Objective
The student will investigate and understand that organisms are made of cells and have distinguishing characteristics. Key concepts include basic cell structures and functions.
Materials:
- Jello cups (one per student)
- Gumballs (one per student)
- m&ms (several green per student)
- raisin (one per student)
- jawbreaker (one per student)
- building blocks (I can provide these)
- gummy worms (one regular and one sour per student)
Pass out blocks to students and have them play with them. After about 10 minutes of playing, have students tell you what they did with their blocks. Ask students what was bigger, what they built or one block. Talk to students about how some things are bigger and we can see them with our eyes, some things are too small to see with our eyes. Ask: “ what can we use to see smaller things?”
Give students an opportunity to experiment with hand lenses and microscopes.
Tell students that all living things are made of cells. Explain to students that we will be making a cell.
Pass out Jello and candy.
Have students place the candy in the jello being sure to push each piece deep into the jello. Have students talk about what they think each part might do in the cell. After students have made their jello cells, use the mall handout to compare their cell to a mall.