We have finished up our unit on cells and how our bodies are organized. Students learned that we are organized from the smallest living thing the cell, which many of the same cells make up tissues and tissues of the same kind make up organs and finally many organs that work together are called organ systems. We took a brief look at 4 different organ systems and discussed how our bodies are made up of many more organ systems. Our main focus was on cells and their structure. Students learned that cells are classified as either eukaryotic or prokaryotic. They learned that eukaryotic cells are very organized and made up of many organelles covered by thin membranes. Plant and animal cells are examples of eukaryotic cells. The other group procaryotes are unorganized, they do not have membranes around cell organelles. Bacteria is an example of this type of cell. On Tuesday we built cell models out of jello and candy as a review of cell parts. What a delicious project.
Last week we celebrated Catholic schools everywhere. We are blessed to have such a wonderful place to learn about our faith and the world around us. This year we had some exciting events to help us celebrate our school. The kids had a blast all week coming up with some interesting outfits for monday and creative ideas for fake injury day. I think some of the hits for the kids was the minute to win it assembly and of course the Kroch center. Thank you to Home and School and all the parent volunteers that made this week possible. In December we focused on giving to other be it our time, talent or monetary gift. Our door decoration for the month gave students ideas how they could serve others around them by being helpful such as helping someone with their work, cleaning up something even if they didn't make the mess, saying "good morning" and smiling at people in the hall. As an upperclassmen we gave of our time and musical and spent the morning caroling at local nursing homes and delivering christmas cards. As a fifth grade class students took an afternoon to make tie blankets which we then donated to Freedom House who was collecting blankets for homeless children. What a wonderful feeling to help others. |