Questions for The Raft Due Friday 10/21

1. Is Nicky happy about going to Grandmas?
2. Why is Grandma called a "river rat"?
3. What does Nicky find that floated down the river?
4. What does Nicky find on the raft?
5. What do Nicky and Grandma like to do together?
6. What does Nicky do after he helps the baby deer?

The Raft

• Nicky is left by his father at his Grandma's for the summer
• Nicky is not happy about going
• Grandma calls herself a "river rat" because she loves living by the river
• Grandma's house is cluttered
• Grandma keeps Nicky very busy with work
• Nicky discovers a raft that floated down the river
• there are drawings of different animals on the raft
• Grandma shows Nicky how to use the raft
• Nicky begins to love the raft and even sleeps on the raft in a tent
• Nicky likes to draw on the raft
• Grandma and Nicky like to go swimming in the river
• One day Nicky helps a baby deer get back to it's mother on the riverbank
• Nicky draws a picture of the baby deer on the raft, this way he is always a part of the river, just like Grandma

Introduction to Ecosystems

• biotic factors-living things in an environment
• abiotic factors-non living things in an environment
• climate-typical weather pattern in an environment

 

• biotic and abiotic factors make up an ecosystem
• an ecosystem can be small like a log, or large like a desert
• all the living things depend on the nonliving things to survive in an ecosystem

 

• living things also depend on one another
• habitat-each organism has it's own place to live in the ecosystem
• population-all the members of a species that live in an ecosystem
• community-all the populations in an ecosystem
• the size of a community depends on factors such as food, shelter, light
• a change in population can affect the community, and a change in the community can affect populations.

Systems in Animals

• Animals have different organ systems, a system is a group of parts that work together
• A vertebrate's bones make up it's skeletal system

 

• it is a frame that supports the body and protects organs
• the muscular system works with the skeletal system.  it is made of strong tissues.
• the muscles shorten and pull on the bones to make the animal move
• invertebrates move by muscular systems alone

 

• the master control system of the body is the nervous system, it is made of nerve cells
• invertebrates have simple nervous systems, vertebrates have complicated ones, mammals are the most complex.
• millions of nerve cells join together in mammals to form nerves
• the brain and sense organs help animals see, hear, taste, touch, and smell

 

• all animal cells need oxygen
• the respiratory system brings oxygen to the blood and removes wastes like CO2
• larger animals use gills or lungs to exchange gasses with the water or air
• the circulatory sustem moves blood through the body.
• blood carries oxygen, food, and water to body cells and removes wastes.
• the heart is the main organ of the circulatory system
• an amphibian heart has 3 chambers, a fish has 2, mammals and birds have 4, sponges and cnidarians have no heart or circulatory system

 

• the excretory system removes waste (kidney, liver, bladder, skin, lungs)
• Animals take in food for energy
• the digestive system breaks food down
• segmented worms have digestive systems with 2 openings. Food enters the mouth, and wastes exit through the tail end
• Mammals stomach's churn and mix food, digestive juices break it down.  The food bits travel to the small intestine where they are absorbed by the blood to carry to the body.