Cell Unit: Cell Organelles and their Function, Animal vs. Plant Cells, Eurkaryotic vs. Prokaryotic Cells, and more

20 Responses

  1. Ruth K says:

    Super impressive. So excited to use this when we’re ready. I watched the video with my 7 year-old and she was super impressed. She said, “That girl really know her cells!” Thank you so much. Off to share it on Facebook.

  2. vicki n says:

    Thanks for sharing this.

  3. Donna says:

    Wonderful unit studies. Thank you for sharing.

  4. Dana says:

    This is so amazing. Compliments to the creator. My little ones will be so excited. Thank you. I will have to check out more.

    • homeschooldenadmin says:

      Thank you, Dana! We had a lot of fun with this part of our unit. (We’ll be going on to study one or two of the human body systems from here.) The kids really *wowed* their grandparents (being able to explain what the organelles do). 🙂 ~Liesl

  5. Erin says:

    Thanks so much Liesl! I always get excited when I see that you are offering a packet for free. You put together some amazing worksheets and activities and I love you incorporate Montessori practives. My girls are in a Montessori Primary program right now, but we’ll be homeschooling for elementary next year and I’m tucking this away for later use!

  6. Kelly says:

    Thank you so much for this packet. It looks very interesting and this is coming from a biology major. 🙂

    • homeschooldenadmin says:

      Thank you so much for the kind words, Kelly! I had to do a lot of background reading for this packet… pulled out some high school and college texts and then simplified it for my kids! 🙂 ~Liesl

  7. Emily says:

    I think the material is great, however, you may want to let your kids know that science is always changing. Kingdom Monera is no longer a kingdom it has been separated into two kingdoms, Archaebacteria and Eubacteria.

    • homeschooldenadmin says:

      Wow–I didn’t know that and did quite a bit of reading getting ready for this unit! Thanks Emily! 🙂 ~Liesl

  8. Hayley says:

    Hello I was wondering if this would be suitable for a Grade 8 / 13 year old. Your info states 7 to 11 year olds but I wanted to check if it might be a little too young for a 13 year old. Thankyou

    • homeschooldenadmin says:

      Hi,
      My son is 13/grade 8 and we just went over the cell material again (and I added to the packet a few weeks ago). I think the packet of materials would be just fine, especially if this is the first time you’ve covered it. The kids really have a solid understanding now of the function the organelles have in the cell. This packet goes into the manufacture of cell proteins (in the ribosomes) which is something most textbooks don’t cover until high school. I would probably not recommend April Terrazas’ book for your child because it is a bit simplistic (though I think my kids will always remember lysosomes as the “trash can of the cells” because of her book!!) Our family still used her book this time around because her explanations are so catch/easy to remember. (I have 2 younger kids as well.) I would highly recommend viewing slides under a microscope if you have access to that. And when you cover plant cells, I would spend time talking about photosynthesis. We have a few free worksheets about photosynthesis at this post: http://homeschoolden.com/2015/03/20/photosynthesis-worksheets/ Depending on the level of your child, you could then spend time talking about mitosis/meiosis (which is not really covered in this packet; there is just one page showing mitosis and it asks about the role centrioles has). I spent time talking a little bit about that with my son (the 13 year old) a few weeks ago and the role centrioles/microtubules play in cell division. That was over my 11 year olds’ head, but my son understood it on a basic level. (We’ll cover that in biology in more depth in a couple of years.) I hope this helps! Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

      UPDATED: We did this unit again when my son was in high school and I have updated and added to this packet to include some high school level material. 🙂 This is packet is adaptable for a wide range of ages!
      ~Liesl

  9. Sherri says:

    Hi Liesl,

    This looks amazing I can’t wait to begin! Do have a microscope you recommend?
    Thanks!

    • homeschooldenadmin says:

      Hi Sherri,
      We have a microscope that I purchased a while back used. It doesn’t have any information (brand name or anything), but I am 95% sure it is a dissection microscope. Ours seems like it is pretty good quality; is made of metal. It has upper and lower illumination (ours plugs in). I have prepared slides that we used during this unit. It has suited our needs, though ours is not powerful enough to see single-celled organisms. I am guessing ours is similar to this one — AmScope SE306R-P-LED Forward-Mounted Binocular Stereo Microscope (which has pretty good reviews). Sorry not to be of more help! ~Liesl

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