Have you heard of punnett squares?  Well, if you haven't, you will soon.  Punnet squares are used a lot when studying genetics, genotypes, phenotypes, etc.  They are used to determine the possible outcomes for specific genes.  For example, you could use a punnett square to see what the possibility of your child having blue eyes is.  Let's learn how they work.
     To start off, you would need to find out what genotype you and your spouse have.  Then, you would put your guys' genotypes at the top and one on the left hand side.  After that, you would list the 4 possible outcomes.  It sounds confusing, but think of it as a multiplication table, but with only 4 outcomes.  That's all the time I have for today.

     Last quarter, when we learned about DNA and the molecules, we did a project where we had to make a DNA ornament.  We did it in class and used some pretty expensive materials.  It took us a few days, but it was still fun.  Here is how we did it.
     We made the ornament with these glass-like beads.  We also used this specific kind of wire that held the beads together.  First, we got all the materials we needed.  Then, we started the project by adding the beads to show the DNA molecules form.  We got to choose what order we wanted to put the beads in as long as blue (C) and gold (G) were paired up as well as green (A) and red (T).  As long as those were paired up, we could use whatever order we wanted.  Overall, I really enjoyed this project.

     During the second quarter we finished 3 or 4 units.  Now, not all of them were a piece of cake.  I had trouble with a few parts that were included in each unit.  However, the most difficult unit for me was the unit about cells.  I know, that sounds like a really easy unit and some people thought it was too easy, but for me I had trouble.
     The reason I had trouble was because we had to memorize each part of the cell and what they did, and that was difficult for me.  I had the parts memorized, but I just kept getting their functions confused.  For example, I kept mixing up functions like "transporting energy to the nucleus" and "transporting protein to the nucleus". 
     What did I do to help me with this unit? Well, we did the edible cell project, and that helped me very much.  When it comes to science, I am a very visual learner, so that helped me understand the functions a lot more.  This helped me tremendously because I was able to remember what each candy that symbolized a part of the cell what its's function was.  Then in the test, I just remembered what we used for that part and it clicked for me.