Did you know that a muscle in your jawbone, the masseter, is one of the strongest muscles in your body? Or that you use your eye muscles more than any other muscle? Or that cartilage (“pillows” between the bones) can wear out?
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| Testing joint movements |
Well, some of your children may know these facts. We have been diving in to learning during our body study in several different ways. Children are hearing and learning new information from books. They are drawing and doing puzzles and making collages.
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| Thinking about the spine while listening to a book about the body |
Children have been examining x-rays at the light table.
They have been looking at the different layers of the body (bones, muscles, internal organs, skin) as they build and re-build a classroom puzzle.
Many children are especially interested in a giant skeleton floor puzzle that is nearly the size of them. (They have checked to see!) They see how all of the different bones fit together each time they put it together and take it apart. The children know that it is their skeleton that holds them up and, that without it, they would flop to the floor!
Jack, a kindergarten student, came to visit and he shared with the students how he had broken his arm.
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| Jack explaining about his arm while Mrs. Jordan shows a page from a book about a broken arm |
They asked him many questions and he explained to them in great detail how his bone was broken and what had to happen to get it fixed.
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| Jack talking about where his bones were broken |
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| Drawing a picture of a child with a broken arm after Jack's visit |
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| Helping demonstrate Mrs Jordan's hip surgery |
After Mrs. Jordan shared what would happen with her hip surgery, an operating room emerged in the afternoon playtime with the full-day students. Children have taken turns being patients, doctors, and observers.
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| Recording information at the doctor's office (while wearing surgical gloves) |
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| Surgery |
The play that has evolved around the hip surgery has been remarkable--children have taken notes, given doctor’s orders, and extracted flies, bees, stingrays and even babies from people’s stomachs (sometimes via the mouth using a pipe cleaner). Not only is this fun, but it also helps children to process what they may be thinking about. Play is one of the best ways to learn information.
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| Checking in with the patient |
And, at the end of some days, we have heard reports of what has happened during the surgery or in the doctor’s office.
Children are also thinking about their own bodies as they draw and create collage self-portraits and try to include many details.
Make sure you have a torso! Where are your arms attached? To the top, middle or bottom of your torso? What does the inside of your body look like?
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| Skull |
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| Skeleton drawing |
Each of these experiences gives children new understandings and knowledge of their bodies and of how the body works. It is a subject that is close to home! I wonder what we will explore next about the body?
