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7th grade · Science · Unit 1 of 16

Cells: Life's Building Blocks

All living things are made of cells.

What your child practices

Practices evidence that living things are made of cells, the parts of plant and animal cells and their jobs, and how the cell works as a system.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.1 · the parts of a cell and what each does

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. All living things are made of cells. Bacteria are one cell; people are trillions.
  2. The nucleus controls the cell. The membrane controls what goes in and out. Mitochondria release energy.
  3. Plant cells also have a cell wall and chloroplasts.

Example: Which part controls the cell’s activities? It holds the cell’s DNA. It acts like the cell’s control center. Answer: the nucleus

Cells: Life's Building Blocks in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 1 of 16 in 7th grade Science, before Cells & Life Processes.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which part controls the cell's activities?

    • Chloroplast
    • Vacuole
    • Cell wall
    • Nucleus

  2. Question 2

    Ribosomes in a cell make…

    • water
    • proteins
    • light
    • sugar

  3. Question 3

    Which part captures light to make food?

    • Chloroplast
    • Nucleus
    • Cell membrane
    • Mitochondria

  4. Question 4

    Which evidence shows a pond sample has living things?

    • The water is wet
    • It smells like mud
    • The jar is clear
    • Cells seen under a microscope

  5. Question 5

    A group of similar cells working together forms a…

    • tissue
    • organism
    • organelle
    • molecule

  6. Question 6

    An onion skin cell has a cell wall but no chloroplasts. Why no chloroplasts?

    • It is not alive
    • It is an animal cell
    • It grows underground, away from light
    • It has no nucleus

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