October -Interaction and Body Systems

The year 4 classes are great because they are getting older so very mature but also full of energy too! In November, we looked at interaction and body systems. First, we looked at how the eye works and takes in light. I showed them how the pupil gets smaller if there is lots of light and bigger if it is dark by turning the classroom lights off and on again. They looked at each others' eyes and were astonished! We learned about how different parts of the body react to stimuli and how the brain sends messages to the different body parts. 

When we looked at muscles we all tensed our bicep contracts and the tricep relaxes and visa versa. It was great to use our bodies to learn.

We also played a game where the students had to work in teams and come up to the board one at a time to review what they'd learned about different body parts. The team that had the most words written down won!

For some more complex material, on the brain, for example, we looked at videos to help us.

This is the vocabulary they learned:

-    Brain, brain stem, cerebellum, interaction, musculoskeletal system, nerve and sense organs.
-    Gustatory nerve, inner ear, iris, lens, middle ear, mucous membrane, and nerve endings, olfactory nerve, optic nerve, pupil retina and taste buds.
-    Bone, joint, muscle and tendon.

Circulation

To learn about circulation, I put the students in groups of 5 and had each student play a different part of the circulatory system. One student was the artery, a vein, the heart etc and they had to present in front of the class (holding blue or red depending on if blood was oxygenated or deoxygenated) the circulatory system. They worked well using their English to explain the system!