Diffusion Demonstration Questions

Starch-iodine test Definition noun A test for the presence of starch in which the sample turns blue-black in color when a few drops of potassium iodide solution is placed on the sample. Supplement The reaction is due to the formation of polyiodide chains from the reaction of starch and iodine. The amylose in starch forms helices where iodine molecules assemble, forming a dark blue or black color. When starch is broken down or hydrolyzed into smaller carbohydrate units, the blue-black color is not produced. Therefore, this test can also indicate completion of hydrolysis when a color change does not occur. Also called as: Iodine test.

Some Questions students asked after observing this test:

1. what would happen if we just mixed iodine and cornstarch?

2. what caused it to turn purple?

3. how did the iodine get into the bag?

4. what caused the water in the cup to turn clear?

5. did the water go through the bag? How?

6. why was the iodine yellow in the cup, but purple in the bag?

7. what would happen if we emptied the contents of the bag into the water in the cup?

8. did any water from inside the bag get out?

9. did any cornstarch get out of the bag?

Some Really Big Numbers -- Math

I found this interesting website as I was surfing around today, and I thought it was a pretty neat way to get a sense of the really BIG numbers in math. Everything here is illustrated in terms of pennies (except when it is illustrated in terms of cows...). Have fun exploring!

Presidential Election Project

During this election season, sixth grade students have been working to understand the 2008 presidential campaign. They have formed teams, selected one of the two major candidates, and taken on the jobs of campaign manager, speech writer, and policy writer. The project link is here: http://msdanielswebquests.blogspot.com/2008/09/presidential-campaign-webquest.html All of their work on this project will be published this week and next on Blogger webpages. If you are interested in looking at what they have written, you can find their work published on these web pages: http://danielgroup1.blogspot.com/ http://danielgroup2.blogspot.com/ http://danielgroup3.blogspot.com/ http://danielgroup4.blogspot.com/ http://danielgroup5.blogspot.com/ http://danielgroup6.blogspot.com/

Social Studies Test -- Study Guide

Study Guide (Chapter 23, Culture, and Social Justice) Students will be responsible for the information contained in this study guide. Supplemental material that may help to enhance understanding can be found in the textbook on pp. 640-641, questions 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16.

• North America is the third largest continent in the world
• Eastern Coastal Mexico has a climate that is similar to tropical Haiti
• Arable means fit or suitable for the planting of crops
• Acid rain is rain that has high amounts of acid caused by pollution
• Toussaint L’Ourverture was a leader in the Haitian fight for independence
• Father Hidalgo called Mexicans to fight for their independence in 1810
• NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement
• Argentina is not part of North America
• The Continental Divide is a stretch of land along the Rocky Mountains that separates streams and rivers that flow east from those that flow west
• Typhoons are a type of natural disaster that would not affect people in North America
• The term culture refers to all the ways that a group of humans has learned to interact, and would include These might include: houses, music, clothing, religion, law, and art, spelling, reading, and math, college, grade school, high school, but would not include specific kinds of jobs like: veterinarians, engineers, and lawyers
• Going to church on Sunday is not an example of Universal Culture among humans
• Catholic social teaching includes doctrines relating to the collective welfare of humanity and the earth. There are seven key themes: § Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person § Call to family, community, and participation § Rights and responsibilities § Preferential Option for the poor and vulnerable § Dignity of work and the rights of workers § Solidarity § Care for God's creation You should be able to describe how a particular news event relates to these themes, and describe some way that you could act or behave in your daily life that would put that social justice teaching into practice.
• Be prepared to write about one thing that members of our class shared about the stories, artifacts, timelines, and traditions of their families, What is one question that you would ask about this if you were thinking about it like an anthropologist studying “culture?”
• Give an example of a subculture
• List three words that describe marriage or kinship relationships
• What could you guess about the culture of the society that created this coin?

• What does the word “tariff” mean?
• Use a product map to determine how many different types of products are produced in an area and make a decision about where you might place a factory.

Build an Animal Cell Model

Project Assigned: October 15, 2008 Project Due: October 22, 2008 Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to make a 3D model of a cell in order to better understand the parts and workings of a cell. Choose objects that you feel best represent organelles. Guidelines: You are required to make a model of an animal cell. If you decide to also make a model of a plant cell, you can receive up to 20 points extra credit for your project grade. **(total possible then would be 120/100) Supplies:2 Ziploc baggieslight Karo syrup, oil, or clear detergentassorted other objects to represent organelles(could include cereal, balloons, gummi worms, mints, fruit slices, dried fruit, matches, Ramen noodles, buttons, Christmas lights, peanuts, rope licorice, jelly beans, sesame seeds, other candies, toothpicks, peas in a pod, dried beans, various shapes and colors of pasta, yarn, clay, Styrofoam, etc.) Be creative. Your parts should “look like” the organelles that they represent. Pour Karo syrup, oil, or clear dish detergent into baggie, then put that baggie into a second one for extra strength. This will be your cell membrane and the cytoplasm. Decide which objects might best represent the organelles in a cell, and add them. Your organelles should “look like” the ones represented in diagrams in your textbook and at various Internet sites such as Cells Alive. Be unique and creative, use any interesting and appropriate objects, in any combination. I encourage you to use “found” and re-cycled objects from around your house. Please do not buy items if you do not have to. (Don't eat too many of the organelles...) nucleus - information center-houses DNA. Has its own membrane, with nucleolus in center which makes ribosomes (which make protein for the cell).proteins - one of basic structural and functional units of cell made by ribosomes, made up of strings of amino acids. One molecule is not an organelle. Glitter could represent proteins on their way to becoming part of an organelle. endoplasmic reticulum (ER) - a network of membranes with two regions: rough (ribosomes are bound to it) and smooth (lipid molecules are made here).mitochondria - ”power plants”--they make energy from glucose, using oxygen and producing carbon dioxide (taken care of by our lungs). Ribosomes -- ribosomes make proteins that will be used inside the cell.lysosomes - small sacks containing enzymes, which tear down old molecules of DNA, protein, or lipid into small units which can be reused to make new molecules.golgi complex - sort newly made proteins and sends them to their proper places within the cell or outside the cell (by secreting them). Once you have completed your model, make a key on a sheet of paper that illustrates the various parts of your cell. The key should list every organelle and show a picture of the item/object used to represent it in your model. Pay attention to the appearance of your key, and be sure that your spelling and language mechanics are good. You will use the following rubric to see which organelles need to be present, accurate, and labeled in your key. You will turn your copy of the rubric when you turn in your 3-D model. 3-D Plant Cell Model Project Rubric Grading: You will initially start with a 100 for your project grade. You will lose points for the following items: Missing an organelle (deduct 5 points for each organelle) Missing an organelle on the key (deduct 5 points for each label) Organelle is mislabeled (deduct 4 points for each mistake) No name on project (deduct 4 points) Project is sloppy (deduct up to 10 points) Project is not constructed according to directions (deduct 30 points) Extra Credit Student also constructed a model of a plant cell – add 20 points

Service Opportunity

Several of the current 6-graders and their families have been participating for the past two years in the community service at Tender Mercies. Tender Mercies (http://www.tendermerciesinc.org/) is a community providing shelters to homeless people with disabilities. Homes are located on 12th street behind Music Hall. The residents rely on different charities to serve the meals. We have been preparing and serving a healthy, nutritious dinner to about 40-50 residents every 1st Friday of the month. We would like to invite new volunteers to join us. We need help with preparing dishes and serving them (5-6 pm). The service is easy, safe and very rewarding. Anybody interested, please email me and I will connect you to the right person.

Island Nations Flags

Students are making flash cards as part of their preparation for the Island Nations Map test. Flash cards are to be illustrated with a picture of the national flag for each of the 29 Island Nations. Here are the flags for each of the nations:

Antigua and Barbuda

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Barbados

St. Kitts-Nevis

Dominica

Grenada

St. Lucia

Comoros

Maldives

Maritius

Madagascar

Seychelles

Sri Lanka

Tuvalu

Federated States of Micronesia

Papua New Guinea

Tonga

Vanuatu

Fiji

Kirbati

Nauru

Samoa

Solomon Islands

Marshall Islands

Palau

Trinidad and Tobago

Cape Verde

Cyprus

Malta

Making Water Magnifiers

We worked in science today to make water magnifiers, using a safety pin and a drop of water. Students are thinking about ways to further explore this idea tonight. Here are some links to other versions of this activity:

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/phenom/watermagnifier.html

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/science/experiments/water.html http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/waterdropmag.html

Final Hungary Update

Hi! We wanted to give you one last update from Hungary before we leave. Thursday we traveled by train to the Fort of Komárom. This was very amazing. It was huge and the kids really found it interesting. We learned that it was the 5th most targeted Fort for the Americans to find because of the large supply of gunpowder and weapons that was stored there. The kids then walked over the bridge and were actually standing in Slovakia. After that we did a little shopping and then went swimming at an indoor pool. After catching the train to come back to Tatabánya the children returned to their host families for their last full night. This morning we are hiking to Turul (the bird) where we went the first day to make a campfire and cook goulash. If it rains we will cook in the caves. We have a very early morning where we will leave for the airport at 3:30 am. Although it may be an emotional good-bye with the Hungarians, we are also excited about coming home to our American families. We have really learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves. Everyone is excited about sharing our many pictures with all of you!

August and September Assignments -- Archive

9/30/08--Math 64-- p. 36, problems 8, 10, 19, 21, 35Math 63-- p. 36, problems 3, 5, 7, 12, 15Science -- Study for the test9/29/08--Social Studies -- Worksheet for Ch. 23, Lesson 1Science -- test on Wednesday.Parent Note: Terra Nova testing will begin in 6th grade next week.9/26/08--Science -- Chapter 1 test is scheduled for Weds., Oct. 1. I will have a study guide for you on Monday. Begin preparing using the review in the textbook, pages 22-23, questions 1-9, 12, 15-17, and 20.Your "Plant a Sock" project is due on Monday.Math -- Guess and Check worksheet.9/25/09--Geography -- map test tomorrowScience -- P. 16, problem 3.Plant a sock. Due 9/29Math 64 -- p. 33, problems 4&59/24/08--Social Studies -- Read the two short articles from Barack Obama and John McCain. Answer the questions on the form in your packet. Answers should be written as short (3-5 sentence) paragraphs. You may use a separate sheet of paper if needed.Science --plant a sock. Due Monday, 9/29.Geography -- Map test is Friday.9/23/08Science -- plant a sock. See student handout. Information available on my webpage.Math 64-- P. 30, problems 12-42 (even), 46Math 63 -- P. 30, problems 11-19.Geography -- map test on Friday.9/22/08--No homework tonight. Study for the map test.9/19/08--Math 64-- Pages 26-27, problems 5, 7, 10, 20, 27, 32, 34, 35, 38Math 63 -- Pages 26-27, problems 5, 7, 10, 20, 27, 32Social Studies -- Finish your culture poster.Geography -- study for the Continents test. There are links in the post about this on the webpage.9/18/08--No assignments tonight.Remember that you have a Continents map test scheduled for 9/26.Please donate old magazines if you have them. We use them for a variety of "poster" projects througout the year. Thanks!9/17/08--Math classes -- work to finish the exponents practice worksheet.Social Studies -- We began work today on our Presidential Election Project. All students can access both my main blog page, and also my webquest pages. Many students have signed up for the seven "Group" sites -- those who have not should have received a second invitation. You do need to sign up for all seven sites so that you can participate in any group as we work through the school year.For tonight, write a 1-3 sentence question (something you wonder about) or discovery (something interesting you learned) about the work you did on the project in class today.9/16/08--Remember to get your papers signed.Sell those magazine subscriptions! :-)9/15/08--Science -- Make "Classification System Acrostics"to help you remember the levels: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Use construction paper provided.Math 63 -- P. 20, problems 1-5, 8, 10, 12, 14Math 64 -- P. 20, problems 1-5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 34.9/12/08--Math -- p. 16, problems 8-12, 43, and 44Geography-- Continents map test is 9/26.9/11/08--I was not at school today, but was home ill. If you are having trouble with the assigned homework, we can discuss it tomorrow when I (hopefully) return to school.Social Studies -- Read chapter 23 in the textbook. Students should compile a list of vocabulary from their reading, and find definitions for these words.Math— finish the mini-lab questions from p. 14, and Read the lesson (pages 14-15), and fill out the appropriate note section on their foldable.Science— Answer questions 1 and 2 on page 13. Then, using the classification chart on pages 10 and 11, make a chart that describes each level of classification, and tells how each level differs from the level above it.9/10/08--Social Studies -- Read the Presidential Election Webquest packet so that you know what will be required from you during this project.Math (63 and 64)-- Complete your "foldable" notes for lesson 1-2.9/9/08--Geography -- The Continents map test will be given on September 26.64 Math -- Students are to test for "divisibility" (by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) for these numbers:221057661633611216263 Math -- Students are to complete the table for "divisibility" (by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) for these numbers:22105766163361124301629/8/08--Graded work was returned today. Parents should review and sign the memo that accompanies this work.Geography -- The Continents map test will be given on September 26.Health -- 12-choice presentations on material in chapter 3 are due tomorrow.Other -- Thank you to those of you who have responded to the invitation to join the student webpages. It is necessary for you to join all 7 pages so that students can post their work on any of the group pages. If I do not have your email address, or if you have not accepted the invitations to join, I cannot give your student the access needed for this type of work.9/5/08--Math -- make factor rainbows. (see example post)Geography -- The Continents Map Test is September 26. Students worked on preparing study guides today. Unlike 4th and 5th grade, most studying for map tests happens outside of school at this level. There will be a few more class periods dedicated to this material, but I'd recommend that students schedule a regular 10 or 15 minute map review as part of their regular homework.Social Studies -- Family history and culture presentation is due Monday.Health -- 12-choice presentations on Chapter 3 are due Tuesday.9/4/08--Math -- Finish the "foldable" from p. 5.Science -- read pp. 6-9, complete vocabulary graphic organizers for "biosphere," "species," and "adaptation."Social Studies -- Expl0re your family history and culture -- items to share are due on Monday, 9/8.Health -- 12-choice presentations (chapter 3) are due on Tuesday, 9/9.9/3/08--Math -- Finish your adding machine tape "problem solving strategy" problem. You can choose either problem 4 or problem 5 from page 8. The steps for solving problems are listed on page 6 in your textbook.9/2/08--Health -- 12-Choice Project. Students choose a method of presenting material based on Chapter 3 (pp.66-83) in the health textbook. Students have the 12-choice handout and rubric. Due in one week, on 9/9.Math -- Finish Getting Started Assessment on p.5, problems 1-26.8/29/08--Science: Some of you need to complete the "learning Styles" survey so we can talk about that on Tuesday. Hopefully, it shouldn't take you very long.Social Studies-- Find 2 news articles related to issues of "Social Justice." Be sure that you can describe how your article relates to the seven social justice teachings that we read about in class. Due Weds., 9/38/28/08--Math -- finish the "How to Use Your Math Book" activity.Science/Health -- Finish answering the questions about brain structure and learning:1. Are there ever times when you are scared or nervous at school?2. Can you think of things that might happen in your life that could cause you to feel strong emotional reactions?3. What do you need to make you feel safe, secure, and welcome at school?4. What can you do to make everyone feel safe, secure, and welcome here at school?8/27/08--Cover your new science book and all other hardcover books.If you haven't turned in your "parent paperwork" get that signed.Share the letters about email adresses and the Danica McKellar math book with parents.8/26/08 --Cover all hardback books.Get "parent paperwork" filled out, signed, etc.Finish the "Hopes and Dreams" worksheet so that you can share with classmates tomorrow.