Red blooded Americans

DO THE CIRCULATION!: I had to go get some blood drawn first thing this a.m. and knowing the kids would be in tow, I decided that the topic of the day would be blood. And nothing gets the blood going like an upbeat Schoolhouse Rock video! On tap this a.m., a blast from the past: "Do the Circulation," which, as its title would suggest, is all about the circulation system. We viewed and reviewed it (in other words, watched it twice). Oh, and for good measure, we also watched a live version, from an off-off-off Broadway production of "Schoolhouse Rock Live!"

BILL ON BLOOD: You just had to know good ol' Bill Nye would have something to say about blood, and sure 'nuff, we found a (three part) episode on blood and circulation on YouTube. It was a great program - six thumbs up from us! The song "Bloodstream" (sung to the tune of the B52's "Loveshack" late in Part 3) was was a big hit with us, and we got ideas for two experiments while watching Bill. One was to build a pulse-o-meter using a drinking straw and plastic cap:

Another easy experiment was using a disposable cup with its bottom cut out as a low tech stethoscope of sorts. Fun! We need to do more experiments.

GET ANIMATED: I also found a really cool (and short - 13 seconds) 3D computer animation of red blood cells on the move. (FYI, as it turns out, there are approximately 3.8 gazillion animations of blood/circulation on YouTube.)

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: While scouring the Internet for blood-y lesson plans, I happened upon a friggin gold mine. The New York Times has a Daily Lesson Plan program, complete with a lead story, links to graphics and other resources, a language arts tie in and more. Really Good Stuff. It's for grades 6 and above, but still there were things there that I could definitely use with primary aged kids. For instance, some of the material in the NYT Lesson Plan The Wonders of Blood - which included a link to the ENTIRE PBS WEB SITE about blood . We'll be back to the NYT site for more!

NYT CHART

HEART WORK: I had to poke around a bit, but was happy to find some blood/heart-related worksheets for the kids. The American Heart Association has a kids' Web site and there I found a blood flow dot-to-dot for the kids. (In a perfect world, I would incorporate something video, audio, and hard copy and hands on for each "unit," as we all learn in different ways, and I think a multi-sensory approach makes sense.)
While working, we listened to "Here Comes Science," They Might Be Giants CD that Jake & Holly gave us, which includes a track called "The Bloodmobile." How perfect is that?

GROUP TIME: Wednesday afternoon means hanging with the posse at Befriended. Today they worked on common playground situations. It must have gone well for CJ-at the session's end he had a group high 5 kudos stickers. Way to go CJ! Meanwhile, Annabelle roamed the Meridian Park playground and worked on her bar-crossing skills. She and CJ both played in the park before and after Befriended, as well.

P.E. APLENTY: Like yesterday, we took Kirby for a walk this afternoon. I gave the kids each a chance with the leash. We want to get them established as dog leaders rather than Kirby's peers, as would be the dog's preference. And this evening, we headed down the hill to Smith Cove Park/Puget Sound (about a 4 mile round trip). The kids rode their bikes, we walked briskly alongside and Kirby ran, walked, and hung out (in our arms).

BABY TALK: CJ speaks frequently about being a parent when he gets older. Today, while we were on the way home from the clinic, he started in again and Annabelle chimed in and they started talking about the baby they'd have when they're married. To each other. Christian and I have told them before that brothers and sisters marrying isn't, shall we say, socially acceptable in our society, and genetically speaking, it's not a good idea either. So, I reminded them of these facts. We also talked about how people have babies on their own, or they adopt babies someone else gave birth to, and that some babies have one parent, some have two or more, etc. This prompted CJ to propose a workaround - that he and Annabelle could adopt a baby together even if they weren't married. Hmm. I suppose they could. ... So, then they began planning for this baby and, according to CJ, the first thing on their list of things to do is to visit Nonnie and Bops and take the baby swimming in their pool. Pretty sweet. : )
HE SPEAKS OF FORKED TONGUES: Today CJ was playing with a plastic snake and he asked, "Does a snake have two tongues?" I explained to him that it's a split or forked tongue rather than two tongues. Of course he asked WHY a snake has a forked tongue. Why, in my 43+ years, have I never wondered that? Dunno. But of course I had to get an answer for the boy. So, according to the magic of the Internet, snakes "see" using a sensory organ in their mouth called the Jacobson's organ. They pick up molecules of scent when they flick their tongue, which the Jacobson's organ analyzes when the tongue flicks back in. (The function is so that the snake can tell what's ahead of it.) Interestingly enough, each tip of the forked tongue independently senses molecules in the air,and the organ can tell the directional difference. So, for instance, if the left tip of the tongue has a stronger scent of mouse on it than the right tip, the snake heads left. Fascinating stuff. Thanks for asking, CeeJ. : )