Shark Anatomy

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you a really cool hands on activity we did to go with our shark unit study.

We first used this shark model to explore all the inside parts of a shark (stomach, liver, fins, etc.)

here is a video of the boys putting the model back together. 

Once they were done exploring and playing with the shark model, I had them draw and label the shark. 

They used the book Insiders: Sharks to write their narrations from.

We used a blue chalk pastel to add a decorative element to their work. 

Both boys completed work. 

This was a really fun project and helped the boys see what the shark's insides look like. My 8 year old really enjoyed putting the model together.

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Shark Tooth Dig Kit

Happy Monday guys! Since we are nearing the end of our school year, we spend this time working on a lot of hands on units that are interest led. The boys are fascinated by sharks even my preschooler is in love with them. So we are naturally learning about these creatures of the ocean. We are using Build your library shark unit as our main lesson plan. The first activity we worked on was a shark tooth dig kit. I was planning on saving this for the end of the unit but once they saw it, well, there was no hiding it.

Each kit comes with three tooth fossils, dig tools, and a learning guide to help you identify your teeth.

I purchased my kit from Michael's.

Both boys managed to find all three teeth in their fossil.

I always thought that they would not enjoy doing activities like this, because it requires a lot of patience. But they loved it! I will definitely be getting more kits like this in the feature.

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Practical Monday

Puddle Jump Beginning Sounds Game

Hi guys, happy Monday! Today I wanted to share with you a fun activity that my preschooler really enjoyed. This week for our theme we will be learning all about weather. Today's focus was rain and clouds.

Material:

1. Blue Paper Plates (small ones)
2. Letter Stickers (or you can write the letters on)
3. Objects that start with that letter (I used our beginning sound bean bags).

Setup:

I spread the paper plates around the room like rain puddles, and put all the bean bags in a basket. Since this was a review for him I only helped if he didn't recognize the picture. He would take out a bean bag from the basket say the name and letter sound and find the corresponding 'puddle.'

A short video of him playing the game.

Modification:
You can modify this game to play with your toddler even.

1. Use less letters and objects (this way your child can focus on certain letters)
2. Have your child match letters instead of sounds.
3. Have your child match uppercase to lowercase

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Tot School Gathering Place 
Preschool and Kindergarten Community 
Montessori Monday

Human Body-Hands on Activities

Hi guys! We are using Apologia Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology, and we are loving it. I wanted to share with you some fun hands on activities that have helped my boys retain all the information we learned.

Cells:

To help us remember all the different parts of a cell and their function, we made an 

edible cell using jello and candy. 

Skeletal System:

We love our skeleton puzzle. After putting the puzzle together the boys worked

as a team and labelled as many bones on the body as possible. You can go here to read

more about his fun activity. 

Digestive System:

Simulating what happens to your food once it's in your stomach. 

Respiratory System:

 Lung model

Blood:

 What's in a drop of blood. This activity helped the boys remember all the different parts of the blood.

Plasma,red blood cells,white blood cells, and platelets. 

Heart:

heart model using graham crackers, marshmallows (small and large ones)

we used icing with food coloring but you can use paint. 

Home made stethoscope. This was easy to put together and it really works. 

We spent a good amount of time on the heart since it's so complex. I put together this activity to help us remember how the blood circulates around the body. You can read all about this activity here.

Nervous System:

Nerve necklace.

Brain:

model of the brain using play dough.

What would happened to our brain if we didn't have fluid around it.

To do this activity you need two real eggs, 1 plastic egg, and corn syrup(brain fluid)

The "brain" with no fluid around it. Once we dropped the egg it cracked easily. 

The "brain" with fluid around it had very small crack. The fluid acts as a cushion protecting the brain.

Your Senses:

Model of the ear using air drying clay. After everything dried the boys painted all the different parts

and we labelled our ears.

I hope you enjoyed reading about all those activities. We have 3 more chapters left in our science curriculum. I'll add the rest of the activities once we complete them. Science is one subject that I have to incorporate hands on learning, this helps the material and all those new vocabulary stick better.


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