What We're Reading Wednesday: Totally Teeth Unit - Dental Health Month

     Happy Wednesday! We are halfway through the week, yay! The weather here has been nasty and yucky....and all Sweet Pea and Tutti Frutti has longed for is playtime outside. I must say so have I, *sigh* But, one great thing about being inside so much is it leaves a lot of time have lots of hands on fun! 

February is Dental Health month so of course I couldn't let this month go by and not have a study on teeth :) We started of our study of teeth at our weekly homeschool library group. Sweet Pea and Tutti Frutti made "Healthy Mouths" by cutting out healthy foods from magazines and gluing them in their "mouths".

                                     

Here is what we have been reading:

Tooth Decay and Cavities by Dr. Alvin Silverstein, Virginia Silverstein and Laura Silverstein ~ This is a great non-fiction educational book about the anatomy of teeth, care and cause of cavities. Lots of wonderful illustrations and glossary in back.

You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Dentists! by Fiona Macdonald ~ This book is written in a cartoon style but, don't let that fool you! It is packed with lots of great facts and tips about teeth. It also includes a history of dentistry and previous methods used.

Vera Goes to the Dentist by Vera Rosenberry ~ A cute story about a little girl and her trip to the dentist. It describes what will happen at the visit and how dentists help. It helps to take away fear and anxiety about going to the dentist.

Dad, Are You the Toothfairy? by Jason Alexander ~ Gaby overhears some kids saying the toothfairy is only make believe of course he goes straight to his dad to find out the truth!

Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement ~ Grandpa's teeth are missing! In this mystery, Grandpa believes anyone who isn't smiling is a suspect. Very entertaining!

To go along with our teeth unit we had several hands on activities. I have to say this has been a favorite study in our house!

Tooth Diagrams

For this I traced out a tooth, dentin, and gum. We used yarn for the nerves and veins. I typed up labels in word. Super Simple, right?

Before, starting our science experiments I got out our handy dandy scientific method flash cards. You can never go over the method too much!

Growing Plaque

Sweet Pea and Tutti Frutti were totally disgusted with this experiment, but once they seen the results they forgot how grossed out they were!

Materials:
Water
Yeast
2 Jars
Sugar
Measuring Spoons

First, we filled each jar with 1 cup of warm water and labeled each jar with a line and what it contained.

Then, each jar received 2 teaspoons of yeast. Only the sugar jar also received 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Next, we mixed well.

Sweet Pea and Tutti Frutti completed a Plaque Attach observation sheet. You can get your free printable from here Plaque Attack. We let it sit in a warm, draft free place for about thirty minutes and voila we have plaque!

Super Simple Right? :)

To complete learning about plaque we brought out the microscope and collected plaque from Sweet Pea and Tutti Frutti's mouths.

If they weren't disgusted before, they really were after seeing the bacteria! They were very motivated to brush their teeth :)

How Are Eggs Like Teeth?

Materials:

7 Jars

Tea

Coffee

Soda

Grape Juice

Milk

Water

Vinegar

7 Hardboiled Eggs

First, we filled our jars about half full.

Then, we carefully placed each egg in the jars.

The jars were labeled and we let them sit overnight.

Here are our eggs. It's a great example of how what we drink affects our teeth. The egg in the vinegar solution represents the acid. It was nothing but a yellow blob! We talked about if we don't brush our teeth they turn yellow and fall out.

We recorded our results on these great Science Experiment sheets.

Of course we complete our teeth unit without a few video resources:

Is it a horror story when your kids have to go to the dentist? Fortunately, mine have never minded going. What are you reading this week? I would ♥ to hear your thoughts!