High School Biology

April 17

Enjoy Chapter 16!  Make great notes!  Use your notes during next week’s exam!

And you’ll be finished with biology.

Hooray!

April 10

You have just about completed your high school biology course — hooray!  Two more chapter exams and you’re done.

Test on Chapter 15 next week.  Know frog anatomty, bring your vocab cards.

April 3

Please read Module 15 and create notes in graphic organizer format.

Write your lab report for the frog dissection.  Thank you!

March 27

Next week let’s take a test on Module 14, shall we?  Bring your vocab cards, but no study guide answers. You should make sure you are able to answer those questions, however,

Also, be able to label crayfish anatomy…inside and outside.

Lord willing I will see you next week!

March 20

Read and create another graphic organizer notes page for Module 14.  Bring it in next week.

Also, I hope crayfish was interesting today!  Write a lab report, please.

Thanks!

March 13

Test next week on Module 13.  Be sure you know your worm anatomy!

Bring vocab cards for check-off.  NO study guide questions are due; good job with the graphic organizer notes!

Write a lab report for the worm dissection.

March 6

Onward to the Animal Kingdom!  Please read Module 13.  Create a “graphic organizer” style outline for the chapter and turn that in next week.  This will serve as a good study tool for you; also, it will replace the study guide assignment…although you should still study the study guide prior to the test.

Also, Labs 13.1 and 13.2 are due.

Worm coming next time!

February 28

Test next week on Module 12.  As usual, turn in your vocabulary cards and the answers to the Study Guide questions.

Also, Lab 12.2 is due.

February 21

Nice work on the exam today, everybody!

This week please read Module 12 and begin your vocabulary work.  Lab 12.1 is due.

Thank you!

February 15…for the 14th

Sorry this is late, folks.  No power to post yesterday.

Test next week on Module 11.  You’ll need to label the parts of a flower; otherwise, same as normal:  vocabulary, T/F, multiple-choice.

Your two labs are due — fruit dissection and flower dissection.  Also bring vocabulary cards and the answers to the Study Guide.

February 7

Today you participated in your first “field assignment”!  Well done.  I’ll give you all credit for the leaf collection and labeling.

Please read Chapter 11, Plant diversity and Reproduction.  No lab report needed, but you can work on vocabulary cards and understanding botany this week.

Thanks.

January 31

Your exam for Module 10, Protists and Fungi, is next week.  Answer the Study Guide questions and bring your vocabulary cards for homework.

For the exam, be able to draw the three protists we discussed in detail:  amoeba, protozoa, and paramecium.  Label pertinent organelles.

Finally, write your lab report for Lab 10.2.  Include your drawings, and in the discussion section you should compare/contrast the different specimens with each other.

January 24

A quick list today —

  1. Turn in your vocabulary cards for Module 9.
  2. Answer the Study Guide questions for Module 9; these will count as your exam grade, so do a good job.
  3. Write a lab report for the bacteria culture lab.  Call it “Bacteria Lab”.  Include any drawings you made of your culture dishes.

January 17

If all goes well for the next seven days, we’ll have thriving bacteria colonies to observe.  Never, ever has this experiment failed, so the odds are in our favor!

Please read Module 10, Prokaryotes and Viruses.  Make your vocabulary cards and begin learning them.  No test next week, but expect a little quiz.

You’ll write a lab report on your bacteria culture, but not until we see how they’ve grown.

January 10

So, we wrapped up the Genetics chapter today by discovering your blood types!  Now, please write a simple lab report:

  1. Explain the purpose of the lab, and how you did it.  (Be brief).
  2. Discuss your blood type, and show by using a Punnett square what are the possible blood types of your parents.  You may skip the Rh part.
  3. Attach the blood typing card to your report.

That’s it!

Then, prepare for yourselves a “study sheet” to use during your Chapter 7, Genetics, exam next week.  You may write notes on an 8.5 x 11 inch paper (no typing!) and include any information you think will be useful, as long as you’ve written on your own.

Exam next week; I won’t collect vocabulary cards; I WILL collect the answers to the study guide questions — but only answer the ones I had you circle today.

Then, it would be a good idea to read Chapter 9, Prokaryotes and Viruses.

Thank you!

Novemberf 15

Genetics is fascinating!  Read Chapter 7, and do Lab 7.2, “Making Your Own Pedigree.”  (It’s a fun one.)

Next week also we’ll determine your blood types, so please have a parent sign your permission slip.

Thank you!

November 8

Let’s do this:

  1. Study for your Module 6 exam.
  2. Complete the study guide and bring it for homework.
  3. Bring your vocabulary cards also.
  4. I’m going to excuse you from writing a lab report for 6.2.

Have a good rest of the week —

Mrs. B

November 1

Module 6, “DNA, Protein Synthesis, and the Cell Cycle” is a foundational chapter to understanding genetics – the science of how traits are passed from parent to offspring.

Read the chapter this week and make your vocabulary cards.  Answer the “On Your Own” questions as you go, but those are not due for homework.

Write your lab report for Lab 6.1.

Be ready for a quick quiz on the chapter next week.

October 25

Module 5 teaches us all about how cells get their energy.  Because we must move along in order to finish the whole book this year, I overviewed that chapter with you in class.

For the chapter exam, you will first read the chapter for understanding, and then answer some of the Study Guide questions.

Also, we began Experiment 5.2, and some of you graciously took our apparatus home to check on progress.  No lab report is due for this one, but if you are measuring the balloons, please write down your findings and bring them to class next week.  We will discuss.

Do these —

  1. Read the chapter.
  2. Answer the following questions from the Study Guide, in complete sentences, making sure you have fully explained the answer:  2,3,4,8,11, 14, 17, 19, and 20.
  3. No vocabulary cards needed this week.

Thank you!  Contact me if you have questions.

October 18

Oh, goodness.  I forgot to ask you to answer the study guide questions and turn them in next week.  So, you should certainly answer them (because they will help you study for the test), but I won’t collect them for homework.

Thank you for persevering with Lab 4.3, even though it didn’t go as planned!  When you write your lab report, you are welcome to explain, but also think about what “should” have happened, and also explain “plasmolysis”.

Due this week:

  1. Vocab cards for Module 4
  2. Module 4 exam
  3. Lab reports for 4.1 and 4.3.

Let me know if you have any questions!

October 11

We began Module 4 today, and it’s a doozy!  Best way to approach this chapter is to read it, make vocabulary cards, and study everyday to make sense of the vocabulary.  That’s the big deal right now — vocabulary.

Expect a quiz on organelles next time — likely the questions will be “matching”, just like you see on chapter exams.

Let’s hold off on writing the lab report until after next week when I add a banana and maybe a nice, thin leaf.

And, I gave you two coloring pictures — a prokaryotic cell and a eukaryotic one.  Please color them neatly according to directions.  (Coloring helps you to learn those organelles!)

October 4

Module 3, Ecology, is certainly fascinating.  I am always a bit conflicted about my decision to cover it in only one week, but we just don’t have the time to do otherwise.

So, here’s the deal –

  1. Read Module 3 for general understanding.
  2. Answer these study guide questions at the end of the chapter: 2-11, 14-16, 18-21, and 23-25.  (Please note that you are NOT answering questions 1, 12, 13, 17, and 22).
  3. Turn those in next time. This exercise will serve as your Module 3 exam.
  4. Also turn in the predator/prey lab we did in class today. I just want to see your completed graph, and the answers to the questions.  This will count as a lab report, but you do NOT need to write it in lab report format.

Thank you!

September 27

Quick list tonight —

  1. You have a test on Module 2 next week.  Study the “big picture” stuff — atoms, elements, four organic molecules.
  2. Complete the Study Guide and turn it in for credit.
  3. Complete your vocabulary words and bring those, too.
  4. Write a lab report for Experiment 2.2.  Remember to follow the format, and that even if your lab “failed” or “sort of failed” you can still document what you learned.

Thank you!

September 20

Well done, everybody, on the Module 1 exam you took today.  We’re off to a very good start!

And, now we’re on to Module 2, “The Chemistry of Life.”  Please read the chapter this week and begin making your vocabulary cards.  Those are due on October 4.

As you read, answer the On Your Own questions as you go.  Those are not due, but they will help you know what are important concepts to study.

So, the only homework you have to turn in next time is your lab report on Lab 2.1, “The Properties of Water.”  Treat this as a rough draft as you follow the directions I gave you on the “Lab Report” handout today.

Lastly, expect a quiz on your reading next time we meet.  The questions will be objective (T/F and/or Multiple Choice) and they are based on the On Your Own questions.

Thank you!

September 13, 2023

We’ve finished Module 1, “The Science of Life” and we’re ready for the exam. You should study for that now, using the Study Guide for Module 1 on pages 35-36.  Below is an explanation of the types of test questions to expect.  Due next week –

  1. Answers to the Study Guide questions, pages 35-36. You do NOT need to answer question #1 a-ff, as these are your vocabulary questions and you’ve already made vocabulary study cards for those.
  2. Bring your vocabulary cards and turn them in for a grade.
  3. Lab reports for biology are a big deal, and we’ll get to them next week. But this week you do NOT need to write a lab report for Lab 1.1.
  4. Lastly, study for Module 1 Exam. Expect these types of questions –
    1. Vocabulary matching
    2. True/False
    3. Multiple choice

Thanks, and have a good week!

September 6, 2023

Please read Module 1, “The Science of Life”.  Begin to make vocabulary cards of the chapter words, which are listed at the end of the chapter in the Study Guide, question 1.

 

Answer the On Your Own questions as you read the chapter.  These are NOT homework, but the concepts covered will be on your chapter QUIZ next week.

Speaking of the quiz — you will have an objective type quiz (True/False, Multiple Choice) next week.  If you’re able to answer those On Your Own questions, you’ll do fine on the quiz.

Thank you!

August 28, 2023

Hello Biologists —

Welcome to High School Biology class!  We’ll begin delving into the foundations of “life science” in just over a week, and I’m glad you’ll be joining me.

This is the “homework blog” page relevant to your class.  Check it each week to find your assignment; since we meet on Wednesdays from 9 – 10:50 a.m., you should see the assignment here by Thursday at 8 a.m.  It could be here earlier, but you may have to wait until Thursday mornings depending on my workflow.

Your very first assignment is an easy one, and yet it counts toward your grade:  bring me your signed MIRACLE RANCH WAIVER form.  If you’re also in a Tuesday class and turned it in then, you’re done.  Waivers counted for another class also count for this one, and so does the grade.

But, please be sure to bring your textbook, a binder, and pen/pencil to class the first day and each class day after that.

Thanks a  bunch, and I’ll see you soon,

Mrs. B