This week in science, we started by sharing our homework from Friday. Our homework was to find what prokaryotic and eukaryotic meant. Mr. Finley and Mr. Segen did let us know they were words used to describe cells, but that is all of the information they gave us. I found, and shared, that they mean:

Prokaryotic:

-Simple

-No Nucleus

And:

Eukaryotic:

-Complex

-Contains a nucleus

Mr. Finley told us these definitions were correct, and that we would be using these words to describe cells throughout the school year.

On Tuesday, or maybe it was the same day, we made flow charts about what we know about photosynthesis and respiration. Here are some bullet points about what we knew:

Photosynthesis:

-Process of making food for the plant

-Needs sun to perform this task

-This food gives the plant energy

-Photosynthesis makes the plant green.

Respiration:

-Not the same thing as breathing

-Is a characteristic of life

These flow charts we the start of a new unit in science.

The next day, we talked a little bit more about photosynthesis, and Mr. Finley helped us discuss some points about photosynthesis. We added new facts about respirations to our list. Here are some new things and old things that we learned in class that day:

Photosynthesis (it means the plant)

Makes it green.

Green stuff makes it grow.

Green stuff also gives the plant energy.

Green stuff also gives the plant food.

Also:

Needs light to go through this process

Light=Sunlight

Also needs water

Lastly:

Needs air

CO2

What we took from this list as a general statement is that:

For a plant to go through the process of photosynthesis, the plant needs sunlight, water and CO2.

To test this, each group made an experiment to test these things. Our group was given the experiment to try to see if a plant needs water to go through photosynthesis. We put a spinach leaf in a tube with water, and a spinach leaf in a tube without water. We put both tubes next to a light.

The next day, we measured the oxygen level, which is what is produced by the plant if the plant is living. The results showed that indeed, plants do need water to photosynthesize. The other groups also proved that a plant does need sunlight and CO2 to photosynthesize.

The day after that, we looked at a simulation about photosynthesis, which further proved our experiments. It also showed the atoms and molecules in the plant during photosynthesis. That day, we also learned some new termonology.

Atom- Makes up a molecule, made out of elements, non-living, and make up everything.

Molecules- Made up of atoms, which make up everything, therefore molecules make up everything too.

Element- Different types of stuff, all of them on the Periodic Table of Elements.

That day we also learned the below statements:

Plants make a food called glucose.

Glucose is sugar.

Sugar is a carbohydrate.

Carbohydrate is carbon water.

On our last day of the week, we went a little bit further with learning about the molecules. We also learned a tiny bit more about photosynthesis. We learned that photosynthesis happens inside the cell. It happens in the chloropasts of the plant cell. These chloropasts make chlorophyll, which is the pigment that makes the plant green.

Lastly we made up models of molecules that are necessary for photosynthesis such as H2O and CO2. We made these models out f legos.

That is what we did in science class this week.