My last blog :(

     Hey! This is going to be my last blog ever so I hope it is a good one. Today we are going to talk about flowers. You know what I'm talking about the ones that everyone says there pretty and stuff, but to me they are just plants. There is really nothing good about them other than making us oxygen.

     So lets get back to the point. This is what we are going to learn about today

• The similarities between the life cycles of angiosperms and gymnosperms
• I am going to list 3 methods of seed dispersal in plants
•  I am going to diagram the parts of a flower and label their functions
• Lastly, I am going to name my favorite flower and teach you about it

Time to start.
Similarities Between the Life Cycles of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms
     The angiosperms evolved from gymnosperms in the Mesozoic era and became wide spread in the Cenozoic. They both drop seeds on the ground so they can reproduce. The difference though is angiosperms seed is covered by fruit and for the gymnosperm the pine cone protects it. Both life cycles involve alternation of generations. All plants take two generations to complete one life cycle. The sexual phase is called the gametophyte and the asexual phase is called sporophyte. Alternations of generations always includes a sexual phase alternating with an asexual phase.

Diagramming Parts of a Flower
     Well, let me start off by saying this. There is a male flower and a female flower. That is a shocker to some of you, but  animals and humans aren't the only things that have gender. 
      The female flower is called a pistil. The pistil has four parts, the style, stigma, ovary, and ovule. The stigma is the top sticky portion of the pistil. It catches pollen when the plant is ready to make it's seed.

     The next part is called the style. This part isn't that stylish though so I don't know why they called it that. The style is a tube on the flower that is on top of the ovary and beneath the stigma. It helps to hold and support the stigma.

      The next part is the ovary. The ovary is the female reproductive organ of a flower. The flower's eggs can be found in the ovary the ovary holds the eggs. It is located at the bottom of the pistil.

     The last female part is the ovule. The ovule is the reproductive cell that produces the egg, which will become a seed. This is inside the ovary.

     Now lets talk about the males. The male flower is called a stamen. There is two parts in the stamen is the anther and the filament. The anther produces and holds the pollen. It is the male reproductive cell of a flower.

     The last part of the stamen is the filament. There isn't that much to the filament. All it does is holds up the anther.

3 methods of seed dispersal
     One method of seed dispersal is wind. The wind blows the seed away. Another method is when gymnosperms put the seeds in the female pine cones and the pine cone falls. The last way I'm going to tell you is that angiosperms drop the fruit that they make. The fruit has seeds

My Favorite Flower

   My favorite flower is the shamrock. That's right you know what I'm talking about, the 3 or 4 leaf clover.

     The family of the shamrock is the oxalidaceae. Not its family like a sister. That's its  classification. This plant is very tiny. It can grow only to 0.17 ft. tall. They have small leaves that are green, or silver to cream. The flower color is pink, purple, and white. It's leaves grow in groups of three. They bloom in late Spring to early Summer. The shamrock is native to South America. The shamrock needs moist soil, cool air and direct sun to grow well. 

     Bye! I hope you had a good time reading my last blog. I'll miss writing to you.

Seedy Plants

  Hey! Today we are going to learn about seed plants. Not every plant has seeds.

   Now you know what they look like, and here is what we are going to learn...

• The characteristics of  seed plants
• The main characteristics of gymnosperms and angiosperms and their importance
• How are monocots and dicots the same.

 Lets start
     An obvious characteristic is that they all have seeds. Seeds help them reproduce. For example, pine cones are seeds, yes seeds, people get mistaken. Pine cones fall off of trees and then they reproduce as new trees.




    Another characteristic is that all seed plants have vascular tissue. Vascular tissue brings food and nutrients all around the plant.


         Now we are going to talk about the main characteristics of gymnosperms and angiosperms.
Gymnosperms
     Gymnosperms are the oldest trees alive today. As a matter of fact, there is a tree in California that is a gymnosperm and is 4,900 years old! Gymnosperms are vascular. They produce seeds on female pine cones. Gymnosperms don't produce flowers or fruit. The leaves are mostly needle like or scale like. The four divisions of gymnosperms are conifers, cycads, ginkgoes, and gnetophytes.


Angiosperms
  Angiosperms are vascular. They produce flowers and fruit unlike the gymnosperms. Their seeds are inside a fruit. That is why when you take out the seed from an apple and plant it, it makes another tree. More than half of the plants that are known are angiosperm. Angiosperm is divided into two groups. I would be talking more about that later

Monocots and Dicots   
Now we are going to talk about the similarities between monocots and dicots. They both are angiosperms like I said. They both have seeds in them. Monocots have 1 seed. Dicots have 2 seeds.  Mono means one and di means two.  They each have seed leaves in their seed. There is one seed leaf per seed.




    I hope you had a good time reading my blog!!
           
















  Resources: My Textbook. pgs. 286-289

:Plants

 
                        :O

     Hey! Today we are going to be talking about plants. If you don't know what plants are basically all around you.

                                           :O
     So now you know what a plant is here is what we are going to learn today...

• Characteristics of plants :)
• Where did plants first come from? :)
• What is the difference between vascular and nonvascular plants? :)

 Time to get to the facts...

     Characteristics of Plants

     The first characteristic of a plant is that all plants are multi-celled. That means they have more than one cell. Most contain the green pigment chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the thing that makes plants green. Some are not green.

      

            :O                                                   :O

      The next characteristic is all plants have eukaryotic cells. That is an organism whose cells contain complex structures within enclosed membranes. Most plants have roots or root like structures that hold them in the ground. People think all plants have roots, but they don't.

                                  :O

        Plants have adapted to nearly every environment on Earth. Most plants live on land, but many live in water.

Where Did Plants First Come From?

      Plants first came from the sea probably evolving from plant like protist. The evidence: both plants and green algae have the same type of chlorophyll and carotenoids in their cells. Carotenoids are red, yellow, or orange pigment.

                           :O

What Is The Difference Between Vascular and Nonvascular Plants

     One difference is that vascular plants have a complex system that lets them give water throughout it's whole body. That lets the plant grow BIG. Nonvascular plants don't have a complex system and can't give water throughout it's whole body. That is why a nonvascular plant is small. 

 vascular      nonvascular

         :O                                                    :O

     Vascular plants produce flowers. Flowers are the start of the reproductive process. Nonvascular plants don't produce flowers so they produce reproductive seeds. They reproduce with spores. Vascular plants have true stems, leaves, and roots. Nonvascular plants have stems and leaf like structures. An example of a vascular plant is a tree. An example of a nonvascular plant is moss.

     Hope you had a godd time reading my blog. BYE!

                             :O

My Sciency Fair Project

Photo 1

        Today we are going to talk about something very special. My science fair project! My project is What is the fastest way to cool soda?

Photo 2
     Well, people think that project is very simple, but it isn't. There is so much math involved and science. To get specific we are going to talk about why I chose this topic, what did I go through when I did this project, and how did I feel when I presented to the judges. Lets start!

Photo 3
     This wasn't my first science fair project. I've done many projects before.  I chose this project because I thought it could help me in the future. If it is a hot day and you left your soda outside what do you do. What is the fastest way to cool it? The ways to cool it were the freezer, refrigerator, ice only bath, and ice water bath. I thought the fastest way to cool soda is the freezer because cold air is on it. You never know?

Photo 4
I also chose this because I like physical science experiments. We have 3 choices of science experiments physical, environmental, and biology. I've always been in to physical, but I don't know why? I'm a physical type of guy.

Photo 5
   
      Now we are going to talk about what I went through doing this project. It wasn't that hard set up the project because I already have a fridge and a freezer. I just had to put ice in a cooler and ice and water into another cooler. The hard part was taking all of the temperatures of each two sodas in each device of cooling. I still did it though I got really sticky because of the freezer an the refrigerator I had to do all of that 4 times. Imagine how sticky I was.

Photo 6
      Well, this is what you have been waiting for. The cooling device that cooled the soda the fastest is the ice water bath.

Photo 7
     In last place it the refrigerator.


Photo 8
    Time to talk about how I felt when I presented to the judges. When I presented it was easy. I just presented and it was easy. He didn't ask me any questions. He was kind've mean. I was saying "Conduction is" and then he cut me off saying "Good job, now leave". I was sad.

Photo 9
     So then Mr. Sellers said "I don't like these judges were going to get new ones." I was so happy." My new judge was all happy and joyful. She said, "You did very good overall." I know she is a science teacher and all, but that was in proper grammar. I never mentioned that to her though. So if I had to rank myself of course I would give myself 1st place, but I would leave ranking to the judges.

Photo 10
    This year I think I did good. There wasn't any hard things about my project. Sooner or later I can maybe go to the Google Science Fair and win, but that is unlikely. Hope you had a good time reading about my Sciency Fair.


Photo 11

Mammals R Us If Your A Human...

   Hey everybody who is reading this awesome blog to today. If you don't know what a mammal is, it is basically you. You are a mammal. See, not all mammals are animals. So lets get back to the blog
This Is What We Are Going To Learn...

• 5  characteristics of all mammals
• How mammals characteristics help them survive in different environments
• How birds and mammals are similar
• The difference between marsupials, monotremes, and placental mammals
• Similarities between placental mammal, marsupial, and monotreme babies
• An awesome mammal and interesting facts about it

     Before we start learning about mammals here are the groups of mammals.

     On the left are the placental mammals and on the right are the marsupials.

 Monotremes

     5 Characteristics of All Mammals

    

 So, right now I am going to name 5 characteristics of all mammals. All mammals are warm-blooded. That means their body temperature stays the same no matter what the weather is. All mammals have hair or fur.

 hair  fur

     All mammals give milk to their young. Some give milk through nipples and some sweat milk. All mammals have mammary glands. Mammary glands help mammals feed the young. All mammals have lungs. Lungs help the mammals breathe air. Without lungs you can't breathe and would die unless you have gills and live in water, but that is a different story.

Click here to learn more about their characteristics... http://animals.about.com/od/mammals/a/mammals-characteristics.htm

 How Mammals Characteristics Help Them Adapt To Their Environment

     One of the adaptations that some mammals have like the lion is sharp teeth. The sharp teeth helps the lion eat meat. If the lion didn't have sharp teeth it couldn't chew it's food and will choke.


  Another adaptation is that they have fur or hair. The fur or hair keep them warm. Seals that live in Antartica have hair or fur to keep them warm in the cold.



     Another adaption is they are warm-blooded. Being warm-blooded helps them. How you ask? Well, I'm going to tell you. It would be harder to stay warm or cold. If it was a really hot day you would want to go into the shade. Animals that are cold-blooded feel more hot because their blood temperature changes too.    

     To learn more about the adaptations click these links http://www.zoosociety.org/pdf/GuidedTours/AnimalAdap.pdf
http://animals.about.com/od/mammals/a/mammals-characteristics.htm

How Birds and Mammals are Similar
     Now we are going to talk about how birds and mammals are similar. Some people mistake birds as mammals, but birds have feathers not hair or fur. They are both warm blooded. You know what warm blooded means right? I told you not to long ago.  They are both vertebrates which mean they have backbones. Both have 4 chambers in the heart. They both have 2 atriums and ventricles.

The Difference Between Placental Mammals, Monotremes, and Marsupials
      Since you have already seen a picture of all of them lets talk about them. Okay these are things that none of the other groups have. Marsupials have pouches like kangaroos.The babies are not fully developed when they are born, the babies go into the mom's pouch and develop. Monotremes like platypuses lay eggs. Placental mammals give birth to fully developed live young. Those are the facts that only that group has. No other group of mammals has those characteristics.

Similarities Between The Group of Mammal Babies
    Now, I am going to talk about the similarities of the babies.  Well, all mammal babies drink milk from their mom. All babies depend on their mom when they are born. That means all mammals babies need their mom when they are born.

My Special Mammal
    This is what you guys have been waiting for. My special mammal is the platypus. What inspired me to pick this mammal is Perry the platypus.


     We are not going to talk about how awesome Perry is, we are going to talk about the facts of the platypus. To make it easier I'm going to put it in bullet points.

• Lays eggs
• Has a duck bill and a racoon tail (so awkward)
• Eats meat (carnivore)
• 20 inches from head to tail
• 3 lbs.
• The male platypus has stingers on his rear feet for defense
• Have webbed feet in the front
• Hunt in water

To learn more about platypus click here http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/platypus/

Here is a video to end it off about mammals.

   I hoped yhat you learn something today about mammals. BYE!!