Plant Cells

We've moved from fungi to cells, particularly plant cells. I found a very nice, FREE, colorful labeling worksheet for plant and animal cells here:

https://d3jc3ahdjad7x7.cloudfront.net/gipdZMUwwOrAePlgbMIXyulrEfbSaqVjaOsjjvhVdQuJdIHA.pdf

We took a little bit of time to discuss cellulose, which I recognize as a newly utilized ingredient in starchy, commercialized foods. Livestrong and Mayo Clinic describe this as a healthier alternative to heavy carbohydrates. Other pages describe it as the paper industry's enconomic solution to the decreased need for paper products now that technology is increasing and encouraging the use of paperless information between customers. Cellulose is located within a plant's cell membrane and acts as a skeleton-like structure to protect the cell. It can be visually recognized in stacks the way that cell structure resembles cork chambers. I find cellulose to be very interesting. It is such a teany tiny structure, yet we are utilizing it for food sources as we do with the soy bean. It's very cool!

I will add more tidbits about the study of plant cells as we approach them in our unit study. I did get a glance at some different types of plant stems (which we studied in our dichotomous key research).