BACKGROUND:
The skeleton allows humans to stand, sit, run, roll,
walk, and perform almost every other motion. It gives our body the
strength to stand up and if we did not have a skeleton, we would be like
a jellyfish, or just a glob of jelly.
Students have seen skeletons but many of them do not realize
how it relates to their own body. They are not sure if there is one big
bone or many little ones. They don’t realize how they stay connected,
many believe that we are glued together.
PROCEDURE:
- Read the recommended animated poem, Human
Bone Poem. It can help you introduce the human skeleton
to your students. Go over some of the words with the students after you
read the bone (articulate, fuse, groove, marrow, blood, appendage) and
see if the animation helped them determine what that word
means. Repeat the poem several times.
- Ask students if their bones are hard or soft. To
prove to them that bones are hard, have them knock their clenched fists
together at the knuckles. They can hear a strong tap which is the
sound of bones. If you have any bones, make a display so students
can see what bones look like.
- Give each child a ball of clay and ask them to make a figure
of a person. After they make the figure, ask them if the figure has
a skeleton. Many will say yes. Well, if the figure had a skeleton
and you tried to squash the figure it should not have flattened.
Have the students determine for themselves if the figure has a skeleton.
Since the figure can be squashed, it has no skeleton.
- Ask your doctor if he or she can “donate” an x-ray from
their medical files. It is amazing to students to see that we can
actually “see” through our skin.
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