4/30 - Interactions

Opening: Stations
Worktime: This vs That
Closing: Qwizdom
HW: Study for the test tomorrow (Friday, 5/1)

Benchmark 7.3.2 - Interactions between organisms

Today we went from station to station to define vocabulary words and identify real life examples of each term. You can download the guided notes here. Here are the station papers. First look up a definition of each term. Then place each example on the station paper on your guided notes next to the appropriate definition. For example, in "Predator vs Prey", a honu is prey and a tiger shark is the predator.

At the bottom of the notes are a couple practice questions for tomorrow's test.

This presentation will teach you about everything you need to know about interactions between organisms:

Now try to answer these practice assessment questions.

4/24: Benchmark 7.3.1 Assessment

Opening: Review
Worktime: Assess
Closing: Reflect
HW: What is your favorite predator? Why is it your favorite?

Benchmark 7.3.1

Today we are handing in our carbon atom stories, playing Qwizdom to get ready for the test, and taking the test. You can study by taking my practice test.

4/22 & 4/23: Global Warming & Food Web Catastrophes

Opening: Too Much Carbon

Worktime: Build a Web

Closing: Destroy a Web

HW: Quiz and final draft of your carbon atom story will be turned in on Friday.

Benchmark 7.3.1

Objective: Analyze the impact of carbon cycle changes on food web dynamics.  You will be able to tell me what happens to a food web when certain bad situations arise.

First, check out this site to see how global warming happens.  Now, read this article from the Honolulu Advertiser about global warming.  The article says that the government wants to regulate greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) because they are dangerous to humans.  How are these gases dangerous to humans?

Now build a food web at this website.  Imagine that most of the population of jaguars, the top predator, dies from a disease.  What would happen to the rest of the organisms in the food web.  Why would this happen?

Now watch this presentation to learn some more about global warming and about how a change in the population of one organism can affect all of the organisms in a community.

4/20 & 4/21 Food Webs & Photosynthesis

Opening: Carbon

Worktime: Producers & Consumers

Closing: Food Webs

HW: Tell a story about how one atom of carbon moves through a food web.  You must use these words in your story: carbon dioxide, photosynthesis, respiration, producer, consumer, herbivore, and predator.  Quiz 7.3.1 on Friday, 4/24.

The story you write for homework will be revised on Wednesday or Thursday and you will hand in a final draft on Friday.  This story will be the project assignment for this benchmark, and it will be graded on this rubric.

Benchmark 7.3.1

Objective: To explain the roles of photosynthesis and respiration in a food web.

You can visit this site here to read about the carbon cycle.  You can watch the presentation below to see what we learned in class.

4/13 & 14: Symbiosis

Opening: Symbiosis

Worktime: Mutualism, Parasitism, Commensalism

Closing: What's the difference?

HW: Pick your favorite of all the symbiotic relationships from today's presentation.  Write whether it is an example of mutualism, parasitism, or commensalism, and explain how you know.

Announcement: Classroom Decoration Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday during lunch.  At the meeting we will discuss painting the back wall of the room and rearranging the desks.  Participation in the meeting counts as one of your three classroom contributions for the quarter.

Symbiosis is when two different organisms live together.  Mutualism is when both organisms benefit.  Parasitism is when one organism benefits but the other organism is harmed.  Commensalism is when one organism lives on the other without harming it.  Watch the presentation to see many examples of symbiotic relationships in nature.  You can download and print the guided notes here.

4/8 & 4/9: Food Chains & Coral Reef Communities

Opening: Food Web Review

Worktime: Food Chains

Closing: Coral Reefs

HW: Finish your essay.  

Objectives: Differentiate between food webs and food chains.  Analyze the impact of community changes on food chains.

Essay: Explain why the death of coral is devastating to coral reef communities.  Be sure to include a discussion of why the state of Hawai'i wants the Navy to pay money for damaging a coral reef in February.  Read articles about this here and here.

Watch the lesson presentation and complete the guided notes here:

4/6 & 4/7: Food Webs

Opening: Your favorite foods

Worktime: Food Webs

Closing: Create a web

HW: Make a food web using at least 5 organisms that live here in Hawai'i.  Identify each organism in your food web as a producer, decomposer, carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore.

Benchmark 5.3.1

Objectives: Identify the producers & consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, & decomposers) in a food web.  Create a food web, given a list of organisms in a community.

Today we are learning about food webs.  Food webs are diagrams that show all the organisms in a community and shows which organisms feed on others.  Watch this presentation with my comments and complete the guided notes to learn about food webs: