What are cell parts and their functions?
Even if cells are very tiny, they are made up of even smaller parts, each with their own job to do. These tiny parts are called organelles
“______”
cell wall
§ The cell wall is only in plant cells.
§ Its purpose is to shape and protect the cell like the outside wall of a shopping mall, which provides shape and protection for it.
§ “______”
cell membrane
§ The cell membrane holds and protects the cell. It controls what substances come into and out of the cell like an entrance you have to pass to get into the shopping mall.
§ “Gate of the Cell”
§ “______”
cytoplasm
§ The cytoplasm is the watery, gel-like material in which cell parts move and cell activities take place like the hallways of the mall where people move.
§ “Area of Movement”
§ “______”
mitochondria
§ The mitochondria produce most of the energy for the cell, like an electrical system of the shopping mall, which supplies electrical energy.
§ “Powerhouse of the Cell”
§ “______”
chloroplast
§ The chloroplast is only in plant cells, like the cell wall. It contains chlorophyll, which captures energy from sunlight and uses it to produce food for the cell like the pizza shop in the mall that makes food.
§ “Food Producers”
§ “______”
cytoskeleton
§ Tiny network of microfilaments
§ “______”
centrioles
§ “______”
vacuoles (also called vesicles)
§ The vacuoles store food, water, and chemicals, like water tank and pipes of the mall, which store water.
§ “Storage Bubbles”
§ “______”
nucleus
§ The nucleus regulates and controls cell activities, acting like the “brain” of the cell, like the mall office, which regulates and controls activities of the shopping mall.
§ “Control Center”
§ “______”
nuclear membrane
§ The nuclear membrane protects the nucleus and allows substances to pass in and out of the nucleus, as the cell membrane does the same for the cell like the main office like the walls of the mall and its entrance, which protect the office and let workers in and out.
§ “Gate of the Nucleus”
“ ______”
Nucleolus
§ DNA chromosomes all piled up in a tangled jumble
§ Like a bowl of spaghetti
§ “______”
chromosomes
§ The chromosomes direct the activities of cells like a mall office director who works in the office and directs all the activities of the shopping mall.
§ “Director of the Cell”
§ “______”
Golgi bodies
§ Package and ship substances throughout the cell. It does not really matter what the substance is- their job is packaging.
§ “UPS for the cell”
§ “______”
lysosomes
§ Works like the stomach or the trash can for the cell.
§ Can break down food, worn out cell parts or the entire cell (when its time for replacement)
§ “______”
endoplasmic reticulum
§ Works like a highway throughout the cell
§ Can be Smooth- no bumps or Rough (bumps are Ribosomes)
§ “______”
ribosomes
§ Can be free floating or “bumps along the Highway of the Rough ER”
§ “______”
Practice
1. Choose the wrong statement from the following.
a) Mitochondria produce most of the energy for the cell.
b) Chloroplasts are “food producers.”
c) Cell wall controls the movements of materials into and out of the cell.
d) Nucleus regulates and controls all cell activities, acting as the “brain” of
the cell.
2. Match the cell part to the nickname.
1) Cytoplasm
2) Nuclear membrane
3) Vacuoles
a. Gate of the nucleus
b. Area of movement where cell parts move
c. Storage tanks
3. This cell part is surrounded by a nuclear membrane.
Is it a nucleus? YES or NO
4. This cell part is the powerhouse of the cell.
Is it a mitochondrion? YES or NO
5. Are these chromosomes? YES or NO