Living Organisms Cells

What is a cell? A cell is the basic unit of life. If you were to look in a microscope, you’d be able to see that all living things are made up of tiny pieces joined together to make bigger pieces. The tiny pieces you can see in a microscope are called cells.

Cells When learning learning about matter, you learn that all things are made up of tiny molecules. Here you can see that the smallest components are atoms. Atoms form together to make up molecules. Molecules then form together to make up cells. Cells are the smallest components that we can usually see. Cells form together to make all of our parts, like our skin, muscles, and organs!

Cells Every living thing is made up of cells. There are different kinds of cells, but all cells perform the same basic functions. That means they all do the same kinds of stuff! Think about the types of things that your body does. Each cell in your body performs the same tasks that your body as a whole performs. All cells can: No smaller component than the cell performs all those important functions. That's why the cell is the "fundamental unit of life." Converting energy Digesting food Excreting waste Reproducing Taking in oxygen

Cells Cells are made up of all kinds of parts like a nucleus, vacuoles, cell membranes, and mitochondria. These parts help the cells do those functions that every cell performs.

Cells If you look carefully you can see that these two cells are two different kinds of cells. One is a plant cell. The other is an animal cell.

Unicellular Some living things are made up of only one cell. That’s right, just one cell makes up the whole thing! These living organisms are called unicellular, or single celled organisms.

Unicellular One example of a unicellular organism is an amoeba. An amoeba is a single- celled animal that catches food and moves about by extending fingerlike projections of protoplasm. Amoebas are either free-living in damp environments or parasitic.

Unicellular Another type of unicellular organism is bacteria. As you may remember, bacteria is a decomposer. It is even smaller and more simple than a plant cell or an animal cell. It floats around, breaking down waste into

Multicellular Living organism that are made up of many cells that combine together are called multicellular.

Multicellular Plants and animals are multicellular. This means that plants and animals are made up of many cells that combine together.

Tissue When many cells in a multicellular organism bunch up together they form what is called tissue. Not the kind you blow your nose with, this tissue is when similar cells with a specific function bunch up together to make things like skin, muscles, or organs. Basically it’s the stuff we’re made of.

Tissue Here you can see how molecules make cells, cells make tissue, and tissue is what our organs are made of. Put a bunch of organs together and you get a living oragasm… in this case, a person!

Vocabulary cell - The basic unit of life. All living organisms are made of cells. unicellular/single cell - An organism that is composed of only ONE cell. amoeba - A single celled animal. bacterial cell - A single celled decomposer that is smaller and simpler than other types of cells. multicellular - A living organism that is composed of several or many cells. tissue - A grouping of similar cells with a specific function.

Build a cell Here’s a link to games where you can build an animal cell, a plant cell, or a bacteria cell.

Review Games Bouncing Balls Heroic Ants

More links Here’s an interesting game about cells called Cellcraft. How big is a cell? How does a cell work?

Organs Organs are the parts of our body that do specific things to help us stay alive. What organs in our body can you think of?

Organ system Like individual cells, our body as a whole also performs basic life functions. There is an organ system that helps us breath, one to help us eat and get rid of waste, and another to make us move, plus several more! The

Vocabulary Organ - A part of your body that performs a specific life function, like your brain, lungs, or skin Organ systems - The major systems of the body that work together as one unit to perform life functions

Cells, Tissue, Organs, and Organs Systems We are made up of all different types of cells. Each different type of cell form a different type of tissue. Different types of tissue make different organs, which make up different organ systems!

Cells Review Brainpop Video - Rewatch the video if you’d like to, try the quiz, and check out all 5 tabs under FYI. There’s a separate link to game below as well... Control of the Cell Cycle - (Here’s a game where you can “control” the reproduction of a cell. Remember reproduction is a life function that cells perform. Some other examples of life functions are breathing, digesting food, and getting rid of waste.)

Cells Review Here’s one more activity you may enjoy. Now that you know your way around a microscope, you can practice those skills by trying this virtual microscope activity.