Before learning about the digestive system, we built a human. Children worked together to cut out the bones and organs before deciding where they thought they should go. We were pretty good at deciding where the bones should go but needed a little support with the organs. We then narrowed it down to the organs that are involved with digesting our food.
To help us understand the effects of different liquids on our teeth, we conducted an experiment. We used an egg shell which is similar to the enamel of our teeth and placed it into 5 different liquids – coke, orange juice, dilute, coffee and water. We predicted which liquid would cause the most damage. The majority of the crew thought this was coke, however, we were in for a surprise.
After a week, we observed the changes to the egg. Surprisingly, the egg with the most damage was the one in pure orange. This caused a thin layer to peel off and left the surface mottled and rough. Although, fruit is good for us we need to ensure we brush our teeth because the natural sugar in fruit can damage our teeth.
Last week we started hook week off by learning about teeth. We learned about the different teeth that we have to help us eat. We learned the function (job) of the teeth and the location of each type of teeth. We read a text together about teeth which helped us gain further knowledge about teeth. Did you know that humans have 2 sets of teeth in their lifetime? Did you know that not everyone gets wisdom teeth?
We are loving our new expedition! Today we moved onto understanding about digestion. First we built a human body in mini crews, discussing what we already know. We then moved onto labelling our organs and placing them on our human body.
We then explored the organs in more detail thinking about their role. We thought about which of the organs belong to our digestive system. We watched a video clip to build further background knowledge. We did lots of discussion around each organ thinking about its role and how it adds to the digestive process. We then demonstrated our learning in a mini crew activity. We used picture cards, word cards and explanation cards to match up all the different organs.
From here it got messy! We put the digestive process into practice using biscuits, a banana, water, orange juice and a pair of tights! We loved taking part in this!
We then started writing up our model of the digestive system and will continue to work on this tomorrow.
It has been wonderful to have Crew MI back in the classroom today and what a great start we have had! We have loved getting started with our hook week learning.
We started our learning by looking at the different types of teeth we have!We explored why we have teeth with lots of reading opportunities and lots of focus on our fluency and words per minute. We explored our mouths with a mirror where we looked at the different teeth we have. We labelled a diagram of the teeth then created some writing on the functions of the teeth.
We then moved onto setting up our teeth investigation where we will explore the impact different liquids have on our teeth.
We created our own question and hypothesis then thought about our variables. We listed all the equipment we would use then created our method.
We then explored the best ways to look after our teeth. We watched a video clip all about healthy teeth and visiting the dentist. We looked at how we should be brushing our teeth and even had a go at this! Finally we thought about all the foods and drinks for healthy teeth.
As part of our expedition, we have been looking at the impact exercise has on our bodies (especially our hearts). In this session, we took part in an online fitness workout to get our hearts pumping and really reflect on the impact exercise has on our bodies. We noticed that we’re all very different and exercise affects each one of us differently – and that’s ok. Now that we’ve learnt about the long-term benefits of staying active, we’ll definitely try our best to keep active!
In expedition, we have been learning all about our blood – its purpose and how it is made. We’ve written about it, drawn it and discussed it (as well as acted it out). We enjoyed the Kahoot! we completed to consolidate all of our learning.
To celebrate Earth Day, we spent time in our XP Outdoors crew session making seed bombs!
We used flour, wildflower seeds, compost and water and mixed them altogether to create a mixture. We then took this mixture and rolled it into golf-sized balls and put them aside to dry. Once they are dry we will take some home but also plant some in our outdoor area at school. Seed bombs simply need to be dropped into soil and nature will do the rest. Over time they will turn into beautiful wildflowers!
We began the day by thinking back to what we already knew about the human body. We cut out bones to create a skeleton and explored why we have a skeleton. Next, we added in the organs and recapped the digestive system to ensure our learning from last year had stuck.
After that, we completed two kahoot quizzes about the skeleton and the digestive system before moving on to what we would the focus of our case study: the circulatory system. Finally, we actually explored a real heart and watched a dissection. It was amazing to see the different chambers and blood vessels and to actually touch these.
On Thursday, we recapped some of our learning from last year with a Kahoot! Quiz. We then started to connect this to newer learning and explored skeletons and their function. We then drew round some of our crew and thought about which bones would be where to create our own anchor charts. In the afternoon we got to the best bit. We watched a heart dissection and got to feel the difference between a healthy heart and one with a large amount of fat build-up. It was amazing seeing the different sections, the tendons and the blood vessels…even if it wasn’t for everyone!
