Highhill Homeschool: Cells

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Human Body - Week 3 - Blood Activity

Week 3: We made our version of human blood.

At first glance it probably looks like we made a delicious fruit salad. Well we did, but it was also a science project. We referenced the book The Way We Work by David Macaulay to learn about what's in our blood. From there we used food to represent the various components. Then we ate our blood.

This is what went in.

Red blood cells give our blood the red color and make up ninety-nine percent of cells in the blood. Strawberries were our red blood cells.

Platelets are very tiny. Their purpose is to help blood clot and heal wounds. Plates are born from bone marrow cells called megakaryocyte. The banana was our megakarycyte and the platelets were the tiny banana pieces.

The white blood cells were the apples and the grapes. Apples were the lymphocytes and grapes were the neutraphils. Since my daughter Jemma is currently receiving chemotherapy as part of her Leukemia treatment she has very few neutraphils. Neutraphils kill germs. Her blood is checked about twice each week and we watch her neutraphil count very closely. Since she had zero neutraphils four days before we did this project and was hospitalized for a fever we had her take care of the grapes. That we she could have a few neutraphils.

Bacteria and viruses were kept far away from Jemma. I took care of these.

Most of our blood is made up of a watery liquid called plasma. Our plasma was yogurt.

We added the red blood cells (strawberries), platelets (bananas), white blood cells (apples and grapes), bacteria (celery), and viruses (broccoli) to our plasma (yogurt) and mixed to create blood.

Then we enjoyed our blood.

This is only Week 3 in a Human Body Unit Study packed full of hands-on projects. Please visit again to see future projects. The links are posted on our Science Page.

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Cell Unit Study - Week 13 - Body Systems

Week 13: We played body system memory and I pasted links below so you can print it and play it too.

This is our last week of cell activities. Next we will be moving onto the respiratory and circulatory systems while continuing to follow David Macaulay's The Way We Work as a guide for our activities.

Before playing memory we did a quick review. Throughout our cell activities we have discovered that;

atoms combine to make molecules
molecules combine to make proteins
proteins combine to make organelles such as cell walls, mitochondria, and DNA
organelles combine to make cells
cells combine to make tissues
tissues combine to make organs
organs combine to make body systems

Laying out the chain was a great way to help the kids remember what we have done.

The kids have been watching the Once Upon a Time Life videos as part of our science curriculum. Through the videos they have become familiar with several of the human body systems as well as the organs contained within the systems.

I had them name as many systems and organs as they could and then we drew lines to connect which organs went with which systems. I was surprised by how much they learned from the videos. They were able to name all but one of the body systems.

Then we played memory. I created this simple memory game and you are welcome to print it for your personal use.

Body Systems Memory Sheet 1
Body Systems Memory Sheet 2
Body Systems Memory Sheet 3

Be sure to check out our earlier cell activities.
Week 1 - Drawings
Week 2 - Atoms
Week 3 - Molecules
Week 4 - Cell Walls
Week 5 - Cell Structure
Week 6 - DNA
Week 7 - RNA and Ribosomes
Week 8 - Golgi Apparatus
Week 9 - Mitochondria and DNA
Week 10 - Cell Division
Week 11 - Types of Cells
Week 12 - Tissues
Week 13 - Body Systems

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Cell Unit Study - Week 12 - Tissues

Week 12: We built tissues.

When cells in our bodies get together they create tissues. Our bodies contain four different main types of tissues: epithelial, muscle, nervous and connective. Epithelial cells form the boundaries and exterior surfaces of parts within our bodies. When my daughter got a sudden fever back in August, it is possible that bacteria passed through her epithelial tissues. This doesn't normally happen, but her cells were very week from chemotherapy.

We have been following in chapter 1 in The Way We Work by David Macaulay as a reference for our cell activities.

Tissues are held together by anchor proteins, link proteins, bands of rods and membranes which are like a base of woven fibers. We used household materials to represent each of these elements.

Anchor Proteins = Clothes Pins
Link Proteins = Craft Sticks
Bands of Rods = Yarn
Membranes = Fabric
Cells = Peppermint Candies

Each child had several items to work with and was told to create a way for the cells to be held together so that their device could be carried into the other room and thrown back and forth in a game of catch. They were not allowed to for a bag from the materials and were required to incorporate each of the different materials into their design.

I sent each child to a different room so they could come up with unique solutions.

They each came up with different designs.

All the designs met the requirements.

They enjoyed this activity because they were able to do some engineering and they met the challenge.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them.
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Cell Unit Study - Week 11 - Types of Cells

Week 11: We made different types of cells.

Our bodies are made up of many different types of cells. They are specialized because different genes in the DNA are activated in each type of cell. This results in varying proteins and organelles in the numerous kinds of cells found in the body.

For example, red blood cells have no nucleus so they can have more room to carry carbon dioxide and oxygen, nerve cells have dendrites which are long finger-like structures for sending messages, muscle cells have lots of mitochondria so they can produce lots of energy, and heart muscle cells have even more extra big mitochondria.

The Way We Work by David Macaulay was our primary reference for this project.

We made cells from fruit and jello.

Our first step was to select and slice fruit to represent the different organelles.

bananas = mitochondria
apples = golgi apparatus
oranges = rough endoplasmic reticulum
grapes = nucleus

This was the first time we have made jello, so the kids were very excited to prepare it.

Each ice cube tray contained a different type of cell. We were careful to put the proper organelles in the varying types of cells. The red blood cells don't contain a nucleus (grapes), the heart muscle cells have extra large mitochondria (slices of banana).

Macrophage cells are white blood cells that eat bacteria and waste materials. We put all the leftover cytoplasm and organelles into the macrophage cells.

Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cell Unit Study - Week 10 - Cell Division

Week 10: We made cells then sent them through mitosis.

The cells in our body are constantly dividing to produce new cells. As we journey through life cells wear out and need replacing. We also need new cells to grow. We are continuing to follow chapter 1 in The Way We Work by David Macaulay to learn about cells.

This week we built cells from craft supplies and then modified our cells and split them into two the same way our bodies do. In addition to being a lesson about mitosis, this lesson served as a good review since several organelles were included in the cells.

These are the materials we used to build our cells:
Golgi Apparatus - beads
Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum - beads
Mitochondria - foam hearts
Neucleus (DNA) - yarn
Cytoskeleton - pipe cleaners
Enzymes - marbles
Ribosomes - pom-poms
Membrane Sacks - balloons
ATP (energy) - fuse beads
Cell Walls - plastic bags

The kids twisted the pipe cleaners together to create simple cytoskeletons, then added a few of each organelle into their cells.

Once that was complete, they increased the number of organelles in their cell, the amount of energy it contained and duplicated the 46 chromosomes of DNA.

To duplicate the DNA -
When it was added to the original cell, the yarn was cut into 46 short pieces representing the 46 chromosomes. Each chromosome was untwisted (only one-half of the yarn strands) in the original cell. When the DNA was duplicated the mate yarn had to be found and matched up.

All the previously mentioned steps happen before the cell begins to divide during interphase.

To divide the cells the cytoskeletons were broken into two halves and the 46 chromotids were lined up between the two halves of the cells.

The organelles were divided between the new cells.

Finally the cell walls were pinched off into two separate cells.

Mitosis Complete

Cell Unit Study - Week 9 - Mitochondria and Energy

Week 9: We broke down glucose into energy.

For those of you joining me for the first time here's a little background on our current science activities. We are doing an in-depth cell study for science. Over the past seven months we have become familiar with many new words in conjunction with my daughter's Leukemia treatment. Some of which are; white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, bone marrow biopsy, leukocytes, and neutraphils. With all this going on the timing was just right to study cells for science.

David Macaulay's The Way We Work is the fabulous resource we are using as a guide for our cell activities. Each week I read a few pages in the book and then create an activity to go along with what I read. This week the topic was Energy Breakdown.

Energy breakdown with cells is something like digestion. There are several steps to digestion. Food is smashed by chewing and broken down further in the stomach. It is broken down still further as it works its way through the digestive tract. Within the cells, energy breakdown also happens in several steps.

The above photo shows the items involved in energy production. From left to right.
Glucose represented by crackers
Cytoplasm represented by marshmallows
Enzymes represented by marbles
Cells represented by empty soap bottles
ATP is the output or usable energy which is placed in the empty bowl
Mitochondria Inner Membrane represented by skinny plastic bag
Mitochondria Outer Membrane represented by plastic bag

The first step in energy breakdown happens in the cytoplasm.

The kids filled their cells (plastic bottles) with enzymes (marbles), cytoplasm (marshmallows), and glucose (crackers).

Then they shook their cells to break down the glucose. When they were finished, some of the glucose was turned into ATP or usable energy. The bigger chunks of cracker, or pyruvate were placed into the inner membrane of the mitochondria (tall skinny bag) to be broken down further.

The next step in energy breakdown happens in the mitochondria. The inner membrane is coiled inside the outer membrane.

The kids put the pyruvate (large cracker chunks), and enzymes into the inner membrane of the mitochondria.

The inner membrane was coiled into the outer membrane and then smashed to produce more energy.

The result was more ATP or usable energy.

When we finish up with cells we are moving into the rest of the human body. To see more of our cell and other science activities please visit the science page.

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* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them.
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

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