It’s Teacher Feature Thursday!

This week we are featuring Javasa Finney. Her twos classroom was learning about the human body and decided to spend a day learning about hair and how the human body grows. Below you will find a reflection from Javasa and images from some of her lessons.

What were your topics of exploration?

During the months of October and November the Penguins were exploring the human body.  We talked about the different parts of the human body.  Some of the parts we focused on included:

• hair
• skin
• mouth
• bones
• eyes
• brain
• heart

In addition to how these body parts work we had a lot of fun learning about the five senses.  We talked about nutrition, how important it is, and how what we eat affects our body. Then they made delicious food from the different food groups with my co-teachers throughout the week. We also talked about the importance of sleep and how important exercise is for the human body.  They were extremely excited to have the opportunity to go exercise at the Washington Monument.

What were your learning objectives? (What did you want your children to take away from the lesson?)

I wanted the class to learn all about their amazing bodies. My main learning objective when teaching the kids about the human body was for them to learn about how important their bodies are and how to care for them. I also wanted them to learn all the bodies’ functions and abilities.

What was most successful about your lesson?

During the time we spent learning about the human body there are two lessons that I feel were extremely successful and memorable.  The first one would definitely be when a baby came to visit.  The child is currently a student in the infant class here at SEEC.  The five month old was our model for the lesson. During this lesson I talked to the Penguins about how we start out as small babies.  We talked about how different a baby’s body is compared to older people.  We talked about how when babies are born they don’t have teeth and can’t talk, walk, run, or jump.  They learned that during the first year a baby sleeps and drinks a lot and cries to communicate.  During circle time we made observations about the baby’s body and talked about how fragile it is.  Then the Penguins had the opportunity to touch him.  It was wonderful to see the children light up and respond to the child.  The second most successful and memorable human body lesson was our lesson on hair.  We learned how hair can be many colors, textures, and lengths.  We talked about the things we use to care for our hair.  Then the Penguins had the opportunity to try on wigs that were different colors, textures, and lengths. This lesson was followed up with a trip to the National Gallery of Art.  We went to look at the “Little Dancer” by Edgar Degas sculpture. First we made observations about the body and then we had the Penguins take a closer look at her braid.  The braid is made of real human hair, coated and held in place by wax.

What could you have done differently? What recommendations would you have for another teacher trying out this lesson? 

During the first lesson, if I were to do this again, I wouldn’t keep the baby on my lap the entire time.  I realized later it would have been nice for the kids to see him crawling, playing, etc.   For the second lesson about hair, I would have picked a different day to go to the National Gallery of Art.  The day we went there were several trips there and the room with “Little Dancer” was extremely crowded.

Here are a few images from their unit on the human body:

Javasa began the week by exploring how our bodies grow and change. As a way to illustrate this development, Javasa invited a child from the infant classroom to visit. She wanted the class to look at the baby and compare his body to their own and the teachers’. Javasa explained that people start by needing a lot of help from adults but as our body changes we become more independent.

Javasa explained that the baby couldn’t feed himself, talk, or even walk yet. She showed how the baby would eventually learn how to do all these things as he gets older.

The next day the class moved on to Hair. Javasa read “Hair” by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed to introduce the topic. The book helped students understand that people all over the world have many different types of hair and hair styles and each one is as special as the next.

One of Javasa’s co-teachers shared her collection of wigs as way to talk about how hair can be all different colors, textures, lengths, and styles. She explained that hair comes in a range of color but if you want certain colors (for example, pink) you would need to dye it that color.

She showed the group a zoomed in picture of a hair follicle. The kids couldn’t believe how the root of their hair looks.

Javasa went on to explain that hair can grow curly, straight, or wavy.

The group spent a long time looking and touching their own hair.

Then it was time to try out new hair!

They had a wonderful time trying on the different wigs!

The group then walked over to the National Gallery of Art to see Degas’ “Little Dancer.” They were fascinated by how Degas used real hair for the sculpture. The children discussed the color, length and style of the dancer’s hair.

This class had an awesome time learning about their bodies! Be sure to check back for our Teacher Feature next week!