Cells

This year we are doing a science co-op with 2 other families with a total of 8 children. For our curriculum, we are using Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures. But, the other families had been working with cells, so our first meeting finished up their cell study.

We meet every week and each family is expected to study the material ahead of time. Our time together is for show and tell time, review, and doing projects. The moms take turns leading the group - sometimes one mom will do most of a meeting and at other times we each take a turn.

For this first session on cells, I was in charge of showing the kids real cells. I used a toothpick to scrape cells from the inside of my cheek and stained them with some methylene blue. The slides turned out well and each child was encouraged to look at his/her own cells. I took a photograph by placing my camera at the top of the microscope and just taking a photo. I was amazed at how well they showed up. (Thanks, Robin, for the idea!)

I also reviewed the organelles of a cell while the children drew in their notebooks. Then, another mom made these incredible candy cells! She came up with some great candy to make the various organelles and we placed them all in a jell-o cell.

The jell-o didn't stay together as well as we would have liked, but it was still a great model. And, the kids learned a lot about cells and were great at answering our questions!