2N presents The Digestive System

Grade 2N – The Buzzing Bees has been working on the following stop-motion animation project of the digestive system in class.

First we began by tracing an outline of our friend “Alma” then all students worked to create the various parts of the digestive system to be included on our poster. Students were then asked to move pieces of food through the system while Mr. McKillip took photos of each step. Through shared writing, we as a class wrote the script to describe the steps involved in digestion.

Finally, students used microphones to read aloud the script we created to describe the whole process. We hope you enjoy, thanks to Mr. McKillip for all his help, it was lots of fun!

2L Digestive System Animation Project

The Lively Ladybugs have been spending the past several weeks making an animated movie about the digestive system. Since Chisha, one of our classmates, was preparing to move to Dubai, we used his face and body outline as our template. We made each of the organs of the digestive system and glued them onto Chisha’s body. Mr. McKillip came into our classroom and helped us take more than 100 pictures as we moved a little piece of paper food though the digestive system. All of the pictures were put together and made into a ‘stop-motion’ animated movie. We worked with Miss Lane on a shared writing activity to explain what happens to food when you eat it. Then Mr. McKillip brought a microphone into our classroom and helped us record. We combined this audio recording with the pictures and now we have a complete animated video. Check it out!

2W Movie Project: “Journey to the Center of the Toilet”

In class 2W we have been learning about the body systems and in our investigation of the digestive system we worked together to create a movie project using stop motion animation. We all helped design and name the star of the film, “Jake” and write the script describing what happens to food after you eat it. Some very skilled readers did the voice overs (I wonder if you can guess who they are by listening?) and Mr. McKillip helped us with the technical aspects of the job.

It was terrific fun so check out the results.

2P Digestion Animation Project

In Grade 2P, we have been studying the different body systems and how they work together to keep us alive.

We made the following animated video to show how the digestive system enables the food we eat turn into food for our cells.

We drew all the body parts, we took all the photos, we wrote the script and said all the parts. Mr. McKillip helped us put everything together.

We hope you enjoy watching our video as much as we enjoyed making it!

Grade 2 Assembly – The Human Body

Grade 2P and 2L enjoyed working on their Human Body Assembly. They enjoyed sharing the information they had learnt through songs, poems and skits. The classroom enthusiasm spread to their homes, as you can see by the great costumes. Thank you parents for your continued help and support! The Grade 2 Assembly was a huge success!

Following are letters from Grade 2M and 2N to celebrate the learning that has taken place during our Human Body – Unit of Inquiry.

__________

May 28, 2010

Dear Ms. Perera’s Class,

We really enjoyed your assembly today. We liked how confident you were and your creative costumes.

We loved your songs, especially the one about the bones. We have also learnt that song, so we could sing along with you. Could you hear us? Your digestion song was very funny. Our favorite part was the end with the potty!

We are also learning about the body, but your assembly taught us some new things Ms. Tima hadn’t taught us.

We appreciate your hard work.

From,
Ms. Tima’s Class

__________

28 May 2010

Dear Lively Ladybugs,

We enjoyed watching your Grade 2 Assembly and learning more about the Human Body this morning.

We really liked the awesome song about the Digestive System. We learned that first food goes into your mouth where it mixes with saliva. Then you swallow your food, it goes down your esophagus to your stomach. Food in your stomach breaks down into small pieces as it mixes with acid, bile and other digestive juices. Then food goes to your small intestines where nutrients are absorbed into the blood. The blood then feeds the rest of our body. Eventually, waste ends up in the large intestine and then the potty!

It was interesting to learn that when we swallow air and other gases (like in soda), our stomach needs to release the gases by burping!

We also enjoyed the song about the bones! We especially liked the way you sang, “The foot bone is connected to the ankle bone. The ankle bone is connected to the Fibia and Tibia bones…”

We loved watching your assembly. Thank you again for presenting your Human Body information.

Yours Truly,

IST Grade 2 Kung Fu Praying Mantids

Sharing Our Learning

Insiyah created a poster with information about the Human Body (our current Unit of Inquiry – Inside Me). She used our class document camera to show her poster and explain ideas and concepts that she has learned both in class and from doing research at home.

“As we have been studying about the body and body systems, I decided to create this poster at my home. I made a skeleton. I wanted to show you inside the skeleton and how the skeleton looks. Did you know that your ribs protect your heart and lungs? Each of your hands has 27 bones. In your mouth your teeth chew food, crushing and mixing your food with saliva. This is where digestion starts. Your incisors are sharp for biting. Your canines are for tearing and your molars crush and grind your food. Your muscles work with your skeleton to help you to move. Your biceps gets shorter when you bend your arm and longer when you pull your arm straight. My class and I are enjoying learning about the body.”
- Insiyah, IST Grade 2 Kung Fu Praying Mantids

A Visit From CCBRT – Helping People With Disabilities

As we continue our current unit of inquiry, Inside Me – The Human Body, we are learning that our bodies have many different parts. Sometimes people get sick or have accidents that damage parts of the body. Sometimes people are born with damaged or even missing body parts. There are medical people who can help, but unfortunately, many areas of the world (like many areas of Tanzania) are poor and can not afford this kind of medical assistance.

Our class was visited by Mr. Erwin Telemans (Lenno’s dad), from Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation (CCBRT) in Tanzania. Mr. Telemans had heard that we were studying about the Human Body and asked if he could come talk to us about different ability people and how his organization, CCBRT is helping people with disabilities in Tanzania.

Lenno introduced his dad to the class by saying, “This is my dad. He works for CCBRT. He is a Physiotherapist (someone who helps people to walk and move around after an injury or operation). CCBRT helps people, kids and adults with disabilities to walk and move around easier.”

Mr. Telemans showed us pictures of children and adults that CCBRT has helped. He also brought in real x-ray examples for students to see what our skeletons look like inside our bodies.

At the end of Mr. Telemans’ presentation, students had many questions and comments. Students learned a lot about disabilities and how people and organizations like CCBRT are helping people to live happy and productive lives.

CCBRT was established in 1994 and is now the largest disability and rehabilitation center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Circulation And Other Body Systems

As students explore the different body systems from our current unit of inquiry, Inside Me – The Human Body, they are discovering that these systems work together to make our bodies function.

Students were asked to reflect on the following question:
How do your body’s respiratory and circulatory systems work together?

“The circulatory system is your heart and blood vessels. Blood takes food and oxygen to cells in your body.” – Noah

“Once air is in your lungs, blood removes the oxygen and takes it to the cells.” – Faris

“Your lungs remove carbon dioxide from your blood.” – Danni

“The respiratory system helps you take in oxygen and puts it in the circulatory system so your heart can beat and pump the blood.” – Aidan

To learn more about the circulatory system we watched the following School House Rock video – Do The Circulation.

Exploring the Stomach

The Lively Ladybugs did an exciting experiment to learn about how the stomach digests food. Each table group started out having a sturdy zipped bag that represented our stomach. When it becomes empty and hungry, the stomach begins to produce gastric juices. We poured a half of a soda in each bag to represent the gastric juices. Now our ‘stomachs’ have gastric juices flowing but they still need food to be full! A piece of sandwich bread was dropped into each ‘stomach’ and then the bag was sealed. Now we took turns passing the ‘stomach’ around the table and used our hands to act like the muscles of the stomach wall that squeeze the food. As we continued to squeeze, we observed that the bread soaked up more and more of the gastric juices. As the food got soggier and the muscles squeezed it, the bread broke down into smaller and smaller pieces. Eventually, the food in our stomachs became a liquid and was ready to move on to the small intestine!

Check out this cool video – follow the journey of food through the digestive system!

How Long Can You Hold Your Breath?

This week the Lively Ladybugs have been learning about the respiratory system. One thing that we learned is that our body cannot store oxygen and uses it up very quickly, which is why we have to keep breathing.

Today we did an experiment to test how fast our body uses up oxygen. We all timed ourselves to see how long we could hold our breath and we recorded the time it took until our bodies needed more oxygen. We did this test a second time, but this time before we held our breath we inhaled and exhaled very quickly many times. We found that we can hold our breath quite a lot longer after we breathe in and out right before because when we breathe quickly we are allowing more oxygen into our blood. Then when we hold our breath it takes our body longer to use up the extra oxygen we inhaled!