My Body: The Circulatory System

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This week we're learning about our circulatory system and how to keep it healthy and working properly. 

I'm trying to hold off until the start of our new school year to "officially" teach Princess and Bulldozer to write their letters and numbers, just so I can stay with my syllabus. I'm super excited I found this prewriting activity that will lead straight in to letter writing.  This week we're using salt, but I'm thinking about using shaving creamed or whipped topping next time, just to vary it up.

Body Sight Words

We've used the cards and body parts before, however, I've not asked them to spell the words.  Bulldozer usually loves these types of activities.

Source: I created the cards for this activity.

Exercise Suffixes

Dinomite is still working on learning about suffixes. He seemed a little overwhelmed by the last activity and so I tried to simplify this one a bit.  The first step for him seems to be separating the word from the suffix and then learning how to read them and pronounce them together.

Source:  I created the cards for this activity.

Math:

Medical Supply Coin Activity

Dinomite learned the value of coins earlier this year and how to count them. However, he tends to forget easily.  Bulldozer and Princess are only identifying coins.  So I created this activity in hopes that it will work for everyone.  To go along with our theme, I used medical supplies.

Bulldozer and Princess will try to match the coins on the cards with coins they take out of the cups.  There are control cards to help them identify the cards. Dinomite will match the coins with the card, count them, and then check the answer I've written in on the back to see if he's correct.

Source:  I created the cards for this activity.

Healthy Heart Addition & Subtraction

One of Dinomite's last goals for the year is to learn his addition and subtraction facts. He does pretty well, but I find more practice is always better for him.  Princess really likes this activity too.  I still can't believe at the age of 3, she's already subtracting.

 Source: I found these free cards at Montessori Print Shop.

Minutes of Exercise Graph

Yet again this week I created another graph.  The kiddos do well with them.  I love that they are starting to understand how to make them and read information from them.

Source: I created this activity.

Culture:

Happy Habits for a Healthy Heart

This activity is part research based and part religious based.  I read several articles about what we should put into our bodies in order to have a healthy heart, but then also, being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I applied the teachings of the Word of Wisdom to our lesson.  No matter what your religious faith, it may just be a matter of rearranging the cards a little bit to fit in the category you want them to.

Source:  I created the cards for this activity.

Science:

The Heart

I loved this diagram when I saw it.  My husband had the fabulous idea of not only cutting out the labels for each part of the heart, but also the parts of the house.  Such a clear and colorful way of seeing all of the parts.

Source: I found this diagram at Spell Out Loud.

Human Heart Arteries & Veins

I must admit, I had no idea Crayola had such wonderful educational coloring pages, that is until I started using them as they'd come up in my searches.  I love the hands on way of learning the difference between veins and arteries and where they are in the heart.

Source: I found this coloring page at Crayola.com.

Sensorial:

Human Body Sensory Bin

Originally I wasn't going to make a sensory bin this week, however, I was kind of grossed out by the other options I saw.  The kids would have probably liked them, but I just wasn't in the mood.

This bin includes:
large red glass beads
large white glass beads.
Small red pony beads
Clear glass ball beads
Tiny white skeletons (They're squishy!)
Tiny pink body parts and organs (They're squishy!)

As I build my collection of body parts (most likely after Halloween when everything's on clearance), I'll add more items.

Practical Life:

Tweezing Red & White Blood Cells

I just love practical life activities. I feel they're just as important as Math or English.  Hence why I always try to have so many.

Source: I found this idea at Discovery Days & Montessori Moments.

Drops of Blood from Veins & Arteries

I wanted to find a way to teach the kids the concept of pumping blood.  Instead of creating an intricate model, I decided to use our droppers.  One glass bottle is filled with blue water and the other red water to represent the veins and arteries.  I had thought about making cards to explain where each color pumps from and to, but I decided that might be too complicated at this point for the kiddos.  Plus I knew the card would get covered in water.

Spooning Red & White Blood Cells

There's nothing like combing three different activities in one!  The kids are learning about the difference between red blood cells and white blood cells.  They're learning how to use a spoon and scoop them.  Let's not forget the sorting of blood cells too!

 Source: I was inspired by ideas I saw on Living Montessori Now.  You can find the link to the cards there as well.

Art:

Tracing Hearts Using Stencils

The kids don't know how trace or draw hearts, so I figured this would be a good introductory lesson.  They may struggle a little bit with coordination of holding the heart and tracing at the same time, but hopefully they'll do okay.  I can't wait for my metal insets to come.

Filling Our Hearts

This is a cute art activity, but the actual purpose of it is to help the kiddos with their brush control and motion.  The goal is to keep the paint inside the corresponding heart color as they brush using the proper technique.

Source: I saw this activity at To the Lesson.

Music: We also did a music activity, but it was a review from a previous unit.

This is our week! I'm super excited and can't wait to see how it goes!  Next week we'll be learning about the immune system!