Protists and Fungi

During this week we had lots of fun. I thought learning about protists was jam packed with fun. I learned that protists are living one cell organisms.  I thought it was really cool learning about how bacteria grows, reproduces and thrives. I really enjoyed doing our disinfectant lab. We got our results and was surprised that soap was the winner and it had worked the best! My hypothesis that the soap would be less effective than the other sanitizers was wrong and the results were surprising. I can improve on my hypothesis by taking what I already know with what is obvious and make a better educated guess. We also finished our microorganisms in school environment lab. I enjoyed this lab very much and I didn't know that there were so many microorganisms in our school environment! After finding out that there was more bacteria than I thought there was in the school it made me want to wash my hands more considering that soap kills more bacteria.
We had our quiz on Wednesday and it was on Sections 1 and 2. I learned a lot about bacteria and viruses and made a good grade on the quiz. I think our class really understood bacteria and viruses considering we had so many As and Bs on this quiz. Thursday's lab was my favorite lab this week! We placed food in jars and are hoping they grow mold so we can observe it. On Friday we did our mold spore lab and checked the progress of the mold on the food from Thursday's lab. 
I wanted to see different types of protists and found a very informative site at microbe world. The link is attached.

http://www.microbeworld.org/types-of-microbes/protista

Viruses and Bacteria

This week in science we learned about viruses and bacteria. On Monday we took notes on the topic and we learned how viruses reproduce. We also did a lab that showed how viruses are transferred. Each student had a tube containing water and one student had a chemical in his tube. We all shared what was in our tubes without knowing who had the chemical. The person who shared their chemical infected the other tubes just like a virus would. On Tuesday we finished our lab by narrowing it down to who had the virus by seeing who had infected us and seeing who had infected them. On Wednesday we started a new lab. We grew bacteria in  petri dishes and agar. We then removed bacteria from different areas around the school where we thought bacteria would be. My group chose the computer keys which had 56 bacteria colonies. On Thursday I watched some of the progress of the bacteria .We also started another lab. In this lab we tested to see if anti-bacterial cleansers worked as well as they said they would. We put 4 hole punches with anti-bacterial cleansers on each of them in a petri dish with bacteria and waited for the results to see if the cleanser killed the bacteria in the petri dish. On Friday we looked at different bacteria that the other classes had grown. I wasn't surprised that the dumpster had the most bacteria.
This week I learned that bacteria is everywhere and that some bacteria is good and some are bad; but there is more good bacteria than bad bacteria. One way in which I can improve is by thinking more through my hypothesis when we do an experiment, by connecting the dots of the information I learn from my notes in class to what I actually do in my actual lab experiments.
I looked up the pandemic of 1918 and was shocked to learn that more Americans died from the flu in 1918 than the number of people who died in World War I! The link is attached.

http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/1918/the_pandemic/index.html

Thanksgiving Break

I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving because it is one of my favorite holidays. It was a short week in science but as always we had fun and lots of learning! On Monday we made ice cream! Even though we made ice cream which was fun, there was learning involved. I learned the effects of heat transfer on phase changes. The phase change in making the ice cream occurred when the heat was lost to change the milk from a liquid to a solid. During my ice cream experiment in class, the ice cream was not as smooth and solid as I would have liked it to be. So I decided to try a new technique and improve on the quality of my ice cream, by using sea salt at home in my ice cream experiment. At home, my ice cream was smoother and not as lumpy and stayed solid longer. I have attached pictures to show the improvement in the consistency of my ice cream. It was so good!
On Tuesday, I had to do my makeup test during class because I was sick the week before. However during guided study I was able to complete the classroom activity experiment in  gratitude. I had to write a thank you note to my mom and then call her to read it. I was so excited when she answered the phone because she never answers her phone. At first she thought I was sick because I have never called her from school. But then she was surprised when I read the note and was so grateful for the call. I am glad Mrs. Giacomelli did this because it made my mom's day!
Then we went on Thanksgiving break and my family ate lots and lots of food. My favorite dish was my mom's cranberry salad. I ate a whole tub just by itself. My family kept on eating lots of turkey but they did not know that turkey contains the amino acid tryptophan which can make you very tired. I googled the effects of tryptophan in turkey on making us tired and read about the effects, which also stated that if the tryptophan did not make us tired it was all the huge amounts of carbohydrates that we ate. I have attached the link to the website with information on tryptophan and also attached a picture of my family and the effects of our huge turkey Thanksgiving dinner! I realized how much I have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday!!!!!!

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/question5191.htm