Going Green for Kayla: Celebrating Lungs

On April 5th our entire community wore green to remember a very special girl, Kayla Baker, who received a new lung after years of awaiting a transplant. Since our children have been so intrigued with the human body they were naturally very connected to young Kayla's story.

The chiildren had many questions about Kayla:

"Why is Kayla's lungs sick?"
"Can she die?"
"Did God give her, her new lung?"
"How will she get the new lung in her body?"

As a class we had a very honest and intimate conversation about Kayla's story and we tried our best to answer thier complex questions.

The children, I feel, developed a sense of empathy towards Kayla-it was wonderful to see their support and hear the loving and kind words they had for her on this day. It was a beautiful day...one of the most memberable of my career for sure.

Thank you room 1 JK/SK

M.R and T.F find out how many children have worn green.

 

.

Explroring the Human Body: Part I

The inspiration for exploration can be found anywhere. In early March, one of our SKs brought in a project that his older sister (a student in grade 5) had completed. This project was based on the body and skeletal system. Our group had not yet shown any interest in this exciting topic so we encouraged him to share this project with the class. Needless to say, this student-centred provocation got us thinking and wondering about our bones, our organs, body parts and functions and what happens when one of these parts of ours no longer works or functions.

Here are some of the investigations we have taken part in thus far.



We offered the class a thought provoking question. The red writing beneath the message, "We can count them" was a JKs idea. The red numbers above are our estimations.



The children agreed that we would need an x-ray to see the bones in our bodies. They decided that they could instead count the bones of our skeleton puzzle. Since this puzzle is very close to the size of the children, they thought the number of bones would be accurate.

The children made a chart to record their counting.



When the children were satisfied and confident that they had counted all the bones-many were surprised to find just how many little bones made up the hand-we wondered how many bones there were altogether. Together we wrote a addition number sentence and became overwhelmed when trying to add. Luckily, one of our JKs suggested that we track our counting on a 100's chart. What a perfect tool to help us!

As the children tracked their adding by coloring dots a time, they realized that there would not be enough number son the chart! We had more bones than numbers (we had 101 bones). S.H. (JK) suggested that we "squeeze in" a red dot after number 100 to show 101.
Great thinking!

 

In DRAMATIC play we've been observing a lot of "Doctor" play and hearing lots of stories of broken bones and ways in which to heal or cure our broken and ill bodies.

 

 

 



Two SK girls have set up a "doctor bed" for Mrs. L (our ECE in for Mrs. Clarkson who is on mat. leave). Mrs. L has broken her hand. The "Doctors" have used an x-ray to see that it has been broken and have suggested that Mrs. L rest, take medicine and put a cast on her hand.

 





 

During a Listening to Reading session, we read a book about a little girl who goes to the doctor. Before reading the children shared their experiences with doctors: "When I go I get a lollipop," "The doctor puts paper on the chair before I sit.", "He gives me medication." Some children talked about their experiences with dentists mentioning that "A dentist is a doctor for your teeth." It was agreed that all types of doctors are friendly, helpful and very important people in our community. 

 

 

 



 

 

After reading I.V (SK) shared with us that his younger sister was born without ears and explained that she had to do an operation "in her head" to put in a hearing aid. Of course this lead to MANY questions regarding how his sister might hear things in our world, etc...thus began a deeper exploration into our bodies.

 

As a provocation, we brought in a featureless mannequin head to see how the children might react to it (I know, it's a bit freaky!) Many were concerned that the mannequin couldn't do anything because it had no eyes, ears or body.  Many were confused about the gender...might it be a boy or girl...apparently hair was the deciding factor of that one; "boys have short hair and girls have long hair" was the children's thinking. I asked what might we want to add to the mannequin  first ...can you guess what they wanted?  EARS! Thus began our exploration into the ear.



The small group of children began examining the shape and contour of ears by studying a partner's ear and trying to represent it on paper through sketching.



Next we chose a material to work with. The children wanted plasticine and chose brown

as they are interested in creating a person with brown skin. They were encouraged to look at their drawings and create a model of an ear. Here G.P chose a tool to help her with the details.



 

The students have worked to added eyes as well...please stay tuned for that post!