This Week in Alpha
“What’s Inside Me” this week? OUR Digestive System!
Alphas knew that we feed our bodies with food, but the nutrients in an apple can’t feed our bodies until we break it down. Digestion is all about breaking down and absorbing. Breaking down begins in the mouth. We took a gander at our mouths to get a view of what’s going on in there…
We spotted tongues, teeth, uvula…
Alphas made a diagram of the anatomy of a mouth!
We did a little experiment with pretzels. We pretended our fingers were “fingers” and broke the pretzels into tiny pieces. We agreed that it would still be too scratchy and hard to swallow. Alphas add some “spit” into the mix…
Alphas learned that real saliva has enzymes in it that help food break down…
“This is pretty gross…”
In order to keep our mouths healthy, we need to keep it clean and give it exercise. Flossing our teeth does both!
Alphas used pipe cleaners to floss out haircombs full of plasticine clay…
Teamwork!
“I got a lotta stuff out!”
When we swallow, the food travels down the esophagus and is dumped into the stomach. The stomach is full of hydrochloric acid that breaks food down further. Ask an Alpha why our stomachs don’t get hurt by those stomach acids. The liver and pancreas send in enzymes that break down fats. We did an experiment to watch what happens when fats break down.
A little milk…a drop of food coloring…
…and enzymes on a cottonball…watch the magic at work!
“ONE…TWO..THREE…”
“It’s swirling!”
Next stop: small intestine!
Bile from the liver and enzymes from the pancreas turn the food in our small intestines into a kind of liquid that can be absorbed into the blood vessels, which will deliver it to the rest of our bodies!
It may be small, but it sure is LONG…19 feet?! How is it possible to fit all that inside?!
Ask Jude!
Alphas learned that the large intestine (which is much shorter than the small intestine) is the last stop in our digestive system… we are done with the breaking down, and we are absorbing all the nutrients, including ones that are made INSIDE our large intestine – YES, it is a vitamin factory! When the food we eat meets up with the bacteria in our large intestines, it produces a chemical reaction that creates vitamins! We all got into the act of the digestive system!
Alphas hammering food? That’s what happens in the mouth!
Alphas squishing it up in the stomach…
Alphas flowing through the small intestine…
Alphas traveling through the large intestine, and pooping the leftovers into the toilet!
In Math…
Ms. Kim’s Mathletes…
This week we explored quantities and discovered that some can be divided equally into 2 parts – we call those quantities “even,” and those that can’t be divided equally into 2 parts “odd.” We made a new calendar in honor of October, and Ms. Kim did some assessments!!
Mystery picture solved!!!
Ms. Emma’s Math Wizards…
Explored the art of calendars! We used a globe to visualize how the Earth orbits around the “sun” (a lamp). This orbit creates our 365-day yearly cycle. The students learned that the Earth is also tilted, causing us to experience seasons!
The students created our class calendar and helped every number find its home..
Voila!
They created their own personal calendars to keep track of the days in their journal…making for several great Halloween-inspired illustrations (and of course, Ninja Turtles)!
CANDY CORN!!!
Which happens to be shaped a whole lot like “<”, making it a tasty candidate for practicing comparing numbers…
In ELA…
Ms. Kim’s group…
This week, we read more stories about people who feel different from others. We illustrated a “house of our dreams,” inspired by The Big Orange Splot!, and we practiced handwriting and phonics too!
These characters… zoom in to check out their fabulous dream-homes…
I wouldn’t mind living in a “cherry house,” a “bunny warren” might be fun too!
Ms. Emma’s group…
Continued our understanding of genre by sorting classroom books into fiction and non-fiction piles…
We learned that just because it has drawings does not mean it’s fiction, and that sometimes the line between fiction and nonfiction can be blurry..
As always, we used our computers to practice spelling!
And shared our PnP…
And some partner reading!
Lastly, writing practice!
In Other News…
Some beautiful creations from the week…
Sharpie sorting…may every color find its rightful lid…
