We will be singing this song tomorrow to get the children excited about bone science.
Here is a science lesson adapted from one at this site:
Amazing Bones!
Objectives: Children will learn about bones and the skeleton.
Materials: Skeleton model, X-Rays, Sheets of paper, paper plate, counters, animal bones (including 1 that is broken)
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Tell children that you see (number of children) skeletons, then tell the children that they are the skeletons that you see.
Tell the children, "Bones and muscles give our body its shape. We have more than 200 bones inside our body. The whole set of bones is called a skeleton. Bones are hard on the outside but soft on the inside. Bones protect the inside of our bodies, the skull protects the brain, and the ribcage protects the heart and other organs. Drinking milk makes our bones strong. We can feel our bones under our skin."
Instruct the children to feel their hand, arm, and rib bones.
Show the children a basket of X-Rays. Tell them that an X-Ray is a picture of the inside of a persons body. Hold up each X-Ray, 1 at a time, against the white board. Instruct the children to compare the X-Ray to the skeleton model. Where is the bone shown in the X-Ray in their body?
Show the children the basket of real animal bones. Show them a broken bone and point out that it is porous and hollow. Roll up a sheet of paper about 1 inch wide into a cylinder, have a student place a paper plate on top of the hollow “bone”. Have the children add bear counters to the plate. Instruct the children to count how many the plate can hold before it collapses the “bone”
Roll up another sheet of paper as tightly as you can so that there is no hollow section. Stand up this “bone” on the table before placing the same plate on top. Add bear counters to the plate until the “bone” collapses. Ask the children Which bone was able to hold more weight? The hollow center gave the bone a better design and made it stronger. The large bones in our body are also hollow, which makes them strong so they can support more weight, but also light and easy to move.
For more Skeleton ideas, you can download this unit at one of our stores!
Literacy Activities:
Six Swinging Skeletons: Naming and Generating Beginning Sounds
Skeleton Town: Uppercase Alphabetical Order
Skeleton Dance: Matching Letters
Math Activities:
Skeleton Match-Up: Matching Quantity With Numbers
The Bone Yard: Counting Backwards
Songs
The Skeleton March
The Ghost of John
Art Projects
Skeleton Construct
Science
Q-Tip Skeletons: Following directions to make a skeleton.
Guided Reading Books
Skeleton
The Skeleton
Writing Prompts
What I Know About Skeletons
Skeleton Word Wall Words
