Homework for the week of August 31

This will be updated daily. 
** Be sure you're looking at the correct class; both AP and Chem I work are posted here.



Upcoming dates:  
AP - Quiz: Lab Safety on 9/4 [note date change]
AP - PS#1 - due 9/8 [note date change]
AP - Quiz: Ions & writing compounds on 9/9
AP - Quiz: Chapter 5, part 1 on 9/11
Chem I - Test: Lab Safety on 9/3
Chem I - Test: Elements on 9/4 [note date change]


Weekend's homework:
AP - PS#1 due 9/8
AP - continue reviewing Chem I material (ions & terms) - eBackpack
AP - Calorimetry prelab should be ready to submit
Chem I - Read pages 10-12. Create a bulleted list of at least 12 vocabulary terms and their definitions. Submit through eBackpack.

Thursday night's homework:
AP - lab safety quiz tomorrow [Check your email for a list of what to study!]
AP - If you didn't finish the prelab last night, finish it tonight!
Chem I - elements test tomorrow [All four lists. If given the name, write the symbol. If given the symbol, correctly spell the name.]

Wednesday night's homework:
AP - Prelab (in lab notebook) - Refer to lab guidelines on eBackpack & baggie lab that we did last week - Click here for lab procedure: Simple calorimetry
AP - work on PS#1 [due 9/8]
AP - review lab safety [quiz 9/4]
AP - continue reviewing Chem I material (ions & terms) - eBackpack
Chem I - lab safety test tomorrow

Tuesday night's homework:
AP - work on PS#1 [due 9/8]
AP - review lab safety [quiz 9/4]
AP - continue reviewing Chem I material (ions & terms) - eBackpack
Chem I - review rules on pages 6-8 in preparation for Thursday's lab safety test

Monday night's homework:
AP - work on PS#1 [due 9/8]
AP - review lab safety [quiz 9/4]
Chem I - read pages 6-8 & answer page 9 #1-31 - submit through eBackpack
Chem I - make flash cards for list 3; keep studying element symbols


To access the Chemistry OneNote notebook:
AP - Click here for the link to the AP notebook.
If that link doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/AP%20Chem%202015-2016

Chem I - Click here for the link to the Chem I notebook.
If that link doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/Chemistry%20I%202015-2016

Adv Chem Research - Click here for the link to the Research notebook.
If that doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/Adv%20Chem%20Research%202015-2016

Reseach Collaboration - Click here for the link to the Research Collaboration notebook.
If that doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/Research%20Collaboration

Homework for the week of August 26

This will be updated daily. 
** Be sure you're looking at the correct class; both AP and Chem I work are posted here.


To access the Chemistry OneNote notebook:
AP - Click here for the link to the AP notebook.
If that link doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/AP%20Chem%202015-2016

Chem I - Click here for the link to the Chem I notebook.
If that link doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/Chemistry%20I%202015-2016

Adv Chem Research - Click here for the link to the Research notebook.
If that doesn't work, here's this to copy & paste:
onenote:https://wichitacollegiateschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/mharris_wcsks_com/Documents/Class%20Notebooks/Adv%20Chem%20Research%202015-2016


Upcoming dates:
AP - Lab poster project - due 8/31
AP - Quiz: Lab Safety on 9/1
AP - PS#1 - due 9/3
Chem I - Test: Lab Safety and elements on 9/3


Weekend's homework:
AP - Continue working on PS#1 - due 9/3
AP - eBackpack - review list of terms & ions - no due date
AP - eBackpack - Lab poster project - due 8/31
Chem I - flash cards for second list of elements; be prepared for "popquiz" over lists 1 & 2 - due 8/31
Chem I - read & sign safety contract, student and parent - due 8/31


Thursday night's homework:
AP - Start working on PS#1 - due 9/3
AP - eBackpack - review list of terms & ions - no due date
Chem I - flash cards for first list of elements; store in baggie; write legibly! - due Fri


Wednesday night's homework:
AP - eBackpack - guidelines, signed by you and parent - due Thur
Chem I - finish the "get to know you" sheet - due Thur

New beginnings in the Upper School

While I enjoyed last year, teaching in the middle school, I am very excited to begin this year teaching chemistry in the Upper School.

I will utilize this blog to post homework and other information relevant to class. Access to Moodle, eBackpack, Quia, or other websites may be needed to actually complete your work, but this should be what students consider to be "Command Central" when preparing for chemistry class.

I will post here for all three levels of chemistry (Chem I, AP, and Research), so be sure the assignment is relevant to your class.

Of course, if there are questions, email me at mharris@wcsks.com or come to the classroom during tutorials (or before school).

I am excited for the new school year! Together, we are going to have a fabulous time in chemistry class!

Exam review sheet

REVIEW SHEET FOR SCIENCE EXAM: [Updated 2:30pm, 5/12/15]

My expectation would be that anyone who will take the science exam will prepare for it by focusing on this review sheet. While lengthy, the final exam will be based solely on the questions listed below. Before you start to complain, look at some of the questions; answers are often one word answers!

Scroll to the bottom for an extra credit opportunity for those preparing for their science exam before the weekend!

Your exam is worth 175 points, or 15% of your final grade for this semester.

1.       If I am an organism that has a nucleus, to what domain do I belong?

2.      Which kingdom of organisms can make their own food? What is required to make that food?

3.      What are the three types of extremophiles and where are each found? To what domain do these belong?

4.      How do Kingdom Fungi organisms obtain nutrients?

5.      When using the scientific method, what is the first step of the process?

6.      What are some units of length used in the metric system? What are some units of mass?

7.      When using a microscope, what do you turn to control the amount of light?

8.     When carrying a microscope, where do you put your hands?

9.      To what domain do Homo sapiens belong?

10.  If an organism has roots in the soil, leaves and flowers, and uses the process of photosynthesis to make food, to what domain would it belong? To what kingdom would it belong?

11.   Name an organism that is a common cause of food poisoning. What do the different parts of its name represent in regards to classification?

12.  Which part of the brain responsible for comprehension?

13.  What are the building blocks of proteins?

14.  Which part of the brain responsible for creativity?

15.   What are the Nodes of Ranvier? Where are they located? What is their purpose?

16.  Where does the fertilized egg embed and develop?

17.   What falls under the category of “lipid”? What do lipids do for us in our bodies?

18.  What do you call the tubes that lead from the kidneys to the bladder?

19.  What enzyme is in saliva that begins the digestion of carbohydrates?

20. When taking blood pressure, which measurement is when the ventricles contract?

21.  What do you call the collected “stuff” that is waste filtered by the nephron? Where does this “stuff” go? When this “stuff” mixes with water, what is it called?

22. What do you call the involuntary muscular contractions that push food through the digestive tract? What does “involuntary” mean?

23. Which blood vessel takes blood from the lungs, back to the heart? Is the blood in that blood vessel oxygenated or deoxygenated? How do you know?

24. What is the difference between the CNS and the PNS? What do those letters stand for? What makes up each?

25.  Why is surface area important in digestion?

26. Sperm stored in the epididymis travels through what tube to get to the prostate gland?

27.  What is the powerhouse of the cell? What does it produce?

28.  What is the purpose of the liver?

29. What is tube that leads out of the penis? Other than urine, what else passes through this tube?

30. In females, where eggs are made?

31.  What are the products of photosynthesis?

32. What is the process when a sperm and egg form a zygote? Where does this occur?

33. Where does the zygote implant and grow during a normal pregnancy?

34. What is the name of the sac where the testes and epididymis are located?

35.  Which papillae of the tongue are whitish in appearance?

36. Where did Gregor Mendel perform his experiments?

37.  What type of plants did Mendel study? Why was this choice important?

38. In Mrs. Harris’ family, having blue eyes (like my husband) is an example of this type of trait because none of our kids have blue eyes, so it “disappeared” in the first generation. What type of trait is that?

39. What is the difference between the terms osmosis and diffusion? What is a concentration gradient?

40. If a flower of one plant is fertilized by an insect carrying pollen from another plant, this is called what?

41.  What is the sperm of a plant called?

42. Where is a nephron found? What is its purpose?

43. What does the renal vein do?

44. After the kidneys filter the blood, where does the filtered waste go? What is it called?

45.  Which allele is represented using a capital letter?

46. What is the difference between a genotype and a phenotype?

47.  What is the purpose of platelets?

48. What is fibrin? How is fibrin important with clotting?

49. What are the four nitrogen bases found in DNA?

50. What are the four nitrogen bases found in RNA?

51.   What is the name of a mutation where a nitrogen base is removed?

52.  Where does translation occur? What is the purpose of translation?

53.  What does the tRNA do during translation?

54.  What does the mRNA do during protein synthesis?

55.  What is meant by nitrogen-base pairs?

56.  What type of RNA makes up the ribosome?

57.  What is the difference between motor nerves and sensory nerves?

58. How would you identify the iris of the eye?

59.  What is the center of the iris called? What is its purpose?

60. What happens to the walls of the uterus as it prepares for implantation of the fertilized egg?

61.  What is the main male hormone? What are the main female hormones?

62. When dissecting, the tool that looks like tweezers are called what?

63. In the earthworm, why is the crop squishy and the gizzard hard?

64. In mitosis, what stage is when the sister chromatids line up at the equator? Where is the equator?

65.  What stores urine?

66. What is the purpose of the pancreas?

67.  Why is the small intestine so long?

68. What is a normal blood pressure?

69. Where are some helpful bacteria found?

70. What are the two categories of protists? Give examples of each.

71.   Draw a RBC for someone with type B blood. Draw that person’s antibodies.

72.  For garden peas, tall plant is dominant and short plant is recessive. What would T represent? What term describes this?

73.  For garden peas, round seed shape is dominant and wrinkled seed shape is recessive. What could be a heterozygous genotype in this example? Describe what each part of the genotype represents.

74.  What is a true breeding plant?

75.  What makes bile? What stores bile? What secretes the bile?

76.  If an allele is written as a lower case letter, what does that represent?

77.  Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. What is the genotype of parent 1?

78. Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. What is the phenotype of parent 2?

79.  Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. What is the probability of the first generation offspring having O type blood? (HINT: You need to draw a Punnett square.)

80.Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. What is the recessive trait?

81.  Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. What is the characteristic in this scenario?

82. Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. What are the possible genotypes of the offspring?

83. Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. Draw a RBC for parent 1.

84. Parent 1 is blood type A. Parent 2 is blood type O. Draw a RBC for parent 2.

85. What are the three parts of the tongue?

86. Which part of the eye is found behind the iris? It is a clear structure that functions to control the focusing of light

87. What does avascular mean? What is the avascular part of the eye?

88.What is peristalsis?

89. Which fluid fills the anterior chamber of the eye? What is the purpose of this fluid?

90. In the retina, what do the rods and cones do?

91.  What are the gaps between neurons?

92. What type of circulation sends blood to and from the lungs?

93. What are the type of nerves in the peripheral nervous system that carry messages from the body to the brain?

94. What is a temporary disturbance of the brain’s ability to function? What could cause this? Which part of the brain controls breathing and heart rate?

95.  Which part of the eye is fluid? Where is this fluid found?

96. What is the purpose of the epididymis?

97.  What makes a carbohydrate different from a protein? How could you tell which is which based on the chemical formula?

98. What is a vasectomy? What is the purpose of this procedure?

99. Pulmonary means that it has to do with lungs. What term means that it has to do with the kidneys?

100.                     What occurs in the Loop of Henle?

101.                      What is the purpose of the gall bladder?

102.                     Why is it said that digestion doesn’t occur in the large intestines? What does happen in the large intestine?

103.                     What blood vessel enters the heart through the right atrium?

104.                     What type of circulation provides oxygen and removes wastes from the cardiac tissue (heart muscle)?

105.                      What is in a leaf that helps the plant perform photosynthesis? How does that help the leaf participate in photosynthesis?

For TEN bonus points added onto your final exam grade, follow the directions below and submit a printed (paper) copy of your answer sheet (NOT question sheets!) to Mrs. Harris by Friday (May 15) morning at 8AM.

ü  Create a separate page for answers. Sentences are not required.

ü  Points will be earned based on correctness of spot-checked answers. Incomplete or incorrect answers will not earn any bonus.

ü  Answer questions in order. Clearly number answers.

ü  Write your name in the top right corner.  

ü  Staple pages in order.

Week of May 11

This week will be a whirlwind of a week.

I was gone most of last week, attending a workshop in Chicago related to the Upper School Chemistry Research class. I left notes & PowerPoint presentations for the subsitute to use with the classes. They are taking a quiz over notes with the substitute (which was a fill-in-the-blank fact sheet that accompanied the PPT presentation) along with notes I gave over the reproductive system. This quiz is tomorrow.

What to study for Tuesday's quiz:

• Notes: Reproductive System
• Notes: Nervous System
• Notes: Tongue & Eye
• WS: Brain

All of these should be in your OneNote.

This week's plan:
Mon & Tues: Frog dissection
Wed: Reproductive System talk with Drs. Leiker
Thu: Brain dissection
Fri: Exam review

Please check your email for an invitation to a presentation Wednesday evening from 6-7pm here at school regarding the reproductive system. This is part of the curriculum and we are so blessed to have a set of doctors willing to come speak to our kids. While some material will be similar to what was presented to the kids during the day, there will be some information that will be discussed for the first time during that evening session. I do hope you make plans to attend.

Check back later in the week for a list of what to study for the exam.
Science exam is Monday, May 18 at 8AM.

... and the end is near ...

Bonus opportunity: Design a neuron

This is an optional assigment.

It is due no later than 8AM Wednesday, May 13.
It is worth up to 20 points, depending on ability to follow directions and demonstration of creativity.

Create a three dimensional model of a neuron. (No drawings, paintings, etc.)
Your model must clearly show the dendrite and the axon with Nodes of Ranvier.
Your model must be able to hang and keep its shape. (No droopy neurons!)
When placed in proximity of another created neuron, it should be simple to visualize the synapse between the two neurons

• Color is expected.
• Minimum size measurements: 24" long and 18" tall.
  (These are minimums; your neuron can't be smaller than this! Because of this size, parts of the neuron should be identifable at a distance.)
• Durability is expected.
  (If it falls apart during grading or hanging, that isn't good!)
• Use materials from around your house.
  (Think: Trash to treasure!)
• No mounting (on posterboard, foam board, wood, etc.)
  This is just a "free" neuron.
• Provide a hanging mechanism to use to display your creation.
  (Remember, no droopy neurons!)

Simply correctly building a neuron with its component parts, following the guidelines, will be worth 10 of the possible points.
The other 10 points are creativity points. These will be earned by those projects that make me say WOW when I see it. These are totally subjective points. You may earn up to ten points for creativity. (You will have the opportunity to tell me why your project should WOW me!)

With your model, you must submit a typed paper (one page limit) with the following information:

• Name 
• Hour
• Materials used to create your neuron ["I used item 1, item 2, and item 3."]
• Key - telling me what representes each of the parts of your neuron [This can be a bulleted list or a chart.]
• Paragraph (4-6 sentences; each sentence at least 12 words) to persuade me in regards to creativity - What did you do that was so creative?
  The following are examples of "not persuasive" statements; these are general expectations and are not appropriate for this paragraph: I spent a lot of time. I shopped at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. I tried really hard. I used a glue gun.)
  If you cannot write about what you did to earn the ten creativity points, do not expect to earn the ten creativity points.

You do not need to put your name on your model. Based on the materials and the key, I should be able to tell which is yours.

Remember: The goal is to creatively create a neuron that can hang, that shows the parts of the neuron, and that can synapse with another neuron.

Week of April 27

I'm late to post this week - I apologize.

This week in class we:
(1) Completed a blood typing lab - 1st hour hasn't yet done this, but they will!
(2) Completed notes on blood typing, including Rh factor
(3) Completed notes on digestive system, including an activity to act out digestion
(4) Began notes on the urinary/excretory system

I initially planned for a quiz on Friday, but that has been postponed to Tuesday, May 5. It will cover the digestive system and blood types.
What to study: {The dates may not match yours. Pay more attention to the topic described.}
Digestive system worksheet in folder
Digestive system notes in One Note - (a) Bellwork Organs Digestive System, (b) Homework 4/24
Blood type notes in One Note - (a) Bellwork 4/27 Blood types, (b) PPT: Blood Basics
Blood type homework questions in One Note - (a) Video: Blood Types, (b) Facts: Blood

Please encourage your child to come to tutorials on Friday if there are areas that need fine tuning. I will not be available on Monday for tutorials.