Blog Archives - Button's Place

Day 31

9/30/2014

Today marks the beginning of the next 5/6ths of the school year. We just finished the first 1/6th of the year. That wasn't so bad, was it?
The Chemistry students finished up their work on creating their own Periodic Table. We also began a discussion of valence electrons and their relationship to the stability of atoms. We also saw yet another pattern within the Periodic Table. Columns of atoms have the same number of valence electrons and that is why atoms within the same column tend to behave the same way. Here are some Chemistry students hard at work:

The AP Biology students continued their work on the Cell Respiration Lab. The students also began planning their own experiment involving measuring dropping oxygen levels as living material respires. Here is some material getting ready to respire:

Day 30

9/29/2014

Uh oh. I wasn't at school today. We had a minor emergency involving no hot water, a broken circulating pump and precious time. Suffice to say that the Button house once again has the sweet sound of a humming dishwasher and steaming showers. Gross.
I did have a good weekend, however. I met some cool people:

I'm the 4th from the right.

Day 29

9/26/2014

A weird day at the good ol' WV. A lot of kids were missing which made things difficult in class.
The Chemistry students will have to wait until Monday to finish their Periodic Table activity. We were missing more than half of the students in 5th period which is more than 50%.
The AP Biology students went over the data from Thursday's experiment. We will continue that analysis on Monday. Generally, our data looked pretty good with the biggest change in pressure coming in the respirometers that contained the germinating peas.

Day 28

9/25/2014

A very productive day in Room 1204 which is my room. Actually it's your room, not mine.
The Chemistry students finalized their "layout" of their series of elements. We are trying to create the Periodic Table much in the same way Mendeleev did in the 1800's. The students also are trying to discover the identity of the mystery element based on its correct placement on the Periodic Table. The group that does the best job of this will win a prize!
The AP Biology students completed the all-important first part to the Cell Respiration Lab. We measured the respiration rate of germinating peas by checking the air pressure within a respirometer over a 20 minute period. I know what you're thinking. Why didn't they measure decreasing glucose levels or increasing levels of carbon dioxide or water. We have devised an experimental method that makes measuring decreasing levels of oxygen really easy.

Day 27

9/24/2014

Collaboration Day!!!!! Yay! That means we will discussing a college and college requirements. Today, we will talk about San Francisco State University, my alma mater. I had a great college experience - fun, learning, test-taking, fun and did I mention fun? Of course, I'm probably forgetting the time my bike was stolen, the time I took a bus to a final and was late and screwed up the exam and the time my car's gas tank got a hole and I had to get a ride home with a family friend that wouldn't stop talking. All I remember now is how much fun it was!

Day 26

9/23/2014

Supposedly, rain is on the way. No way! I'll believe it when I see it.
The Chemistry students worked on creating their own Periodic Table today given 32 unknown elements and their characteristics. The students also got this assignment:
1. Refer to my blog from last week when I told you how long a mole of Slim Jims would be. It would stretch to Saturn 130 billion times.
2. Come up with your own illustration or description of how big a mole is. You know, you have a mole of Twinkies. How much would that weigh? As much as the Earth? Something like that. Make it funny!
3. Get this to me by midnight tomorrow and get entered into chance to win cash and/or prizes!
The AP Biology students began a discussion on Cell Respiration and a lesson on how to draw lions. I'm great at it. They also got a preview of the Cell Respiration Lab which begins on Thursday.

Day 25

9/22/2014

The year is 5/36ths of the way done. And it sure feels like it!
The Chemistry students began an activity on making their own Periodic Table - what fun! That Russian guy, Mendelev, was super intuitive when he created the Periodic Table for the first time. He even left blank spaces for elements that had yet to be discovered and when they were, they fit perfectly. He was cool!
The AP Biology students did a quick activity on enzymes and chemical reactions. We modeled an enzyme using our hands and toothpicks as the substrate. We calculated rate of reaction by timing how many toothpicks were broken using our hands. We even made a Andrew cross his fingers to model denatured enzymes. I think he got about 17 splinters.

Day 24

9/19/2014

Another Friday is has come and gone. I heard it's supposed to rain soon but I'm not holding my breath.
The Chemistry students took a quiz today on calculating molar mass, identifying isotopes and making conversions from grams to moles, moles to grams and atoms to grams. Hopefully, a lot of people did real good.
The AP Biology discussed Meiosis in the context of the Mitosis and Meiosis Lab. Here's a key point: the process of mitosis maintains the appropriate chromosome number. Meiosis reduces the chromosome number from 1N to 2N. That is super important! During the production of sperm and egg chromosome number must be reduced by half or our children would be, well, pretty whacked. The lab is due on Monday.

Day 23

9/18/2014

A rare technical difficulty which involved me falling asleep prevented me from updating the blog until much later than usual. Like the next day.
The Chemistry students completed an extensive review of several calculations. They should know how to make conversions between moles, grams and atoms. They should know how to calculate molar mass. And finally, they should know how to identify any isotope. That's a lot of chemistry stuff. We also talked about how big a mole is. It's really big. If you had a mole of Slim Jims and stretched them out in a line.......

They could reach to Saturn.......

130 billion times!!!!!!!!! Or back and forth 65 billion times!!!! Wow!!!
The AP Biology students finished Activity B in the Mitosis and Meiosis Lab. They determined experimentally that interphase in an onion root tip cell takes 21.8 hours. In reality, it takes 21.6 hours. We were really close. That's pretty good. We'll wrap up the lab on Friday.

Day 22

9/17/2014

What a day! Advisory, chemical reactions, mitosis..... who could ask for anything more?
The Chemistry students had a group review activity where they had several problems involving isotopes, molar mass and converting grams to moles, mole to grams, atoms to moles and moles to atoms. Everyone did great. We're gonna have a quiz on this material on Friday. Yay!!
The AP Biology students began Activity B of the Mitosis and Meiosis Lab. This involved observing and counting the different phases of mitosis within onion root tip cells. Ahh..... the excitement of discovery was palpable in class. Once the students have made their counts and we compile class data, we can make estimates in how long each phase takes during the cell cycle. We'll do this tomorrow.