Fifth Instar, DNA Baby and Skyscraper ...

Today was Selected Topics day.  In these classes, we went on tour of a couple of classrooms to sing our DNA song ... you can thank your Dad and thank your Mom for your DNA ... it was fun and a little break from our microscope lab.

We got good classroom data in the cell count of onion root tips in both classes with nearly 90% of the cells being in interphase ... we made a pie chart of our results and wrapped up this lab.  The Great Plant Growing Contest will conclude on Monday.  Monday will also be club schedule so, a disrupted day.

Most students are working on the skyscraper lay the carpet problem in programming today.  We will check the problems some time next week.  Karel programming will wrap up next week before we go on to Microsoft qBASIC.

Checked out my two Monarch caterpillars on the butterfly weed in our garden.  They are in the 4th or probably 5th instar larva stage (they are over two inches long ... five instar larva stages for Monarchs).  They might form a chrysalis this weekend.   They need to hurry up and head on down to Mexico!  My pictures below ...

http://www.monarchwatch.org/biology/cycle1.htm