Our Lungs

Verse:

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6

Books:

• "You Breathe In, You Breath Out All about Your Lungs" by David A. Adler
• "How Do Your Lungs Work?" by Don L. Curry

Things we did:

• identified the parts of the body involved in respiration using a bunch of grapes
  
• followed the respiratory pathway from our nose and mouth through the alveoli
• learned about oxygen and carbon dioxide blood gas exchange
• revisited the pathway of oxygenated blood through heart and body
• learned that cigarette smoking can damage our lungs and our body
• colored, cut and glued our lungs to our body

Vocabulary Words:

• cilia
• trachea
• bronchi
• bronchioles
• alveoli
• epiglottis
• diaphragm

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps64D3Juv5A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixMzP5oWngM

Helpful Websites:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/lungs.html
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=152&id=2406
http://www.brainpopjr.com/health/bodies/lungs/grownups.weml

Activities to do at home:
I like to use playdough whenever I can for the students to better learn about the organ they are studying. Making the lung with playdough is a great hands on activity you can do. I used pink playdough for the lungs and the blue playdough shows the respiratory pathway from the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli.

Our Heart

Verse:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

Books:

• “How Does Your Heart Work?” by Don L. Curry
• “Hear Your Heart” by Paul Showers

Things we did:

• identified the parts of the heart
• learned the circulatory pathway
• learned about systolic and diastolic pressures
• checked our own resting and non-resting heart rates using stethoscopes
• found our carotid and ulnar pulse using our fingers. Our resting heart rate was much slower.
• identified a few diseases of the heart: hypertension, coronary artery disease, ventricular tachycardia, afibrillation, heart attacks
• colored, cut and glued our heart on to our body.

Vocabulary Words:

• atrium
• ventricle
• valves
• oxygenated blood
• arteries
• veins
• pulse
• stethoscope
• systole
• diastole
  

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ZDJgFDdk0

Websites:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/heart.html#

Our Brain

Verse:
Psalm 26:2 Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;

Books:

• “How Does Your Brain Work?” by Don L. Curry
• “Big Head!” by Dr. Pete Rowan
• “Looking into my Body” by Reader’s Digest
• “The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses” by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen
• World Book presents “My Body”
• “Your Brain How You Got It and How it Works” by Tabitha M. Powledge

Things we did in class:

• identified the parts of brain, learned their functions. We learned how our senses are dictated by the brain. Ex. Wiggle your large toe.
• identified some diseases of the brain: Alzheimer's, stroke, and seizures
• colored, cut and glued our brain on to our body.
• used playdough to identify the parts of the brain: right and left cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem
  
  
  
  
  
  

Vocabulary Words:

• neuron
• right cerebrum
• left cerebrum
• cerebellum
• brain stem
• spinal cord
• nerves
• senses
  

Video:
We did not see this video. However, I felt like this would be a fun video to help become familiar with the parts of the brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5nMsXg1Lk

Useful websites
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmodel.html
http://www.focuseducation.com.au/CoolStuff/build_a_brain/brain.html

First Day of Class and Syllabus

On our first day of class we spent some time getting to know each other in the class.

Verse:

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

We pondered on some questions and answers such as

Who made us?

Why did God make us?

What does the Bible say about our bodies?

I read excerpts from 1 Corinthians 12 and tried to emphasize that as a class unit, we needed to work together and follow the classroom rules.

We drew the body outlines of each student in the class! Phew! That was a lot of work. We played with two different kind of skeleton puzzles.

We perused through some books.

Books:
Human Body
The Human Body by Mary Elting
The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
What is a Bellybutton?
Looking into My Body – by Reader’s Digest

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Week	Date	Topic	Verse	Student Presenter
1	2/2	Introduction	Psalm 139:14
2	2/9	Brain	Psalm 26:2	Ben W.
3	2/16	Heart	Proverbs 3:5	Dominic B.
4	2/23	Lungs	Psalm 150:6	Sophie H.
5	3/2	Kidneys/Bladder	Psalm 51:2	Joshua H.
6	3/9	Spleen/Pancreas/Gall Bladder	Proverbs 24:13	Ella J.
7	3/16	Skeleton	Proverbs 15:30	Alex K.
8	3/23	Muscles	2 Corinthians 12:10	Josie L.

S

P

R

I

N

G

B

R

E

A

K

9	4/13	Stomach	Proverbs 25:21	Mark N.
10	4/20	Intestines	Psalm 51:6	Parker S.
11	4/27	Liver	Jeremiah 33:8	Dominic T.
12	5/4	Review	Luke 10:27	Emma V.

The Preamble

I've always struggled with how to get parents in on the learning that the students do while at Explorers. I know as a parent, I don't get much feedback from my newly minted 6yo as to what she learns in class. I wish there was a way I could be a fly on the wall of my daughter's classroom so we could continue the conversations that were initiated in class.

I want to afford the parents of my "wonderfully made" students this opportunity to have a pulse on what we do in the classroom.

I contemplated the paper method. To be honest with you, I wasn't even sure the weekly sheet of paper would make it into the right hands. There was also the cost of copying to consider.

I contemplated inundating your email box each week, but I wasn't sure one more Explorer-related email would be well received.

So I'm going to try this method and see how well this goes. I'm hoping to include links to various websites so you and your child could easily revisit the things we learned in class. I'm not a proficient blogger. This will be a new learned skill as we go through the semester. My personal goal is to have the topics from the previous class posted prior to the next class.

Thanks,
Liz