Bob the Skeleton and the Circulatory System

We've had a busy week! The kindergartners have been trying their best to keep quiet in the hallways and the classroom for the MCAS test-takers throughout the school. This proved very difficult on Monday and Tuesday, when the pouring rain kept us inside for recess! But now the weather is beautiful and the kids have enjoyed lots of extra outdoor playtime. We're going to try to send home snowpants today, but some kids are still using boots play in the puddles during recess.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Parents, if you are going on the field trip to the Quabbin on April 12 please let us know so that we can get CORI forms for you.

On Monday, Dennise the nurse visited to talk about bones. She brought along Bob the Skeleton from her office so the kids could get a good look at all 206 bones of the body! Afterwards we brought out the Smartboard and got to see images of animal skeletons and compared them to the human skeleton.

We saw that horses have rib bones just like humans!

After we wrapped up the skeletal system, we learned a little about the circulatory system. To introduce the concept, we started with a almost-blank image of the human body, containing only a few organs we've learned about. The kids then took turns using the red pen to draw the journey of the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the organs, and the blue pen to show how the oxygen-poor blood travels from the organs back to the lungs to get more oxygen. We learned the role of the heart as a muscle that pumps the blood in and out. Not the easiest concept to understand, but Roan came up with the brilliant analogy of the lungs as a "gas station" where the blood can fill up on oxygen when it runs out! Here's the path of the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the hand:

This afternoon we will be reviewing words like "veins," "arteries," and "blood vessels" as we work on the circulatory systems in our bodies.

Here's some pictures of working on bones with our buddies last Friday:

Enjoy the warm weekend!