Life Science K

My Body - You may want to label the body parts for your students. An easy way to do this is to put a blank piece of paper over one of the printed sheets. Write the names of the body parts on the blank sheet over where you want them to be on the body parts sheet. Then put the printed pages in your copier and copy the blank sheet onto them. Presto! Labelled body parts.

Crickets - Be sure to read the pages from the great Creepy Crawlies book. You'll be inspired to bring in all sorts of strange creatures.

Growing Plants is a great activity on its own but you can make some nice connections to math with the plants. Use Unifix cubes or other snapping cubes to make a graph of the height of the plant. Those squiggles on a math page may not matter to a child but the difference between your 5 cube tall plant and their 3 cube tall plant means something. Science is a great place to help children use numbers in meaningful ways.

Plants - Take some time to go on a plant hunt. Find different kinds of leaves, stems or trunks, seeds, flowers, and roots. It's fun to have plant part snacks -- lettuce leaves, celerty stems, sunflower seeds, broccoli flowers, and carrot roots.

Grown-Ups and Children - It's always fun to find out the names of baby animals. The best source on the internet is at Enchanted Learning (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml)

Animals - If your school allows it, take this opportunity to invite animals to come to visit or take a field trip to a pet store or zoo. Talk about how the animals are the same and how they are different.

Germs - The main point of a lesson on germs is that germs can make you sick but your body is fantastic at fighting them. The only help you need to give your body is to wash your hands with soap and water after you use the bathroom and before you eat. The use of antibacterial everything and waterless gels hasn't been proven to be any better than soap and water and in some studies have been shown to be much worse at getting rid of bacteria and viruses. Washing your hands gets rid of germs by making them slippery so they get off your hands. A 20 second wash and a dry on a towel is the best way to get rid of germs. Looks like grandma was right on this one.