Vocabulary Mobiles

Okay, we're doing a project from the Journal, a mobile. This is a project in Apologia's Young Explorers Human Anatomy program. The kids cuts out the terms, matched the pictures, sorted systems, glued them to card stock and created mobiles.  We started last week and spent most of the class finishing.  This was a good exercise; the kids used their textbooks to identify and match the images.  We sorted the related terms, too.  H-on is the way to go!  I am confident they'll have a much better idea of the parts of a neuron now. Here is Nathan's mobile nearly completed and Nora's mobile finished!

A mobile like this is a nice change from notes, vocabulary sentences, and crosswords.  The kids can write terms, draw evocative images on the back and create mobiles, too.  It's just a change in pace from lapbooks.  The mobiles took about two hours to finish because the kids had to cut everything out, match, glue, punch holes, and assemble.  They're processing as they go.  Believe me, it's worth the investment in time.

Outreach Event

Yeah!  Today is an outreach event about blood.  The Anatomy classed prepped another outreach event for the Head Start class.  The kids made the stethoscopes with funnels on p. 147 and let the kids listen to their heart beats.  Then the little ones listened with real stethoscopes, watched blood pressure demos, colored hearts, played with the microscope that attached to a cell phone, looked at a blood smear under a conventional microscope, and made fake blood (plastic chips for platelets, ping pong balls for white blood cells, and red water beads for red blood cells).  We worked in stations.  Fun!  I love these events.  Everyone benefits!  Consider hosting a similar program with your Co-op.  You'll need a space with tables.  I like to pull all of the materials, inventory everything, and practice jobs a few times with my leaders before the program.  The Head Start kids are four years old.  We keep the activities simple and limit the program to 30-40 minutes.  We typically have four or five stations.  Everyone wins.  The kid leaders gain confidence and the little participants have an exciting enrichment event.  Cool, right?

Latest Book Review

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NSTA Review: All in a Rainforest Day

All in a Rainforest Day by Ellen B. Senisi is joyful with photos that capture the glamor of rainforests.  The book is organized into one day and visits rainforests all over the globe.  Each image has a simple caption.  My favorite is page eight, a proboscis monkey from Malasia, with the caption, 'Time for breakfast!'  I read the book to a group of youngsters who range in age from six to eleven, part of a Co-op.  They sat rapt!  I was confused as I read it, wondering which rainforest the book was describing.  After I finished reading, I wanted to be sure the monkey was a proboscis and located the photo index on the last page, which describes the organism and its country.  After I read the book to the children, I asked for their impressions: 'pretty and graceful', 'creepy animals' (page 10, the green vine snake eating a lizzard), and 'colorful'.  It was evident the photos were engrossing.  We decided the book would most suit young children, especially those four to six.  This book is an excellent introduction to rainforest organisms.  Children will want to learn more after they read and can travel the globe visiting rainforests around the world.