October

 

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

To-morrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know;

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--

For the grapes' sake along the wall.

              --- by Robert Frost (A Boy's Will -- 1915)

 

Week One (Oct. 20 - 24)

1) Mon. -- First nine-week grades

          -- Class retake of Entomology Exam next Tues./Wed.

          -- Notebook grades

          -- Equal Credit for second nine weeks -- This includes bringing in

              amethyst and other types of quartz crystals as instructed on

              on the equal credit page.

          -- Color/Light/Pigments/Action: Why is the color brown a

              pigment of your imagination?  The colors that you see are

              psychological colors.  Remember, the colors of physics are

              invisible!  When a photon of visible light enters your eye, if it is

              absorbed by the pigment in one of your cones, it is destroyed

              and its energy is converted into heat.  If the pigment is warmed

              by the energy of enough destroyed photons, that cone will send

              a signal to your brain in the form of a bit (just like what is used

              in a computer).  Your brain analyzes all the bits from the cones

              from a tiny portion of your retina and paints a pixel of

              psychological color.  This is what you see when you claim you

              see light, not the light of physics.  That light is invisible.  There

              is no single wavelength of light that corresponds to the

              psychological color brown.  The same is true for metalic colors.

              What do you call the color "far blue"?

          -- Why are the countries on a map in different colors?

2) Tues. -- Color, Light and Pigments, cont.

3) Wed. -- No classes -- Frosh Retreat

4) Thurs. -- Introduce Flower Lab

            -- Reading Assignment: Miller & Levine Ch. 22 (pp 550-573);

                Ch. 23 (pp 595-598); Ch. 24 (pp 608-616); flower handout.

                First skim over the text chapters reading headings and the

                captions for the photos.  Then go back and read more carefully

                the parts that do with the evolution of vascular tissues, the

                evolution of seed plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) and

                especially concentrate on the flowering plants (Division

                Anthophyta/Angiosperms), alternation of generations, the

                structure of flowers, pollination and fertilization. 

5) Fri. -- No school -- Parent/Teacher conferances

Week Two (Oct. 27 - 31)

1) Mon.  -- No classes.  Teacher Inservice.

2) Tues. -- Flower Lab #1 -- (to be completed after school during week)

            -- Entomology Class Retake after school (Students must bring

              the answer sheet of the exam to take the retake.  If it is signed

              by a parent, they will get 100% of their improvement to 60%

              and 70% beyond 60%.)

3) Wed.  -- Primitive plants reproduce and disperse using spores.  Spores

                are single cells that dry up and blow away for reproduction,

                dispersal.  Once they dry up, they can survive very unfavorable

                conditions.  Since they contain very little stored food they must

                germinate in very favorable conditions or they will not survive

                very long, but because they are produced in vast numbers,

                some do survive.  Mosses and ferns are good examples of

                spore-producing plants.

            -- Gymnosperms and Angiosperms are considered to be more

                advanced because they reproduce and disperse using seeds.

                Seeds are (multicellular) embryonic plants, protected by a seed

                coat, that usually dry up when they mature so that they can

                survive harsh conditions.  Seeds contain a fair amount of stored

                food which allows them can survive longer than spores until

                under less than perfect conditions until they are able make more

                food by photosynthesis.  It takes a lot of energy for a seed

                plant to make each seed but individual seeds have a much

                greater chance of survival than individual spores.

            -- The word dispersal means "to spread out from a source".  It is

                important that the offspring of any organism disperse so that

                they may colonize new areas and not have to compete with

                close relatives for limited resources.

            -- AtET, why do some flowers, such as petunias, have their petals

                fused to form a corolla tube? 

4) Thurs.-- Gymnosperms are seed plants that do not have flowers and

                do not produce their seeds in fruits (mature plant ovaries).

                Most gymnosperms are called conifers because they produce

                their seeds in cones, but there are some gymnosperms that do

                not have cones.  Some produce their seeds in false fruits

                (which are fruit-like structures that do not develope from

                ovaries).

                Angiosperms are seed plants that have flowers and produce

                their seeds in true fruits.  Angiosperms is the old name for these

                plants.  The newer scientific name for angiosperms is Division

                Anthophyta.  AtET, the four basic parts of a flower (petals,

                sepals, stamens and pistils) are modified leaves.  It is easy

                to see how petals and sepals could have once been leaves but

                harder to see how stamens and pistils were.  We will show how

                (AtET) pistils were developed from leaves in class and this

                knowledge is essential to understanding natural taxonomies of

                flowering plants.

            -- Flowers and flower parts.

            -- Poem of the Month, cont.  (Remember to bring in amethyst and

                other types of quartz for equal credit.)  Quartz is made of

                silicon dioxide and the colors are due to impurities.  Notice

                that silicon is immediately under carbon on the periodic table

                of the elements.  Life on Earth is based on carbon but some

                scientists speculate that life could be based on silicon on some

                other planets.  This is because silicon, like carbon, can form four

                bonds per atom and can bond readily with other atoms of the

                same element, just like carbon.  These are two elements that

                have the ability to form giant complex compounds which are

                needed for life to exist.

            -- Flowers sometimes have petals fused to form trumpet-shaped

                corolla tubes. AtET, the function of corolla tubes is to force

                pollinators into contact with the stamens and pistils while they

                are feeding at the flower.  Studies have shown that corolla

                tubes confer a fitness advantage (more pollen transferred and

                therefore more seeds set) in hummingbird-pollinated flowers and

                a fitness disadvantage (less pollen transferred and therefore

                less seeds produced) in bumblebee-pollinated flowers.

            -- In class we learned that lepidopterans (butterflies and moths)

                have sucking mouthparts shaped like party favors (coiled and

                extendable).  We also learned that these insects are attracted

                to and drink saltwater and have been known to drink tears from

                people's eyes.  When rainwater begins to dry up on the surface

                of soil, it brings dissolved ions (salts) to the surface of the mud

                and butterflies can often be seen feeding on this slightly salty

                water.  The following photo by Kurt Konrad shows three female

                tiger swallowtail butterflies (Papilio glaucus) drinking mud-water

                in this way.  Note their extended mouthparts touching the mud.

"Butterflies in the Mud" used with permission by Konrad Photography.

 

 

5) Fri. -- Flower Quiz (26 pts)  1. Be able to label the parts of a flower

                on a drawing like the one on the front of your green flower

            handout.  Possible labels include: pedicel; receptacle; sepal;

            petal; anther; filament; stigma; style; ovary.  There will be

            eight parts to label for a total of eight points.  2. Be able to list

                the four basic flower parts in order from both inside-out (psps)

            and outside-in (spsp). This is worth four points.  3. Know the

                function of each flower part as given in class. You will be asked

            for three of them for a total of six points.  4. Know that AtET, all

            four basic flower parts are considered to be modified leaves.

            5. Know that pollinators are animals that transfer pollen from a

            stamen to a pistil (or from one flower to another).  6. Know the

            older scientific name for flowering plants is angiosperms and the

            newer name is Division Anthophyta.

           

 

            "Be sure to vote for Pogo!"  Paid for by POGO FOR PRESIDENT.

 

            Go Saints!!  See you at the game Friday night!

           

Week Three (Nov. 3 - 7)

1) Mon. -  We will continue the flower by learning about essential and

              accessory flower parts, collective names for the flower parts,

              and lots of other goodies.  Continue to read your flower handout.

          -  Flower Lab needs to be completed by this Wednesday.

          -  Flower Quiz -- If you missed the quiz, you must make it up

              today or use your personal retake to make it up later.

2) Tues. - Handouts: 1) Review sheet for next Monday's quizzam.

                            2) Practice sheet for true-false part of quizzam.

                            3) Alternation of Generations.

3) Wed. - What are the similarities and differences between spores and

              seeds?  Primitive plants reproduce and disperse by spores.  A

              spore is a single cell that contains very little stored food that

              becomes resistant to harsh conditions by drying up.  It then

              usually blows away and is thus used for reproduction and

              dispersal.  Advanced plants reproduce and disperse by seeds.

              A seed is a multicellular embryo that contains a fair amount of

              stored food.  It too becomes resistant to harsh conditions by

              drying up and is used as a means or reproduction and dispersal.

4) Thurs. - Plants are strange.  When you plant a seed and it grows into a

              mature plant, the seeds you harvest from that plant are its

              grandchildren.  Explain. 

            - What are the differences between the life cycle of primitive spore

              producing plants and advanced seed plants?  Seed plants do not

              have true spores and primitive plants do not have seeds.  A

              seed is and embryonic sporophyte plant with stored food and a

              protective seed coat.

5) Fri. - Quizzam Monday (70 pts.)

        - An inflorescence is a grouping of flowers on one part of a plant.

          The primitive condition for flowering plants is to have scattered

          flowers with leaves between them.  A more advanced condition is

          to have inflorescences.  The most advanced inflorescence is the

          head.  See description of a head in right column on this page.

        - Bracts are modified leaves that are associated with individual

          flowers or inflorescences but are not one of the four basic flower

          parts.  The involucre is all the bracts associated with a flower or              an inflorescence.  These bracts often look like sepals but aren't.

 

        - Study hard.  This test isn't easy unless you do.   

Eastern Milk Snake Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum.

 

---Word Roots---

andro- means "male"      What is an androgen?

gyno- means "female"      What does a gynecologist do?

antho- means "flower"      Where might you look for anthocyanin pigment?

gymno- means "naked"      What are gymnosperms?

angeo- means "vessel, container"      What are angiosperms?

sperma means "seed"      Why are male gametes called sperm?

-phyte, -phyta mean "plant"        What does gametophyte mean?

-oecious, -oecium mean "household"    What does monoecious mean?   

 

Week Four (Nov. 10 - 14)

1) Mon. -  Botany Quizzam (64 points) - See this link for answers &

                  explanations of the practice true/false questions that I

                  gave you in class a few days ago.

2) Tues. - Mass schedule

            - Poems -- The Gray Squirrel by Humbert Wolfe

                        -- The Rose Family by Robert Frost

3) Wed. - A reflex is an automatic, simple response to a stimulus from the

              environment.  Examples include the patellar (knee-jerk) reflex, the

              achilles tendon reflex, the startle reflex, the sneeze reflex, the

              cough reflex, etc..

            - An instinct is an automatic, complex behavioural response to a

              series of stimulin from the environment.  Do humans experience

              true instincts?  A common instinct among animals that may be

              preyed upon is the "alert and scan instinct."  The stimuli are 1. an

              abnormally quiet environment, 2. the animal does something that

              increases its vulnerability (such as lowering its head towards the

              ground to eat or drink).  The response is a surge of adrenalin

              and the animal raises its head and scans the environment for a

              possible enemy.  Even if an enemy is not spotted, the animal will

              remain alert for awhile.  This is an instinct, not a reflex, because

              of its complexity.  The animal will often raise its hair because of

              the adrenalin, will breath harder and its senses will be heightened.

              Then it raises it head and scans for an enemy.  If a sighting of a

              possible enemy occurs, further behavior may occur to determine

              a course of action such as snorting and foot stamping.  This may

              be continued with flight.  Humans do have this instinct which

              they sometimes report as the "feeling that someone is looking at

              them."  What they feel is the secretion of adrenalin and they

              follow the feeling with a scan of the environment.

            - Why does a mother bird sit on her eggs? What stimuli are needed

              for this instinct to occur?  Name two types of birds, native to

              McLean County, that are nest parasites. 

            - Why does a mother bird feed her young? What stimuli are needed

              for this instinct to occur?  Why does a mother bird feed the

              largest gape while other chicks go hungry?  How does instinctive

              feeding behaviour in this case allow for nest parasitism?

4) Thurs. - Volition c

            - True fruits and false fruits and review structure of pistil/fruits.

            - Plant tissues/meristems, vascular, etc..

            - Evolution/Systematics of plants.

5) Fri. -

 

 

(Back to top of page.)

Chuck Shanaberger On a Rainy Day Last May.  We miss you Chuck!

Week Five (Nov. 17 - 21)

1) Mon. - No classes (Funeral)

2) Tues. - Retake of last test next Monday after school.

            - Continue Poem/instinct/volition/growth movements in plants.

3) Wed. - Quizzam (50 pts.) this Friday -- Review Day

4) Thurs. - Handout: Review Sheet

            - Finish Review

            - Continue Stimulus/Response (primitive to advanced responses)

            - learning as a response to stimuli

            - Imprinting is form of  "rapid identity learning where one or a

              few stimuli at the right time during an organism's development

              will set that individual organism's identity for life." 

5) Fri. - Quizzam - Poems (50 pts.)

        - Continue Stimulus/Response classification

        - Continue with imprinting/Whooping Cranes over McLean County!!

Week Six (Nov. 24 - 28)

1) Mon. - Handout - Review Sheet

          - Review for Quizzam

          - Retake after school

2) Tues. - Quizzam (50 pts.) - postponed till Tues. after break.

            - Begin Histology of Plants/Vascular Tissues

            - Collect notebooks to grade Flower Lab

3) Wed. - Mass day, then Thanksgiving break.

Week Seven (Dec. 1 - 5)

1) Mon. - Review for quizzam.

          - diaphragm, breathing

2) Tues. - Quizzam (50 pts.)

3) Wed. - Classification of Plants - Nonvascular Plants

4) Thurs. - Continue Plant Histology

            - Plant Hormones and Abscission

5) Fri. - (Geography Fair)         

Week Eight (Dec. 8 - 12)

1) Mon. -

2) Tues. -

3) Wed. -

4) Thurs. -

5) Fri. -

Week Nine (Dec. 15 - 19) Final Exam Week -- Notebooks due!!

1) Mon. - Review Day

2) Tues. - Review Day

3) Wed. - Finals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd hrs.

4) Thurs. - Finals for 4th, 5th and 8th hrs.

5) Fri. - Finals for 9th and 10th hrs.

Dec. 22 - Advent Mass at 9:00 with early dismissal. Christmas Break   Jan 5, 2009 --- Return from Christmas Break and begin 3rd quarter.       

The compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) is a member of the Asteraceae (Aster family which also contains sunflowers) and, like the sunflower, has an inflorescence called a head.  The ray flowers that are on the outside of the head have one petal each are fertile and produce seeds but, for some reason, the disc flowers which do not have functional sepals or petals are sterile and do not produce seeds.   

 

Mother Teresa