Human Body

     Okay, so keeping my blog current is apparently not my greatest strength!  We have done all sorts of units since the last post on Australia!!  Two that I really wanted to highlight were the units on Tall Tales and Woodland Animals, but I did not have the time while we were doing them.  Maybe I can go back and do a post on them later.  For now, I thought I'd share some things we've been doing in our study of the human body. 
     The first day we studied the body, we read Inside Your Outside,  a Cat in the Hat Learning Library book.  It provided a good overview of the main body systems.  We talked about our body being made up of tiny units called cells. Then, we used a microscope to examine epithelial cells from inside our cheek.  (We used a toothpick to scrape the inside of our cheek, rubbed it onto a slide, and added a drop of iodine to stain it for easier viewing.)

      While the microscope activity was interesting, the biggest hit of the day was when I unveiled a model of the human body I recently purchased in anticipation of this unit.  It is actually meant to be a toy, but is a fairly authentic representation of the body and I knew it would not only serve as a wonderful visual aid, but would also allow my son the opportunity to take it apart and reassemble it, thereby learning through hands-on experience how our organs fit together and what belongs where.  He loves it!  It is called Squishy Human Body, in case you are interested.

Fully-Assembled Squishy Human Body

Taking "Mr.Squishy" apart

Putting it all back together....could he be a future surgeon?

     Day two was also full of adventures as we learned all about our blood.  We read A Drop of Blood
  which was a wonderful introduction to the blood and its primary components and functions.

Our phonics focus was on the /bl/ blend for blood.

 
     Next, with a small prick of my finger, we examined a real drop of blood under the microscope at high power and were able to see thousands of red blood cells with their characteristic "donut" shape.

     We made a model of the blood as well.  I found this idea, in many variations, on Pinterest.  For our version, we used Karo syrup for the plasma, Red Hot candies for the red cells, mint (white) Mentos candies for the white blood cells, and round sprinkles for the platelets.  Everyone said to use Karo Syrup for the plasma, but I found it to be a little too thick! I had to add a little water to the mixture just so the candies could move around in there a little.  Should I ever find myself making this concoction again, I believe I will try cooking oil instead.

Blood Ingredients

Mixing the blood

 

Completed Blood Model

     

Finally, we used the same candies to make a paper model of a drop of blood.

Red blood cells, white blood cells, and yellow platelets.

    Next, we learned about the heart and circulatory system.  I borrowed a medical-grade stethoscope from my cousin, who is a physician, and we listened to our heart beating and learned about how the heart pumps blood through our bodies!

When we studied the skeletal system, we used more candy to build a model of our backbone!  We used a pipe cleaner as a "spinal cord" and strung life saver gummies (vertebrae), alternated with Cheerios (discs) to see how the discs protect the bones from grinding against one another and allow us to move in many different directions!

Making the spinal column

Completed spinal column

 Finally, we learned about our digestive system.  We used a piece of bread and some Sprite to simulate how the stomach acid, plus some active churning, breaks our food up into tiny particles and creates a sort of "soup" of all that we've eaten.

Breaking the bread into small pieces simulated the chewing process.

Adding Stomach Acid (Sprite)

                

Stomach (bag) churning (squishing) the contents into its digestive "soup"

                    

One more thing we've done is a flip booklet on the human body.  I purchased this off TPT.  It is by Stephanie Trapp, and is really cute and inexpensive!

Click HERE for the link to this cute product!
This was a two week unit and really engaged my son!  If you plan to teach a unit on the Human Body, I would definitely recommend these activities! 

Blessings,
Laurie