The Circulatory System

Friday, 16 October 2015

CirculatorySystem

It’s another 12 Months of Montessori Series and today I’m going to share with you simple and easy to prepare lessons and activities for learning the circulatory system of the human body.  I mentioned earlier how Mavi was asking me a lot of things about the human heart and the diseases of the heart that causes death in some famous people.  Bombarding me with so many questions and that eagerness to learn, we worked on this unit study to:

  • Learn about the human heart and how it functions
  • What causes heart diseases
  • A better understanding of blood vessels: vein and artery
  • How to prevent heart diseases
  • What’s the role of the blood in the human body
  • In this unit study, we focused on the three major elements that comprises the circulatory system:

  • the human heart
  • blood vessels
  • human blood
  • As a bonus, I also added a few pointers on how to have a healthy heart!

    The Human Heart

    Last month, we learned about the  human heart, the different parts and how it functions.   click this link or the image below for the post.

    HumanHeartFB

    Blood Vessels

    First we plot the network of  blood vessels in our body using our Cardiovascular Information Diagrams sheet as a guide and a printed outline of the human body.  We used PlayDoh (red and blue) to represent the vein and artery.

    This activity will introduce the child to the basic concept of how blood is distributed in our body.  By plotting the veins and arteries, they will understand how the organs in the body receives oxygen and nutrients.

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    Working diligently to replicate our guide Open-mouthed smile

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    And he realized that even the head have blood vessels!

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    We went a little farther by inspecting the network of blood vessels, learning the difference between the veins and arteries and capillaries.   Below is a demonstration of the  direction of the blood flow in the body through the blood vessels, of how oxygen rich blood enters the artery (except pulmonary arteries) to the capillaries (where oxygen is distributed to the organs) and passes through the vein to enter the human heart.

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    Here Mavi’s creating an artery, vein and capillary.

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    He even made his network and label the parts.

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    The Human Blood

    This is to demonstrate the composition of blood.  45% red blood cells (red coloured water), 54% plasma (cooking oil) and 1% platelets (bubbles in between).  

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    Care of our Heart

    These cards are included in our heart model.  It identifies 10 foods that are essential for a healthy heart.  Mavi was seriously reading all through the 10 cards and checking if he’s consuming them.  Well of course, he eats almost everything in the list except for the broccoli and wine Open-mouthed smile

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    And that ends our circulatory system unit.  For more biology related posts see the following:

  • Dental Unit for Kids
  • Tooth Cross Section
  • Skeletal System
  • Study of Internal Organs
  • Don’t forget to PIN this for later! I assure you that you will be needing this in the future Open-mouthed smile

    CirculatorySystemPIN

     

    This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

     

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    Natural Beach Living ~ The Natural Homeschool ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Planting Peas

    The Kavanaugh Report ~ Mama’s Happy Hive ~ Study at Home Mama ~ Child Led Life

    The Pinay Homeschooler ~ Every Star Is Different ~ Grace and Green Pastures

    HALLOWEEN and THANKSGIVING Learning Materials

    Thursday, 15 October 2015

    Visit my Sellfy store for some fantastic learning materials this Halloween and Thanksgiving season!  Click on the images below for the download link.

                    Owl cards          Spider Cards

                   The Bat copy           The Skeletal System copy

                                                       Turkey copy

    Halloween Activities for Toddlers and {Learn & Play Link Up}

    Wednesday, 14 October 2015

    Halloween is just around the corner and we’re having the “feel” at home by working on some “halloweeny” activities.  Here’s our working trays for the next few weeks:

    HalloweenPIN

    TOP:  tonging creep creatures,  scooping black beans into pumpkin bags

    MIDDLE:  counting halloween objects using a pumpkin counter, letter matching using alphabet cards (all cards are from HALLOWEEN TODDLER PACK)

    BOTTOM:  pouring corn kernels, pumpkin face crafts

    Practical Life Activities

    Practical life activities are those building and improving skills that are of use in the daily life, like pouring, scooping, transferring etc.  The benefits include hand-eye coordination and concentration.  To know more about practical life activities, visit my post here and here.

    Everything that involves the corn kernels and the black beans were a hit!  Both Mavi and Vito played with it for long periods of time and I get to do chores while they’re messing around Open-mouthed smile  To save you a lot of work, always use trays, the bigger the better!

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    Numbers and Alphabet

    As I mentioned earlier, I always integrate a little bit of counting and phonics into our daily activities.  Vito is currently more into counting than the alphabets, so this counting cards that I made for him was a hit!  He loves identifying the objects in the cards and counting them using the pumpkin counters. 

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    An extra fun phonic game I included is discovering letters from the purse and matching them on the cards.  Similar activity with the Alphabet Sensory Bin except that we’re using a purse this time and used both the upper and lowercase letters.  The wooden letters used here were from Hape Uppercase and Lowercase Puzzle.

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    Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!
    Here are the featured Halloween activities for this week!
     
    HalloweenPIN
     

    The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything from Just Add Speech

    Roll a Jack O' Lantern Game from A Little Pinch Perfect

    Halloween Craft Pumpkin Mummies from Handson As We Grow

    30 Preschool Halloween Crafts from Homeschool Preschool

    Pumpkin Suncatcher and Color Mixing from Age of Montessori

     
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    Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.
    If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:
    • Montessori Education
    • Homeschool
    • Sensory Play
    • Tot and Preschool Trays
    • Fine and Gross Motor Activities
    • Kids in the Kitchen
    • Healthy Recipes for Kids
    • Arts and Crafts
    • Natural Living
    • Free Educational Printables
    • Family-Oriented Activities
    • Healthy Living
    Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!
    Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:
    learn and play party hostesses
    Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

    GUIDELINES FOR LINKING

    • Please link up 1-3 posts
    • Follow each of the hosts on social media
    • When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
    • By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
    • Please visit a couple of shared posts and leave a comment for them
    • Remember that you must link back in order to be featured
    Grab This Button:
    Christian Montessori Network
    <div align="center"><a href="http://christianmontessorinetwork.com/category/learn-and-play" title="Christian Montessori Network"><img src="http://www.christianmontessorinetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/learn-and-play-link-up-150-150.png" alt="Christian Montessori Network" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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    Alphabet Sensory Bin

    Tuesday, 13 October 2015

    My greatest challenge as of the moment is how to make Vito interested in letters. Of course he loves them, but not in the way that Mavi does.  I know, I shouldn’t compare… reason why I try to give him stimulating and fun activities to get him interested in letters.  It was different during Mavi’s time.  Mavi had my undivided attention while with Vito, I feel that he always get the short end of the stick.  Good thing Mavi is now back in school so  I have time to focus on Vito in the mornings (in the midst of chores!).

    AlphabetSensory

    Benefits:

    • To kids, this is just play and children learn best when they are happy, enjoying and stimulated. 
    • Understanding what the letter represents by making a sound
    • Hand muscle exercise as a result of grasping and digging through the bowl of rice
    • Letter recognition by feeling the letters, ingraining the picture of the letters in their minds
    • Early discrimination skills (for matching)
    • Sensorial experience influence the development of brain pathways, thus it improves mental capacity to learn

    How it works:

    Hide the letters (foam, magnetic or wooden letters) in a bowl of rice (or beans) and let your little ones find them.

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    Dig dig dig! While they can use scoops or other materials, I prefer using their bare hands for the ultimate sensory experience!  As they discover the letter, let them feel it and I would sound it for him to follow.  As an extension, I made him match the letters to the one written on the paper as he loves matching.

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    He was so fascinated with the rice sticking on his hand!

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    Oh boy he was hooked! He had so much fun digging through the rice and and discovering the letters! Simple and easy to prepare isn’t it?

    Like the post? Pin this for later!

    AlphabetPIN

    EUROPE in a Nutshell

    Monday, 12 October 2015

    My son’s favourite continent (according to him!) is finally up in my Sellfy store today! I am so excited and happy to announce that I’ve completed our learning material for Europe which is now cooking in the printer, to be laminated and will be used in a couple of weeks for our Europe study!  Mavi just loves my Nutshell series and can’t wait to try it with Vito in the near future!

    Europe In A Nutshell

    Buy now

    Here are the learning materials included  in the file:

    1.  Maps.   You will see the different countries comprising Europe and the regions. Familiarizing the regions of Europe will help you understand the people, the diversity in culture and practices.  And, of course… this will be of great help if you want to travel to Europe!

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    2.  History Timeline Cards.  Europe has significant contribution to world history and I included some of the major events that occurred in the ancient times.    Some of these pictures are taken during our travels!

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    3.  Fact Cards.  54 cards about Europe! From Count Dracula to Mozart, to the beautiful cities of Rome and ruins of Greece! So many things to learn and explore about this small yet fascinating continent!

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    4.  Animal Skin Patterns.  My son loves these cards and I just have to include it!  Learn about the animals that lives in Europe and see up-close their unique covers.

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    5.  Red Fox and Snowy Owl Nomenclature Cards.  These cards are intended for younger learners.  A fun way to learn about a specific animal that thrives in Europe and their different parts.

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    How exciting!  Can’t wait to share a post on how we use these.  Thank you and hope you like it!

    Other Nutshell series available: (Click on the image for the link)

                            asia cover copy    south america cover copysm

                                                                                africa nutshell presentation

    FREE Halloween Toddler Pack

    Sunday, 11 October 2015

    Our toddler printable learning material is up!  We are using this as of the moment for Vito to introduce Halloween.  Included in the file:

    • Vocabulary words for Halloween
    • Upper and lowercase letters
    • Number cards for counting activities
    • Pumpkin puzzle match

    HalloweenToddlerPack

    Link here or click the image to download. Enjoy!

    FREE Autumn Leaf Matching Cards and {Learn & Play Link Up}

    Wednesday, 7 October 2015

    matching cardsBeautiful autumn leaves matching cards for everyone!  I made this for Vito for matching activity as he loves to match these days.  But Vito wasn’t into this.  I discovered that he’s more interested in matching real objects to the cards (abstract presentation).  So for now, we’ll be doing more of that.  I’ll try to test him again in a few weeks if he’s interested using matching cards (abstract object matching).  For now, enjoy our autumn leaves!  (Click any of the images for the link or here).

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    Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!
    Here are the featured printables for this week!
     
     
    LinkyPIN
     
    Fall Leaves Preschool Printable from Homeschool Preschool
    Learning About Leaves from A Little Pinch of Perfect
    Halloween Printable Pack from Living Life and Learning
    Fall Preschool Activities from Natural Beach Living
     
    11206071_10206383760770609_4191824351964193280_n
    Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.
    If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:
    • Montessori Education
    • Homeschool
    • Sensory Play
    • Tot and Preschool Trays
    • Fine and Gross Motor Activities
    • Kids in the Kitchen
    • Healthy Recipes for Kids
    • Arts and Crafts
    • Natural Living
    • Free Educational Printables
    • Family-Oriented Activities
    • Healthy Living
    Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!
    Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:
    learn and play party hostesses
    Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

    GUIDELINES FOR LINKING

    • Please link up 1-3 posts
    • Follow each of the hosts on social media
    • When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
    • By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
    • Please visit a couple of shared posts and leave a comment for them
    • Remember that you must link back in order to be featured
    Grab This Button:
    Christian Montessori Network
    <div align="center"><a href="http://christianmontessorinetwork.com/category/learn-and-play" title="Christian Montessori Network"><img src="http://www.christianmontessorinetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/learn-and-play-link-up-150-150.png" alt="Christian Montessori Network" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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    Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Pinay Homeschooler on Pinterest.