Our Body

         A theme unit to do during October that takes advantage of the Halloween excitement and incorporates skeletons.

Goals: Children will learn names of body parts. Children will discuss how our body helps us. Children will be able to name something that is living and non-living. Children will be able to list the criteria for something to be living (eats, grows, moves independently). Children will be able to describe the life cycle of humans.

Reading/Language Arts:
Read Ghost Eats It All, Woo! The Not-So Scary Ghost and The Teeny Tiny Woman. Read the various books by Dr. Seuss that talk about body such as Eyes and Ears.

Read Ghost Eats It All and discuss repetitive text. This book is great for shared reading and to make your own class book copy. Discuss how ghost doesn’t have a body and the food falls out of him at the end when he gets scared. Tie into a discussion of our stomach and digestive system. Use the book to introduce the /oo/ sound and speech bubbles. Discuss beginning sound in the word “boo”. Follow up with Woo! The Not-So Scary Ghost and compare “woo” and “boo”.

Read The Teeny Tiny Woman. If you have the big book form, use post-its to cover sight words or to cover words (leaving the first letter visible) to have children practice the strategy of guessing what makes sense based on the picture and beginning sound. Discuss bones and how our skeleton helps us.

For homework have kids trace and decorate a life-size picture of themselves. Choose one of these and use interactive writing to label the picture with body parts.

Art:
Make ghosts and have kids make a speech bubble for each ghost with a new ghostly sound based on the beginning letter of their name. For example, if the child’s name is Faith, her ghost will say “Foo!”

Math:
Make a ghost wheel. Have kids cut out a ghost (full page size) and cut out a small square from part of the ghost’s body. Using a brad attach a circle (to the back of the ghost) that has numbers 0-12 written around the outside. The numbers should match up to the opening in the ghost. Then you can play with the ghost wheel by calling out in a spooky voice for children to “find the number 12”.

Songs: “Head and Shoulders”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, Dr. Jean’s “My Hands on My Head” (ESL song), Hap Palmer’s “Left and Right”, “Let’s Dance” and “Opposites” work well to pull in opposites and positional words with body theme.

Game:
Play Simon Says to teach and review body parts.

Science:
Use Scott Foresman science flip chart to discuss living/non-living, complete assessment 1 and refer to flip chart to discuss life cycle of people. For homework have children use photos to depict a life cycle of a family member.
Listen to heartbeats with stethoscope. Use “Anatomy Apron” to discuss organs such as brain, heart, lungs and digestive system.

Assessment:
Make a dancing skeleton. Attach the arms and legs with brads and put on stick to create a skeleton that moves. Use these as puppets and have children put on a “show” where each child states something they have learned about bodies.