Punnett Squares

Here is some fantastic work from two of my students.  We are learning all about genetics in Life Science.  The assignment was to make a Punnett Square to determine the probability that the offspring of two parents would inherit a certain trait.

Mikala crossed a black pegasus with a white pegasus.  The white fur trait is dominant here. The white pegasus (mother) is heterozygous and the black pegasus (father) is homozygous recessive.  The probability of having a white pegasus offspring is 50%, and a black pegasus offspring is 50%.  Great job, Mikala!

Joey decided to crossbreed Joeys!  He crossed a homozygous long-tailed Joey with a heterozygous long-tailed Joey and determined that 100% of the offspring would be long-tailed, but 50% of the offspring would be homozygous and 50% would be heterozygous! Great job, Joey!

Today we saw our own DNA in an experiment using salt water, dish soap, rubbing alcohol, and food coloring.

That strand below the straw is Joey's DNA!

The girls & Sophia's DNA

DNA models! Twizzlers = Dioxyribose & phosphate.  Gumdrops: Nitrogen Bases. Adenine - red, Thymine - green, Cytosine - clear, Guanine - purple.

Cell Division

Here is a picture from something we did in science this week.  Cell division is awesome!

The Getty

Our trip to the Getty was a memorable one.  My favorite part was when most of you students crowded around Monet's The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light.  I loved that because you all knew what the painting was without me reminding you!  You remembered what we had learned in class and were fascinated by seeing the painting face to face.  I love that painting because it is so applicable to our lives.  When you are two feet from the painting, you can't really see what the painting is or what is going on.  But when you step back and look at it from a further distance, you can clearly see what the artist painted. Sometimes it is so hard to understand what God is doing in the moment that it happens.  But as we grow older and look back, or in Heaven when we see all things clearly, then it will all make sense.  Here are a few memories from the trip.

Claude Monet's The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light.

Did you know he painted 30 different views of this Cathedral?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir -  La Promenade

Vincent Van Gogh - Irises

Franz Xaver Winterhalter - Portrait of Princess Leonilla of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn

A Latin manuscript about Esther before King Ahasuerus, written in Bologna around 1280 A.D.

Thank You, Parents!

Thank you to all the parents to helped with our booth at the Harvest Carnival! Our class very much appreciated it. Also, a big thank you to Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Mellor for designing and obtaining all the supplies for our booth! It was a huge success.

Incredible Edible Cells!

Fantastic animal cell projects from our class! And the awards go to...

Gabriel Palomos - Most Artistic!

Seth Spargo - Coolest Shape!

Joey Rucker - Most Bakery-Worthy!

Cheyenne Mellor - Most Psychadelic!

Sage Bowman - Most Healthy and Nutritious!

Brent Murphy - Most Inventive!

Serenity Flagg - Most Whimsical!

Alex Rodriguez - Most Savory! (Tortilla & Meatball)

Mikala Champin - Most Diverse!

Tommy Fillippini - Tiniest Cell! (Isn't it cute?)

AJ Cruz - Most Christmas-y! 

Sophia Trejo - Most Charming!

Hailey Gentry - Most Worthy of a Fancy Restaurant!

Fantastic job, students!

Harvest Carnival

The DRCS Harvest Carnival is on October 26th! Parents, please support the 7th grade booth by signing up for a time slot (The sign-up sheet is located by the 6th grade stairwell).  Also, our beloved school needs more candy donations :)

Announcements

1.  Spirit Day is tomorrow! Wear your DRCS shirts or school colors so we can win a party!

2.  Car Wash this Saturday to fundraise for our trip! I hope to see you all there.  The signup is located by the 6th grade stairwell.

3.  Parents, if you are available, please sign up for a time slot to volunteer at our 7th grade booth at the Harvest Carnival! The signup is located by the 6th grade stairwell.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Field Trip

Here are some pictures from our NASA JPL Field Trip.  We were so privileged to be able to go to such an amazing place and learn about the different JPL-created robots exploring our universe!  Maybe one day some of you will design rovers...

Our class in front of a full-scale model of the Curiosity Mars Rover

Learning about the Curiosity Mars Rover.  Curiosity is a robot geologist and geochemist! How cool is that? We learned about the twin cameras (for 3D images), the aluminum wheels (with JPL in morse code embedded into the treads) and many other things.  

In front of a full-scale model of Galileo, which orbited and studied Jupiter

Future NASA Scientists?

A full-scale model of the twin Mars rovers, Spirit & Opportunity

Infrared technology! We learned about that during science, didn't we? (blue = coolest, white= warmest)

More future NASA Scientists?

Students! Don't forget to visit the JPL website.  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/  On the website you can do so many cool things including:

--Watch videos of the Curiosity Rover landing on Mars

--Make your own models of real robots with scissors and paper

--Play a game that lets you design your own planet

--And MANY other games and activities