Final Blog

This blog will be a closing to my WAAS blog and to science class. I will be reflecting on the three years at WAAS, and what I have learned. The first thing I have to say is that WAAS overall has been great. Even though, there have been several confrontations during my three years, I have learned from these. The main points I have learned from any confrontations is to remember to step back and look at reality, think about the bigger picture, and persevere. Many unique aspects of WAAS have allowed me to practice these life lessons. I will talk about my experience at WAAS later in the blog. I will start off with science class.

This year's topic was biology, as you may know, you could spend your whole life studying it. We included several dissections which were very interesting. I probably enjoyed these the most. We started the year with cells, the most basic unit of structure in your body, we then progressed to DNA, microscopes, and then ecology. Ecology is a broad topic that includes some common knowledge. This year touched on a lot of topics that were not needed for the final. This made the class more interesting and exposed me to these topics which may be helpful in the future. This year we had dissections that helped us to actually see the structures that are in the animal, I had fun doing this. We also had chicks, we got to see them hatch and we had a couple days with them. This was an interesting experience. 

This year improved my knowledge on many topics, I was exposed to many areas of biology. This year brought my passion for studying science up. I am definitely interested in pursuing my dream- being an orthodontist. The biggest challenge for me would be dealing with stress-which sounds dramatic. In all honesty, this year combining school, and outside stress has really taught me to persevere. My biggest success would have to be leading the Science Olympiad team when our coach, Mrs.Giacomelli was not here. Like I have said before, this event had an impact on me. Next year, I will be as Isaac Bear expanding my knowledge in science. I look forward to learning more about chemistry and physics. Something that I could improve on over the summer is my organization; as you may know this is a huge part in successfulness.  My most cherished memory from science at WAAS is all of the dissections. I like to see whats going on in animals, and I find it interesting to learn about this. Some advice to students who will take biology- don't be afraid to get in there, the only way you are going to learn is if you you come with an open book.  You should also know that Mrs.G is a great teacher and if you are ever in her class, always know that she is willing to help. 


We dissected: a pickle, an earthworm, a starfish, a squid, a frog, a grasshopper, and a fetal pig. We also got to see a cow eye and sheep brain. On top of these things, we did a lot of labs ranging for bacteria growth to seeing osmosis work in gummy bears. I had a lot fun in these labs, and I think the best was the dissection of the fetal pig. The fetal pig was interesting to see because a lot of the structures are similar to ours, it was cool to learn about them. The second best lab was blowing bubbles on the table. I find it weird that I take interest in this lab, but it was honestly pretty fun. This lab didn't really have to much science in it, but I still enjoyed it. Over the three years at WAAS, I have grown by learning life lessons, and experiencing events that have a deeper message. 



Science Olympiad has definitely impacted me more than I thought it would in the beginning. As I am sure you know, I am team captain and taking this leadership role has taught me so many life lessons. I will definitely look back on this period of my life and remember how it changed me. Between the stress and accomplishments, I have benefited from the 3 years. To recap, my first year was an intro to what SO really is and I don't think anything was rough, I do remember how I felt getting first in states. My second year was a little rough, starting off with one of the most time consuming events, ending up being the only one doing the event, having to rebuild the machine during the tournament, and deciding whether I should continue to participate. This year, my third year, wasn't too bad. I was team captain which allowed me to experience of leadership. I think that the SO team overall was the strongest this year. 

To conclude and end my blog, I leave you with this:  Remember to constantly strive for living up to your true potential, others may not believe or see this, but you are here to prove them wrong. Make sure you stay true to yourself, be grateful, explore, remember, if you are always finding ways to improve yourself and you don't take breaks, your life would be plain. Remember to step back; appreciate what you have, be grateful for your opportunities, yes, you will have horrible days, but they are to remind you that you are not perfect.

Unit 7

I can't believe we are already in the second week of the fourth quarter! We have about 32 official school days left. Next week we have a much needed week off and we are planning on going to Key West and Daytona Beach in Florida. My main goal is to decompress and relax there. 

Anyways, in this unit we studied ecology, which can be easier than other subjects because some of it is common sense. At the same time we did several dissections that were pretty fun. The ecology notes were pretty easy for me. Most of it is common knowledge which makes it easier to understand. 

We started the unit with an earthworm dissection, this was pretty fun. No one in my group wanted to dissect a worm so I did. We got to identify and learn all the simple parts of a worm. 

After that we had a lab practical on the earth worm. This was pretty easy because the questions were taken right of off the lab. I got a 100.

After this, we took some more notes studying food chains/webs succession, populations, and much more. I already new some of the content. The second dissection lab we did was a Planeria lab. This was about flatworms, we only did a little bit on this lab because we had to continue with notes. We basically look at several live small flatworms under a dissecting microscope. We had a quiz that I got a 97 on. I missed a question.After this we had a squid dissection lab.  Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in this. But it looked fun, here are some pictures:

We then had a third dissection lab with grasshoppers. This was pretty fun, I noticed that a lot of of the same structures that were in the earthworm. were in the grasshopper. The only part that was weird was when we cut into the outer shell, which was crunchy. 

Unit 6 Plants

This unit was probably one of the most interesting because we got to study the way plants around us influence our existence as well as see how they reproduce. Though this was a big part of the time period, Science Olympiad took the mot energy. We will get into that a little but later. We have about one more week until we are in the last 9 weeks of 8th grade. This year went by fast! We are already prepping for graduation. I will share my thoughts on that near the end of the year. At the end of the year, I have an exam called the EOC which gives me credit for high school. 

We did several labs this unit. We are getting into dissections, which I think is great for us to actually do the dissecting like people would in the real world. We started the dissection part of this lab with a pickle dissection. In this lab, we learned how to use the dissection tools. We cut the pickle in half and took out the seeds. This was probably the most interactive lab we have done so far this year. I thought this was pretty cool:

After that, we had a plant tissue lab where we got to dissect and look under the microscope. In this lab, we used a bean and corn. We learned many new things in this lab that correlated with our notes.

We then continued onto a flower lab. In this lab, we dissected a flower, we identified the male and female parts which helped me understand the content better. 






I have been in Science Olympiad for three years, this year, I have earned the team captain title. Back in December of last year, we participated in an invitational which helped us prep for the Regionals event which was March 4. Unfortunately, Mrs. G. was not able to make it due to personal reasons. So that meant I had to step up and organize and lead the team. I will be completely honest, this tired me out very easily. But in a weird way, it was good.  Anyways, everything went pretty smoothly and I do not think that there were any hangups. During the awards ceremony, I felt honored to earn one of the Top Male Competitors awards. This was coincidental due to the fact that I was "in charge" of the team. I am pretty sure I know who nominated me but regardless, it was great.  We earned 1st place which means we move onto states on April 22. 

To be completely honest, one of my main goals is to inspire others. On of my favorite quotes is "success isn't just what you accomplish in your life, it is what you inspire others to do." As team captain, my role is to help and inspire others in the classroom, this may seem like an easy job, but there comes a time when you have to do this to people you don't necessarily like. This is ok though because you take it as a challenge against yourself, and you fulfill your goals. Another strong characteristic that a leader must have is having the ability to focus when things get complicated. Right now, there are many different topics going on in my life and I feel that perseverance plays a giant part in my days at WAAS. I will write more about this near the end of the year as it is a very important topic that  I feel all leaders must have to be successful. I have definitely tried my best to leave a good impression on the school. Many people including teachers have told me that it will be emotional when I leave, but the reality is that everyone in our lives must leave.   Here are some of the pictures:

Unit 5 Diversity of Life

In this unit we did quite a few labs that definitely helped me understand the content as usual. This unit covered viruses, classification, Linnaeus, the domains, taxonomy, the dichotomous key, kingdoms, vascular vs. non-vascular, evolution, Charles Darwin, phylogenetic trees and much more that I will list later. The first part of this unit we did a lab a Dichotomous Key lab. This lab required us to create a key which helped me understand how it worked and why we use it.  

After this, Mrs.G had two people go up and put the candy in a specific order that would make sense to classify. This was a demonstration of how Linnaeus classified animals. When using the dichotomous key, you figure out unknown animals.      

In the very beginning of the unit, we learned about taxonomy and understood the levels of categories in a society. We remembered these groups by "Dumb Kids Playing on Freeway Get Smushed. Meaning Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. All of these topics are important to learn because if you ever become a scientist or have a job that involves science, you might need to know this. 

Even if you aren't going to have a job that has any science, to get to that field of study you must pass several tests that have math, science or any unrelated topics. 

After we got farther into the unit, we applied this information. We did this by doing a blood type lab, but not with real blood. We used water with dye in it. We crossed the water colors and figured out the outcomes. This was a cool lab which let use literally see the crossing. 

 After this, we had a quiz. This marked about the middle of the unit. We then went into bacteria, viruses, natural selection, adaptations, artificial selections, the lytic and lysogenic cycles, and more. The first lab we did was the peppered moth lab. I was partnered with Andrei, he was the prey and I was the predator. In this lab, I had to hole punch up to 200 holes in dark and white paper. As you can see, this lab was pretty interactive. The lab allowed us to see how a predator sees thing and it represented adaptation well. This lab was good, because the questions let us think and apply the knowledge we learned in the notes.  

 


















We moved onto bacteria and viruses. The first lab we did was the Bacteria lab. This lab let us understand how bacteria grows and basically we learned all about bacteria. In another lab, we controlled how bacteria grows with Clorox, Soap, hand sanitizer and water. This lab was cool and I think very interactive. We got to see bacteria. Another lab we did was bacteria in the school. In this lab I was with Mason, Emma, and Hannah. The lab required us to choose a location at the school and see if there are microorganisms by swabbing it and placing it in a Petri dish with agar. Agar is what bacteria uses to feed on. Our group choose the  water fountain. The put the Petri dishes in an incubator. We then did a virus stimulation lab. This lab was interesting because I was the virus! Everyone put phenolphthalein in their test tube and I put NaOH. This caused half of the class to get the virus. At the end, people knew they got the virus by putting a liquid in their tube that turned pink if they contain the virus. 

 

8th grade Unit 4 Genetics Blog

Like all the other units, this unit seemed hard at first and it became clearer and more understandable at the end. We started the Genetic Unit with a big foldable about DNA. This foldable covered most of the important things to know about the DNA. I already knew about the pairs of nitrogen bases, adenine and thymine, cytosine and guanine, and RNA. That was pretty much all that I knew before the unit. We learned about the steps in replicating DNA and making proteins. These two processes had steps that we just like the steps of meiosis and mitosis. 

In this unit we did several labs. I think that all the labs helped me understand the unit better. And I think that actually doing the things that we cover in the notes help with understanding it because you get to see if for yourself and experience the experiment actually happening. One of the main and most lively labs in this unit was the fruit flies crossing. In this lab, we took fruit flies with different traits and genetics and crossed them together. We crossed them by first assorting them. We used fly nap which temporarily put them to sleep. Then we distinguished between the males and the females. After that, we crossed them. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the new offspring, but understood the concept. I think this lab was a great idea to expose us to actually doing it. I thought it was fun and hands-on.

The second lab that we did in this unit was the wheat germ lab that showed us the actual DNA extracting process. We performed the extraction by taking wheat and putting it in the beaker and using soap and alcohol to expose and show the DNA. The DNA looked like a white strand. This was cool because we got to see real DNA. 

In the Twizzler DNA lab, we made a replication of DNA and replicated them ourselves. We
used marshmallows and twizzlers to create the DNA and then we replicated it using the steps of DNA replication. I though this was a decent lab. We got to make a real life demonstration of DNA replicating itself.

On December 10, 2016, we had the invitational Science Olympiad tournament. This year, my role in the is team captain and I am participating in 2 events. I am continuing Mission Possible and also doing an event called Wright Stuff. Wright Stuff is sort of like Glider from last year, but we use rubber bands to power a propeller that makes the plane fly. My first event was Mission Possible which went pretty smoothly. The judges weren't too intense and we ended up getting first place. Then in the afternoon we had Wright Stuff. We had a main glider and a back up glider. Emma and I started with a test flight which went really well. So, we did an "official" flight next. The flight was good, but the glider kept hitting the ceiling which decreased our flight time. So I decided to lay down while launching the glider. This might've helped, but the best time we got was 47 seconds. We got 2nd place in this event. Overall, the experience was pretty good. Everything went well and the team scored second place overall. The next tournament is a regional that is in early March.

Next Friday, we have the science midterm. The first part of the year has really blown by fast. I haven't started studying yet, but I am going to soon. I have been understanding the material pretty well and I think I might have some blurry spots from the beggining. 

Some of the goals for next half of the school year is to really dig in and do my best. I want to get good grades and advance in my learning. I feel like I can achieve this goal by concentrating on studying and focusing on paying attention in school. 

8th grade Unit 3

This blog is going to be about Unit 3 of Biology and other things going on in my WAAS life. I feel like it started such a long time ago, because there is so much information and content we covered. Science Olympiad has also been another event in life. I think that this unit has been the hardest so far in science this year. Unit 1 and 2 mostly was going back to the first year but with advanced content. Unit 3 was purely about cells and their division, microscopes and we learned a little bit about sexual reproduction. We didn't go too in depth, but we definitely covered a lot. At the end of the unit we studied photosynthesis and cellular reproduction. I feel like the most difficult part of this unit was photosynthesis and cellular reproduction. We did plenty of labs that helped us understand the content easier as always. I actually find labs fun, and I think that it is an excellent opportunity for the students to see the reaction or result for yourself. We did labs that demonstrated and pictured what we are taking notes on. 

So far this year, WAAS has helped me a lot throughout all of my classes. We are now in the second quarter and I am sure it will go by fast, just like the first did. Science Olympiad has been good, we have to do a lot of fine tuning for Mission Possible. We also need to replace a wing, and make another glider for Wright Stuff. All of this must happen before December 10, which is the invitational. I think that the team is working hard to place well in the invitational.  

This is from when Mrs.Giacomelli did a lab with eggs, water, vinegar, and corn syrup. We observed the effects of the liquids would have on the egg. 



This is a close-up picture of a plant cell under the microscope. This made is easy to see the individual cells and their parts. 

To the left is a picture of a spinach leaf being cut. The little holes will be put in a beaker with solution and put under the light. This represented photosynthesis. The holes would go up towards the light. 

This is a picture of test tubes during a lab. The lab was about seeing if CO2 or acid in the substances we placed in the tubes. 

This lab was probably the best, we made ginger ale. We did this by fermenting a solution and fermenting it made it have CO2. 

In this lab we used dialysis tubing to see how osmosis and diffusion works.