Reminder: Open House is on Thursday from 5 to 7 pm. The students look forward to showing off the work they have completed.
Our sixth system was the nervous system. So far we have learned that our brain and spinal cord is the command central of our bodies. We also learned that the left side of the brain controls the right side of our body and that the right side of the brain controls the left side of our body. One of our activities for the nervous system was reading color words that were written in a different color. Students tried to say the color the word was written in not the word that was written. It was very fun to see students try to complete this activity. It was harder than students thought.
Note: On Wednesday, our class will be visiting the Snack Store. This is a place where students have the chance to purchase snack items. The store is ran by the Strike It Rich! class. We are visiting the store, so students have an idea of how it runs and what there is for next year. If you would like you can send a dollar or two with your child on Wednesday to purchase something for snack. Miss Jenny and Miss Beth will still have snack as regular on this day.
The fifth system we learned about was the circulatory system. We learned that the heart pumps blood through our veins and arteries to all parts of our bodies. The arteries pump oxygen rich blood throughout the body. The veins take carbon dioxide filled blood back to the heart, which in turn sends the carbon dioxide to the lungs to be breathed out. For this system, students created a blood model. We started with yellow water (plasma), then added red cheerios (red blood cells), marshmallows (white blood cells), and chocolate chips (platelets). The pictures below are of the students building their models.
The fourth system we learned about was the digestive system. We learned that the digestive system includes many different organs. To help us better understand this system, we watched an episode of Magic School Bus. In this episode, Ms. Frizzle and the class go on a field trip through one of the students digestive systems. This show along with the many books we read, helped us to better understand the path the food we eat takes through our body. For this activity, we used saltine crackers, Sprite, and a baggie to watch the process of digestion.
Our third system was the respiratory system. We learned the our lungs, trachea, and the diaphragm are the main parts to the system. While research this system, we found out that the left lung is smaller than the right. This is due to the room needed for the heart. Our big activity for this system was to build a set of lungs. The students had fun creating and using this project.
Our field trip to The Science Museum was fantastic. We started out the day with viewing the bodies exhibit. Below are a few pictures from this day.
Extended Day
REMINDER- STUDENTS WILL BE HOME TWO HOURS LATER ON EXTENDED DAY!
8:40- leave North Branch
9:45- arrive at The Science Museum of Minnesota
9:45-11:00- explore the exhibits (starting with the human body exhibit)
11:00-11:30- lunch
11:30-1:05- explore exhibits
1:05-1:15- bathroom break and head to meeting area
1:15- head back to North Branch
2:20- arrive at North Branch
2:20-2:30- bathroom break and load busses for home
The second system we learned about is the muscular system. For this system, the students learned that our muscles help us to move. We completed an activity to show what happens when a muscle is used continually and becomes tired. The project we completed for this system was a muscle hand. This hand shows how the muscles help us move our fingers.
For the skeletal system, we built a model of the cross section of a bone. This shows the different layers of the bone from the very center to the outside layer. Students learned that we need our skeletal system to help our bodies keep its shape.