Here’s what’s happening in Plants and Zombies over the next few weeks:
- LTP. The Plants & Zombies LTP is a a magazine article about the past, present, and future evolution of an organism of their own choosing. They’ll collect research sources to learn about the habitat, the food web, the ancestry, and most importantly — the specific adaptations (and selective forces) that have enabled their organism to survive. Much of this work will be done in class, but there will be spillover into homework as well. Here’s the complete LTP write-up fyi…
- Natural Selection. We are going to be conducting a “peppered moth” lab (modeled after the changing phenotypes of moths in Industrialized Britain) to learn about how selective forces can create conditions for natural selection. (Parents — if you need a quick refresher on Natural Selection, check out this video.)
- Flower dissection! What exactly are the parts of a flower? How do flowers reproduce? Why do flowers exist?
- Food webs. Producers, Decomposers, and Consumers! Oh my! (Students will be creating food webs as part of their LTP.)
- Field Trip to the Museum of Nature and Science on 2/28. Students should bring a sack lunch. Students will be looking at Human body systems (in support of a Makey-Makey based body system project that I hope we have time for in March!) and looking at various organism adaptations. If you are interested in chaperoning, please let me know.
Upcoming Due Dates and LTP Guidelines: (Tentative)
- Monday 2/24: Bibliography and Classification Document for LTP by 8am in Google Classroom.
- Peppered Moth Lab Complete in Journal (completed in class on Monday)
- Wednesday 2/26: LTP Organism Ancestry Phylogenetic Tree
- Friday, 2/28: Bring Sack Lunch (ADI #2). Students also need their science journal, weather appropriate clothing, and a writing utensil.
- Flower Lab Write Up Complete.
- Tuesday 3/3: LTP Food Web Poster and Map
- Monday, 3/9: Article Graphic Organizer (not collected, should be complete)
Thank you for all your continued support! Best, -JF