatures of water for the amounts of dissolved oxygen and got good results with cold water having the highest levels of dissolved oxygen.  We then set up the second and third parts of the lab ... light/dark bottles over 24 hours and a screening lab to simulate depths in a pond.  So far so good ...

We have a new Selected Topics in Science class started and continued the class today with our regeneration lab using Planaria.  In this lab students study this flatworm doing a light/dark test.  Of course, the planaria prefered darkness since that is their normal habitat.  Also we fed the planaria.  Tomorrow we will continue this lab by cutting them into to parts ... the bottom part should grow back a head in ten days ... brain, eyes and all!  Only lower animals can regenerate but the genes that grow back nervous tissue is interesting since it might help us understand nervous cell regeneration (spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's) in humans.

Off to a good start!  Keep working!  ... and visit http://www.patscience.com/ rr