Mrs. Berg's Basics: March 2019

Monday, March 25, 2019

Life Cycles

A life cycle is the sequential stages of growth and development that an organism goes through in its lifetime. Organisms undergo observable changes during their life cycle including birth, growth, development, reproduction, and death. Some animals, such as butterflies and beetles, pass through distinctly different life stages during their life cycle. Some plants, such as radishes and lima beans, develop from seeds into small plants that resemble the adult form.

Life Cycle of a plant:

Diagram of Life Cycle of a Plant

The plant starts life as a seed, which germinates and grows into a plant. The mature plant produces flowers, which are fertilized and produce seeds in a fruit or seedpod. The plant eventually dies, leaving seeds which germinate to produce new plants.

Life cycle of a beetle:

The life cycle of a beetle is known as a complete metamorphosis, meaning it has four very different stages: egg, larval, pupal and adult.

Here are some games to solidify these concepts:

Life Cycles Games

Interactive Sites

Life Cycle of Plants

Butterfly Life Cycle

Converting Customary Units of Measurement

We have been working on converting Customary Units of measurement in Math. In problems which involve measurements such as width, length, height, weight, capacity or temperature, it is often necessary to convert from one measurement unit to another.

Basic Conversion Rule:

To convert from a LARGER unit to a SMALLER unit...MULTIPLY

To convert from a SMALLER unit to a LARGER unit...DIVIDE

We have four different strategies that we have learned to help us with conversions.

1. Draw a picture.

Image result for customary conversions strategies

2. Make a t-chart.

3. Use the saying.

4. Use a proportion.

Image result for customary conversions using proportions

Here are a couple of videos that further explain conversions in the customary system:

Conversion Example

Customary Units of Length

Here are some games that will help solidify this skill:

Customary Best Match

Ruler Game

Capacity Match Up

Artie Ounces Soda Jerk – Units of Volume Game

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Converting Metric Units of Measurement

The metric system is a comprehensive system of measurements used all over the world today. One of the biggest advantages that the metric system offers is that conversions between its units is simple and logical, as its units scale by powers of 10, just like our place value system. Because of this, converting within metric measurements is usually as easy as multiplying or dividing a given measurement by a power of 10 to find the new value, or, as a shortcut, simply moving its decimal point.

The basic metric units are meters (for length), grams (for mass or weight), and liters (for volume or capacity).
There are many metric-unit prefixes, but the usual ones required in school are these: kilo-, hecto-, deca-, deci-, centi-, and milli-.

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The same basic rule of converting works with the metric system as well.

Basic Conversion Rule:

To convert from a LARGER unit to a SMALLER unit...MULTIPLY

To convert from a SMALLER unit to a LARGER unit...DIVIDE

We have five different strategies that we have learned to help us with metric conversions, four are the same as customary conversions.

1. Draw a picture.

2. Make a t-chart.

3. Use the saying.

4. Use a proportion.

5. Move the decimal with the power of 10.

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Here are some videos that will help with metric conversions:

Learnzillion Lesson

Metric Conversion Rap

Using K H D U D C M to convert

Here are some games to solidify this concept:

Horrendous Soup

Matching Math Metric Length

Multiple Games

Metric Math Frog

Metric Measurement Millionaire Game

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Energy Flow in Living Systems

An ecosystem includes all of the living things (plants, animals and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere).

Each ecosystem has its own energy flow. This energy flow includes food chains and food webs.

A food chain shows how each living thing gets food, and how nutrients and energy are passed from organism to organism. Food chains begin with plant-life, and end with animal-life. Some animals eat plants, some animals eat other animals.

A simple food chain could start with grass, which is eaten by rabbits. Then the rabbits are eaten by foxes.

A food web consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem. Each living thing in an ecosystem is part of multiple food chains. Each food chain is one possible path that energy and nutrients may take as they move through the ecosystem. All of the interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem make up a food web.

The difference between food chains and food webs is:

Food chains follow a single path as animals eat each other.
Example:

THE SUN provides food for GRASS
The GRASS is eaten by a GRASSHOPPER
The GRASSHOPPER is eaten by a FROG
The FROG is eaten by a SNAKE
The SNAKE is eaten by a HAWK.

Food webs show how plants and animals are interconnected by different paths.
Example:

TREES produce ACORNS which act as food for many MICE and INSECTS.
Because there are many MICE, WEASELS and SNAKES have food.
The insects and the acorns also attract BIRDS, SKUNKS, and OPOSSUMS.
With the SKUNKS, OPPOSUMS, WEASELS and MICE around, HAWKS, FOXES, and OWLS can find food.

They are all connected! Like a spiders web, if one part is removed, it can affect the whole web.
FOOD WEBS show how plants and animals are connected in many ways to help them all survive. FOOD CHAINS follow just one path of energy as animals find food.

Parts of the Food Chain: Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers

Plants are called producers. This is because they produce their own food! They do this by using light energy from the Sun, carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil to produce food - in the form of glucose/sugar.
The process is called photosynthesis.

Animals are called consumers. This is because they cannot make their own food, so they need to consume (eat) plants and/or animals.

We study 3 groups of consumers.

Herbivores - Animals that eat only plants.
Carnivores - Animals that eat only animals.
Omnivores - Animals that eat both animals AND plants. Humans are also omnivores!

Image result for herbivore, omnivore, carnivore

Bacteria and fungi are decomposers. They eat decaying matter - dead plants and animals and in the process they break them down and decompose them. When that happens, they release nutrients and mineral salts back into the soil - which then will be used by plants!

Image result for producers and consumers

Energy Pyramids

An energy pyramid is a model of energy flow in a community. The different levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain. From the bottom-up, they are as follows:

Producers — bring energy from nonliving sources into the community
Primary consumers — eat the producers, which makes them herbivores in most communities
Secondary consumers — eat the primary consumers, which makes them carnivores
Tertiary consumers — eat the secondary consumers

An energy pyramid’s shape shows how the amount of useful energy that enters each level — chemical energy in the form of food — decreases as it is used by the organisms in that level.

The consumers at the top of a food pyramid, as a group, have much less energy available to support them than those closer to the bottom. That’s why their numbers are relatively fewer in most communities. Eventually, the amount of useful energy left can’t support another level. That’s why energy flow is depicted in the shape of a pyramid.