Introduction Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Experience 1 Experience 2 Experience 3 Resources Lesson 3 Culminating Experience National Standards   Cells Until the invention of the microscope in 1683 by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, scientists knew very little about cells. Today we know that cells are the building blocks of life. These building blocks join together to make living things. Cells are composed of tiny organelles that carry out specific jobs and function to run the cell. Compare the cell to your school. Just like the cell, the parts of a school work together to run the school. Without the office, hallways, classrooms, cafeteria, restrooms, students, faculty and staff the school would not exist. The same is true about the cell. Without the nucleus, cell wall, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, mitochondria and Golgi bodies, the cell would be incomplete and unable to function. This lesson enables students to look inside the cell and compare it to their school! Objectives Students will: Explain that all living things are made of cells. Recognize the parts and functions of the cell. Compare plant and animal cells. Apply their knowledge of the cell to design a new "school cell" using the school as a template. Present the school as a cell and evaluate and justify its relationship to an actual cell. Cell Terms: cell Golgi apparatus cell membrane lysosome cell wall mitochondria chloroplast nucleus cytoplasm organelle DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) ribosomes endoplasmic reticulum vacuole Focus Questions: Model of an animal cell. What are the characteristics of all living things? What is a cell? How do plant and animal cells differ? How are they alike? Where is the genetic information located in a cell? Why is this important to the cell? How is your school like a cell? What other things could you compare to a cell? What would happen if one of the parts of a cell was not working?

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