We had nice short school week that ended on a high note today at our homeschool co-op. I was assisting in the K-1st program where we had a science lesson, a brief Spanish lesson and some time in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Jake and Ryan are working on a unit study with other 2nd and 3rd graders and also have the opportunity to take a class on Gregorian chant.
The science lesson was on organs in the human body. The lead teacher had a fabulous lesson plan. She had a body poster for each child with stickers for the major organs she had placed on already. Then we went through several major ones and discussed their function. For each organ she had a short hands-on type of activity to bring it home for the kids and then they placed the label sticker themselves. For the brain we did a round of Simon Says. For the lungs we used a latex balloon illustrate inhaling and exhaling. We found our pulses, listened to our hearts and did a resting vs. activity pulse experiment. We saw how the liver acts like a coffee filter to clean our blood. We had a particularly icky demonstration of the large intestine. Mrs. Carr had pre-mixed up individual baggies with chocolate cake mix and oatmeal to familiar consistantcy (unless you suffer with some bowel issues!) then we cut a corner off the baggie and the children squeezed out the mix and saw how God designed our bodies to get rid of body trash. Ewww! Then the children got to demonstrate how our bladder collects and releases liquid waste using water balloons and a safety pin.
Isn't that a wonderful lesson? I know these kids will not soon forget the amazing functions of our organs. I think I had just as much fun as they did!
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5 comments:
That class sounds great!
I insist that I would have liked science more, if I had learned it in a hands-on way. The kids had a fabulous "Life Sciences" teacher at Learning Grove, who let them make models of all sorts of things. My favorite was blood. It was clear Karo syrup with red hots for red blood cells and lentil beans for white blood cells.
Wow! How great is that?! I sure was laughing at the thought of the kiddos doing the lg intestine though!! Too funny. that really sounds like a great way for kids [and us grown ups] to visualize our organs' purposes.
Tracy, we're in the Atlanta 'Burbs too!! another thing in common!
SOOOO glad that your kids are in Spanish :) Hope you are doing well! Can't wait to see yall at Christmas!
My goodness, I'm glad to have found your blog! I'm exploring international adoption myself (though we're at the very VERY beginning of the process) as well as homeschooling, so I hope it's all right if I sit at your feet and learn from you a bit.
This sounds like an amazing hands-on lesson, and one of the main reasons I like the idea of homeschooling. Though I worry I wouldn't be able to come up with cool stuff like this for everything. How did you connect with your co-op?
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