Many students will think of skeletons as spooky, or associated with ghosts. Explaining the importance of our bones, and that everyone has a skeleton under their skin may help to relieve the fears some students have associated with this imagery. Explaining not only how the skeletal system protects parts of our bodies, but also how it works with other parts of the body will help students understand why it is important to keep their bones healthy.
After explaining to the students how our skeletal system gives us structure and form. I would show them both an anatomical drawing of the skeletal system and also an artist's depiction of a skeleton. We would talk about the differences and similarities in the two depictions. We would talk about the functions of the skeletal system. Using the drawings and our own bodies I would have the students start to explore the important functions of the skeletal system. I would show the ribs on the anatomical picture and have them find their own. The students would be asked to respond to what they thought the ribs were protecting. I would then have them stand straight and tall for a minute. I would ask how their skeleton helped them to do that. I would them have them walk around the room for a moment. I would ask how their skeleton helped them to do that. I would then explain that our skeleton helps us by protecting us, by giving us form, and by giving our muscles a place to attach.
In this lesson I would like to include two journal entries. This first journal entry would be done at this point in the lesson, and is intended to be brief, but it is a simple and fun way for the students to illustrate the importance of the skeletal system. I would invite the students to draw a silly picture in their journals of a person with no bones. After this was completed I would begin to explain to the students their partner project.
Before delving into the project we would talk again about how to keep the system healthy. After showing them how a child's skeletal system is much different from an adult through anatomical drawings or x-rays, I would explain that it is because of the amount of cartilage present. I would touch briefly on the role of cartilage. This could help to explain why eating calcium rich foods like milk, cheese, and spinach help grow strong bones. We would then create a chart of healthy foods for this system, which the children could also add to throughout the unit.
Once we had the chart established I would explain briefly to the students about our joints, why we need them and the different types we have. I would have the students then use their bodies to understand how each type of joint works. The shoulders and hips can illustrate the ball and socket joint, the neck shows the pivot joint's movement, and the elbows, knees, and jaw demonstrate the hinge joints.
Students then will create a ball and socket joint with a partner. Using straws as the bones and clay for the cartilage and joint apparatus, the students will work with a partner to create this joint. I would model how to make the joint explicitly as well as having one made ahead of time, to insure students are successful in their model. When deciding whether or not to use modeling clay or play dough, I decided on modeling clay. Although modeling clay tends to be a little hard to manipulate, it also tends to hold its form a little more adequately for this project. To make the joint simply create a ball with colored piece of clay and attach it to the top of a straw by simply pushing it on to the end. You can make it look more like a bone by adding clay around the sides of the ball and smoothing it down around the straw. This bone will create the ball portion of the joint. Then attach a different colored piece of clay to another straw in the same way. But, this time, instead of creating a ball at the end form the clay at the end into a cup like form to enclose the ball portion of the joint. The cup should be slightly larger than the ball, so that the ball fits nicely within the socket portion. Once these to portions have been made, the students can fit them together and use the straws to manipulate them to recreate how the joint functions.
Once the students had completed their models, the class would again gather for a culmination of the activity. We would share projects and partner contributions as I described in the circulatory system lesson. We would then go over what we had learned about the bones and the skeletal system. I would then have the students return to their seats. For this journal entry I would have the students create a list for me, either in drawing or writing of how they were going to maintain a healthy skeletal system.
The following activities would also be useful in explaining how the skeletal system functions.
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· Go over, and have the students write in their journals about how and why bones must be lightweight and strong.
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· Learn and label major bones in the body. Compare bones that help us move to bones that protect us.
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· Measure our bones and compare the results.