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7th grade · Science · Unit 1 of 8

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.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 7.L1U1.8 · all living things are made of cells, and the parts of a cell

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 Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 1 of 8 in 7th grade Science, before Body Systems.

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: Arizona Department of Education

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

    Humans are made of…

    • one cell
    • ten cells
    • no cells
    • trillions of cells

  2. Question 2

    Which tool lets scientists see most cells?

    • A balance
    • A thermometer
    • A telescope
    • A microscope

  3. Question 3

    Which is NOT made of cells?

    • A mushroom
    • A tree
    • A rock
    • A worm

  4. Question 4

    Ribosomes in a cell make…

    • sugar
    • proteins
    • light
    • water

  5. Question 5

    Plant cells have a large…

    • cell wall made of bone
    • chloroplast in the roots only
    • central vacuole for storing water
    • nucleus with no DNA

  6. Question 6

    Which order goes from smallest to largest?

    • Cell, tissue, organ, organism
    • Organism, organ, tissue, cell
    • Tissue, cell, organ, organism
    • Organ, cell, organism, tissue

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