Friday May 1, 2015

LT: I can describe the effects of the carbon cycle.

Instructions:

1.Read the following article

2. Take notes on the note-catcher, or directly into your science journals

3. Draw a carbon cycle diagram, using the information from your notes and this reading.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Introduction: The Carbon Cycle

Carbon (C) is the basis of life on Earth. Scientists consider 99.9% of all organisms on the planet to be carbon based life. Those organisms need carbon to survive. Whether the carbon is in the form of a sugar or carbon dioxide gas, we all need it. Unlike energy, carbon is continuously cycled and reused. The Earth only has a fixed amount of carbon. The carbon cycle is the ultimate form of recycling.

Step 1: Start With Plants

Plants are a good starting point when looking at the carbon cycle on Earth. Plants have a process called photosynthesis that enables them to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and combine it with water. Using the energy of the Sun, plants make sugars and oxygen molecules. All of the non-photosynthetic creatures on the planet use the oxygen. Every creature on the planet uses the sugars and starches created by plants.

Step 2: Then Animals Eat The Plants

Animals are the non-photosynthetic creatures of the planet. They are not able to create their own food. Instead, they eat plants or other animals. The sugars and starches they eat are broken down by a process of metabolism. The results are energy for the creature, water, and carbon dioxide molecules. The carbon dioxide then returns to the atmosphere where the plants use it again.

Step 3: Who Eats The Animals?

There are also decomposers involved in the carbon cycle. They break down organic material such as dead animals, poop, or leaves. Decomposers are able to break down the chemical compounds inside the body. They also release carbon dioxide as well as methane.

Sometimes the decomposers don't break down organic material. There are great oil fields under the surface that are made of plants that did not decompose millions of years ago. There are also layers of rock made of millions of creatures who had shells. One day this carbon will return to the everyday carbon cycle, but geological processes are much slower than living processes.

Step 4: Oxygen Cycling

Oxygen (O) atoms cycle through the ecosystem and the biosphere the way other elements do (especially carbon). The Earth has a fixed supply of the element even though it can be found everywhere, including the atmosphere, the oceans, rocks, and all living organisms. While not all organisms need to breathe oxygen, there is definitely oxygen inside of every organism.

Step 5: Oxygen Rarely Alone

Oxygen is one of the major compounds found in the atmosphere of the Earth. You never find oxygen floating around as individual atoms. Oxygen is always with other elements. You may find an oxygen molecule that has two oxygen atoms. There are molecules with three oxygen atoms called ozone. You will also find oxygen bound in water molecules and carbon dioxide. That oxygen floats through the atmosphere until it comes down to Earth and starts one of many cycles.

Step 6: Dissolved In Water

There is a large amount of oxygen dissolved in the water of oceans, lakes, and streams. As water moves, the oxygen is forced into solution. The organisms that live in the water breathe that oxygen by filtering it out of solution the way we do with the air. Over millions of years oxygen has also become an integral element in our rocks and land. Oxygen bonds with silicon (silicates), iron, and carbon (carbonates) to form many of the compounds in rock. Creatures like lichen are able to break down the rocks over thousands of years and release nutrients into the soil.

Step 7: We Need Oxygen To Survive

Last are the organisms of the world. They use oxygen in many forms. Their role in the cycle begins with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Plants take in that carbon dioxide and combine it with water to create sugars and oxygen molecules. Animals breathe that oxygen and both plants and animals use the sugars for energy. Through the process of metabolism, the sugars are broken down into water and carbon dioxide. Then the cycle begins again.

Carbon Cycle Steps Outlined

Thursday April 30, 2015

LT: I can determine the value of a tree

Name: ________________________  Date: _______________ Class Period: ______________

Explore a Tree

Part 1:

1. Choose a tree that can be found in CO.

2. Draw a colored, and detailed, and labeled picture of it

3. Determine what species it is

4. Identify what types of creatures may be living in or near this tree.

Part 2

Underneath your picture, or on a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions, in full and complete sentences. Write at least 3-5 sentences for each question. (You can use the back of this paper)

1. What values do you think  this tree has? (think about the environment in which it lives, and the creatures that live in/near it, what shelter, food, etc. it provides)

2. What does this tree do for you?

3. What does this tree do for the living things surrounding it?

4. What are some uses that humans have for trees? Let’s analyze our role the our consumption of Earth’s resources.

Wednesday April 29, 2015

LT: I can explain how plants process food.

Photosynthesis Questions: Answer the following questions with a partner.

PASTE INTO YOUR SCIENCE JOURNALS.

1.     What pigment makes plants green?

2.     What is the process called that allows plants to make their own food?

3.     What provides the “fuel” for photosynthesis?

4.     What is the equation for photosynthesis? Label the INPUTS and the OUTPUTS!

5.     How do plants get carbon dioxide?

6.     How is water taken in by plants?

7.     Based on what you know about plants and photosynthesis, why do you think this process is important to all living things on Earth?

Name: ___________________________ Date: ____________________ Class Period: ____________________

LT: I can explain how plants process food.

Photosynthesis Diagram

Work on this independently! TO BE TURNED INTO THE IN BOX

Directions: In the box below, draw a diagram showing a tree or plant with leaves. Show where water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide are going into the plant/tree and show oxygen going out of the leaves. Remember, sugar stays in the leaves and acts as food for the plant/tree. Here is a list of everything that needs to be labeled:

·      Sunlight

·      Water

·      Roots

·      Leaves

·      Sugar

·      Carbon Dioxide

·      Oxygen

·      Write the equation for photosynthesis at the bottom.

Your diagram should be NEAT, COLORFUL, DETAILED and INFORMATIVE

Tuesday April 28, 2015
LT: I can identify different types of organisms

Predators: ›Organisms that live by killing and eating other animals. Carnivores!

›Example: bears, wolves, humans

›

*They can be CONSUMERS

›Keystone Predators: A few predators can control the distribution and population of large numbers of prey species.

›Example: A single mountain lion controls hundreds of deer, elk, rabbits, birds, etc. 

 

Producers: Organisms that don’t depend on other organisms for the matter and energy they need.

›They make their own food from the environment. (Sunlight, chemical reactions, etc.) But they too, need food to survive.

›Other organisms depend on them for survival.

›Ex: Trees, flowers, sea weeds

 

Consumers: 

›Organisms that cannot make their own food.

› All the animals, fungi, protists, and bacteria in the world that depend on producers or other consumers for their matter and energy.

›Can be decomposers!!!

 

 Decomposers: 

›Decomposers and scavengers break down dead plants and animals.

›They also break down the waste (poop) of other organisms.

›Decomposers are very important for any ecosystem

›Plants get essential nutrients, and without them, dead matter and waste would pile up.

›Ex: worms, flies, wasps, cockroaches

 

Omnivores: 

›Eats BOTH plants and meat.

›Some omnivores will hunt and eat their food, like carnivores eating herbivores, and other omnivores.

›Some others are scavengers, and will eat dead matter.

›Many will eat eggs from other animals.

›Omnivores eat plants, but not all kinds of plants. Omnivores can't digest some of the substances in grains or other plants that do not produce fruit. They can eat fruits and vegetables, though.

›Ex: Pigs are omnivores, so they would be just as happy eating an apple, or the worm inside the apple.

›Ex: People, bears, chickens, flies, cockroaches 

 

Carnivores: 

›Meat eater. 95 % of its diet.

›An organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements mostly from a diet of animal tissue, flesh, either through predation or scavenging.  

›Ex: dogs, foxes,, raccoons, cats

 

Herbivores: 

Plant eater, 95 % of its diet.

*An animal that mostly feeds on grass and other plants.

*Many herbivores have special digestive systems that let them digest all kinds of plants, including grasses.

›Herbivores need a lot of energy to stay alive. Many of them, like cows and sheep, eat all day long.

›

› There need to be LOTS of plants in your ecosystem to support your herbivores.

›

›Ex: Cows, rabbits, moose, mice, bee, worms