8th+Grade+Science

Hello to all my 8th Grade Students! Thank you for getting on board and joining our wikispace. Those who have joined up are shown below
 * Tynaeshia || Cierra || Shawanda || Tyree ||
 * Brandi || Jemel || Hysimm || LiMichael ||
 * Mercedez ||

This is something new that I am trying to help me help you get a better, quality education. And because I will be posting your work and results on this site, a way to let your parents see what you are doing, lesson plans, my notes, and your taped presentations and other activities in the classroom.

So, without further delay---let's get started!!

__ An organism __** is a living thing. You, therefore, are an organism, and so are a tree, worm, and bacterium. All organisms carry out all of these life functions. A car can do several but not all; thus it is non-living. All organisms: 1.  __ Reproduce __ ; all organisms can copy themselves if they are only one cell in size or can copy the DNA (the genetic material) to a cell that can grown into a complete organism. 2.  __ Grow __ ; growing is just a single cell reproducing or copying itself by the process of __mitosis__. The whole organism grows by adding cells through this process. 3.  __ Have cells __ ; their life material is assembled in little organized units built mostly out of proteins. 4.  __ Have DNA __ ; this genetic material is a chemical code which assembles chemicals to make the proteins that your cells are made of. The DNA molecule can also copy itself, making growth and reproduction possible. 5.  __ Need energy __ ; all organisms need energy for all life activities. Even thinking requires a considerable amount of energy. Plants get energy through photosynthesis, and animals get energy from cellular respiration. 6.  __ React to their environment __ ; all organisms can sense their environment and react to it. Even a tree grows up while the roots grow down. And leaves always grow toward the light. 7.  __ Carry out homeostasis (maintain a constant internal environment) __ ; even though the environment around a cell can change a lot (example: hot to cold), the inside of the cell needs to stay the same. Keeping a constant internal environment is called __homeostasis__. For example, when you exercise, your body heats up. You then sweat to cool down to get the cell environment back to normal. ** ||
 * ** =**Characteristics of Life**=
 * [[image:http://library.thinkquest.org/5420/images/cellsmbanneerlogopix.GIF width="575" height="79" align="bottom" caption=" What is a Cell?" link="http://library.thinkquest.org/5420/cellwhat.html"]] ||

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 * =Animal Cell: [|Parts and Function of Animal Cell Organelle]s=
 * = = ||  ||   ||||   ||   || Related Resources**  ||   || • [|Journey into the Cell] • [|Nucleus] • [|Ribosomes] • [|Mitochondria] • [|Endoplasmic Reticulum] • [|Golgi Complex] • [|Lysosomes] • [|Peroxisomes] • [|Cytoskeleton] • [|Cilia and Flagella] ||   || Virtual Tour : A Journey Into The Cell || = = ||   ||

This photomicrograph shows the fruit fly’s unusual giant chromosomes, called polytene chromosomes. Polytene chromosomes occur in many similar species of flies. They are formed when chromosomes undergo numerous rounds of replication without separating from one another, as typically occurs during cell division. The bundles of linked chromosomes, which can be 1000 times the width of a single chromosome, are almost perfectly aligned, making the tiny dark bands on each chromosome more visible, as seen here. In fruit flies, each band contains several genes. Scientists study the banding patterns to detect abnormalities in chromosome structure and to understand the patterns of heredity in fruit flies. || = = ||
 * Chromosomes =[[image:http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t051/T051454A.jpg width="166" height="126" align="left" caption="Chromosome Of Various Species" link="http://morgan.rutgers.edu/morganwebframes/level1/page2/ChromNum.html"]]=
 * [[image:http://www.biology4kids.com/art_home/main.gif width="369" height="275" link="http://www.biology4kids.com/index.html"]] ||
 * [[image:http://encarta.msn.com/xImages/trans.gif width="1" height="10"]][[image:http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logo.gif link="http://www.sciencedaily.com/"]] ||