Name: _______________________________________
Cell City Project
Due Date: _____________________________
Introduction: Floating around the cytoplasm of a cell are small structures called organelles. Each
organelle has a specific job. The organelles work together to keep the cell alive. In order to stay
alive, the cell must be able to produce energy, get rid of waste, produce substances that it
needs, and interact with its surroundings. In this way, a cell is kind of like a city with different
people and places working together to keep it functioning.
In this project, you will compare organelles in a living plant or animal cell to people and places in
a city. The places you choose must do a job similar to that of the organelle (ex a power plant to
represent the mitochondria). You will create a fully colored and labeled “map” of your cell city on
poster board with 10 organelles represented.
I choose to compare a _________________________ (plant or animal) cell to a city.
Rubric
Requirements
25 points
20 points
Organelles
All required
organelles
present
Comparison
10 points
5 points
Most required Half required
organelles
organelles
present
present
Less than
half required
organelles
present
No organelles
present
All
comparison
s are
explained
and make
sense
Most
comparisons
are explained
and make
sense
Half of
comparisons
are explained
and make
some sense
Less than
half of
comparisons
are explained
and make
sense
Comparisons
are not
explained
and/or don’t
make sense
Quality
Fully
colored and
labeled with
effort
shown
Labeled with
some color
and effort
shown
Labels, no
color, but
effort shown
Labels, no
color, little
effort shown
No labels, no
color, no
effort shown
Creativity
Very
creative title
and
designed to
look like a
city
Creative title,
looks like a
city
Creative title,
looks sort of
like a city
No creative
title and/or
doesn’t look
much like a
city
No creative
title and looks
nothing like a
city
Check these steps off as you work!
15 points
Steps to complete this project:
1. Complete cell city worksheet using your notes and textbook. __________
2. Have a teacher sign off on your cell city worksheet. _________
3. Create a rough draft of your cell city on paper. __________
4. Have a teacher sign off on your rough draft. __________
5. Create your final draft on poster board (tip: use pencil first!) __________
6. Turn in your worksheet, rough draft, final draft, and rubric to the teacher ________
7. Present your final draft to your classmates proudly :) ___________
Name: ________________________________________
Cell City Worksheet
Complete this chart and have a teacher sign off on it before starting your rough draft.
Organelle
Nucleus
Endoplasmic Reticulum
Golgi Apparatus
Lysosomes
Vacuole
Chloroplast
(Plant Only)
Mitochondria
Ribosomes
Cell Wall
(Plant Only)
Cytoskeleton
Function in a living cell
Comparison - explain why
this represents the
organelle