Week 6 News Heredity and Traits and Chaperones

 

Heredity is the passing on of characteristics from one generation to the next. It is the reason why offspring look like their parents. It also explains why cats always give birth to kittens and never puppies. The process of heredity occurs among all living things including animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi. The study of heredity is called genetics and scientists that study heredity are called geneticists.

Through heredity, living things inherit traits from their parents. Traits are physical characteristics. You resemble your parents because you inherited your hair and skin color, nose shape, height, and other traits from them. 

A gene gives only the potential for the development of a trait. How this potential is achieved depends partly on the interaction of the gene with other genes. But it also depends partly on the environment. For example, a person may have a genetic tendency toward being overweight. But the person's actual weight will depend on such environmental factors as how what kinds of food the person eats and how much exercise that person does. 

Dear Parents,



We are in the process of planning field trips and will be in need of chaperones. Please stop by the Campus School Library to update/complete your online form.

Chaperones
To ensure the safety of the District’s students and staff, individuals desiring to serve as school adhere to the following procedures. This shall include volunteer services during school and school-sponsored activities. A.Volunteer Application Each school year, prospective volunteers are required to complete an Online Volunteer Registration Form and may be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, liability waiver, technology usage agreement, and a Code of Conduct.
 

 

Week 5 News

An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energy flow in a community. The different levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain. From the bottom-up, they are as follows:

• Producers — bring energy from nonliving sources into the community
• Primary consumers — eat the producers, which makes them herbivores in most communities
• Secondary consumers — eat the primary consumers, which makes them carnivores
• Tertiary consumers — eat the secondary consumers

In some food chains, there is a fourth consumer level, and rarely, a fifth. Have you ever wondered why there are limits to the lengths of food chains?

Why are energy pyramids shaped the way they are?

An energy pyramid’s shape shows how the amount of useful energy that enters each level — chemical energy in the form of food — decreases as it is used by the organisms in that level. How does this happen?
Recall that cell respiration “burns” food to release its energy, and in doing so, produces ATP, which carries some of the energy as well as heat, which carries the rest. ATP is then used to fuel countless life processes. The consequence is that even though a lot of energy may be taken in at any level, the energy that ends up being stored there – which is the food available to the next level — is far less. Scientists have calculated that an average of 90% of the energy entering each step of the food chain is “lost” this way (although the total amount in the system remains unchanged).
The consumers at the top of a food pyramid, as a group, thus have much less energy available to support them than those closer to the bottom. That’s why their numbers are relatively few in most communities. Eventually, the amount of useful energy left can’t support another level. That’s why energy flow is depicted in the shape of a pyramid. The energy that enters a community is ultimately lost to the living world as heat.

Week 4 News= Photosynthesis

Did you know?

Not all of the light from the Sun makes it to the surface of the Earth. Even the light that does make it here is reflected and spread out. The little light that does make it here is enough for the plants of the world to survive and go through the process of photosynthesis. Light is actually energy, electromagnetic energy to be exact. When that energy gets to a green plant, all sorts of reactions can take place to store energy in the form of sugar molecules.

OUR CELL AND ECOSYSTEM QUIZ HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL MONDAY, AUGUST 18TH

Here are some important things to know for August 11 - 15:.

• CSPN Support Drive begins Monday, August 11! Our goal is to reach 100% participation by all families of Campus School. No contribution is too small or too large.  Some contribute $1 and some $500+. Whatever you are able to donate will be well used and greatly appreciated.  All donations are confidential and tax deductible as allowable by law. Only one donation per family is required. Want to make your donation go even farther? If your company provides matching donations, please consider using this option to make your dollars go even farther. This is your chance to demonstrate your appreciation for the school. If you have any questions, click here to email Corrie Metcalf.

• The “Acceptable Use Policy" form is attached. A hard copy will also go home with your child this week. Please sign and return the form by Friday, August 15.

• Parents of 3^rd - 5^th grade students: Students in 3^rd - 5^th grades will be using Gaggle. Please click on the link to learn more about this 21^st century collaborative learning tool. The website provides an informative overview of Gaggle. Students' usernames and passwords will be available to the students and parents by the end of the month. ALL Parents must sign the acceptable use policy prior to students’ internet usage at school.  Former 3^rd and 4^th grade classes had an opportunity to use Gaggle last year and may still have access to their login information.  Nevertheless, ALL parents will still have to sign the Acceptable Use Policy for each new school year.

• Traffic Alert: Wednesday, August 13, is the first day of school at PDS and Monday, August 25, is the first day of classes at the University. You may want to plan an additional 10-15 minutes if you use Central to get to school. Another option is to avoid Central completely and use Walker crosswalk option with crossing guard.

Looking Ahead @ Campus School:

• Chick-fil-A Spirit Night is Tuesday, August 19

• Room to Grow Consignment Sale will be Friday, August 29
  

• Teachers' Lunch (5th Grade Host) is Friday, August 29
  

• Grandparents' Day is Friday, September 5
  
  
• Family Movie Night is also Friday, September 5

Week 3 News

Next week will be learning about Changes in Ecosystems. 

• Our first assessment (8/15) will cover cells and relationships in ecosystems. 
• Your child's homefun this week is a review packet that is due 8/15 and was handed out today during class.

Campus School is requesting a 25.00 dollar supply fee this year. Please send this in with your child next week if you have not done so. You may pay with cash or send in a check payable to CSPN.

CSPN is holding their annual support drive. Please consider donating to support our school if you are able to do so. Any amount of money is deeply appreciated.

Have a wonderful weekend;-)

Respectfully,

Mr. Shadow

Week 2 News

This week we will discuss Environmental Relationships.

Students will be assigned their first homefun assignment (type their cell essay) in science Monday, August 4th.  The assignment is due Friday, August 8th.  Please note, all students completed their hand written rough drafts during class last week.

Next week in an effort to help families with busy schedules, I will attempt to publish assignments Friday afternoons.  Many students have informed me that weekends are the ideal time to complete their work.  

Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 7. We will be having our Parent Meetings with Teachers at 6:00 p.m. and a Campus School Parent Network meeting at 6:45 p.m. You will also be receiving a packet of information from CSPN next week with all kinds of information about the year in your child's communication folder.