In science, we began looking at genetics and inheritance by with a simulation: everyone was given an individual envelope that represented an organism. Inside were two slips of paper representing a gene that influenced the color of the organism. There were two versions (alleles) of this gene, one which produced a protein/enzyme that made a red pigment (version R), and one that didn't make anything that worked (version r). Each envelope was marked with the color of the organism, which depended on the genes it contained.
We then "crossed" the organisms (envelopes,) randomly selecting one of the genes inside to pass onto the offspring. In most classes, we saw that crossing two white individuals always gave white offspring, but crossing red individuals with red or red with white could produce red or white offspring...mostly red, though. This led into a general discussion which we will continue tomorrow.
In social studies, I am taking a step back to consider a better way to approach the idea of an argument paper. It is not gone, it is just...on hold. So instead today we forged ahead into reading about the New England Colonies in our cooperative groups or individually in order to translate unfamiliar terms and ideas, and then started working on the associated SARs which are due tomorrow on Tuesday.
As a reminder, I do have a Scholastic Bowl meet on Wednesday, so my study hall day will instead be Thursday after school.