Investigations in Science 7 – February 8, 2019

Announcements:

Coming Up:

 Circulatory System

 Endocrine and Excretory system

 RFP

Dates:

 February 12 - PTA Meeting @ 7:00 pm

 February 18 - No School

 February 21 - Student/Staff Basketball Game

What we did this week:

We breathed a sigh of relief to be done with the digestive system and began
the respiratory system. We started by looking at the respiratory system and how
our respiratory system is the reason our cells go through cellular respiration which
creates energy for our body. We use the oxygen we breathe in, and use the food
we eat, to create energy for ourselves.

Wednesday we looked at how much air we breathe in and out with a balloon
breath lab. Every person got their own balloon! They first took a normal breath
and exhaled into the balloon. They measured the diameter of the balloon and
compared it to the lung capacity chart. After repeating for 3 trials they took a
deep breath and measured the diameter.

We then learned about the circulatory system. We began with lots of

explanation of how the heart, blood, and blood vessels function to take oxygen and
nutrients to our body, and get rid of the carbon dioxide our body produces as
waste. We then went over the four chambers of the heart and their function. The
atrium is the upper chamber of the heart that receives blood. The right atrium
receives blood lacking in oxygen while the left side receives oxygen rich
blood. The ventricles are the lower chamber of the heart that pumps blood
out. The right side pumps blood to the lungs to get oxygen and the left side pumps
the oxygen rich blood to the body cells.

As our systems of the body unit comes to a close, we are taking a lot of time
to discuss how all of the systems of the body work together to keep us functioning
properly. Students are expected to make connections to past material, and have
been fairly successful in remembering the content. It is always good for them to
take some time to review what they have learned at the end of the day, even if
they don’t have homework.

Have a great weekend!