Apologia Young Explorers Anatomy Cardiovascular System

The class is studying the Cardiovascular system.  Today was tough!  Last time, we played with the blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes, before planning another outreach with Head Start.  Then we had some vocab to tackle.  Today was the cardiovascular system.  Whew!  First I read the material from the book.  I pause a lot to ask questions and clarify terms.  It helps to explain the origin of terms with the kids.  I remind the kids that the first rule in science is that we have no imagination.  So an interventricular or interatrial septum is a wall or fence between ventricles or atria.  Once we reviewed the parts,mew wrote out the steps for the flow of blood through the heart and lungs.  I wrote notes such as arteries carry blood away from the heart and veins to the heart and the sequence artery to arteriolar to capillary to venue to veins.  We did several of the recommended activities, colored and labeled the heart, and finally wrote and verbally traced blood flow through the heart.  Then the kids prepped for next week making stethoscopes with funnels, practicing with real stethoscopes, and taking blood pressures with my cuffs.  Next time I promised we would make graham cracker models together and review blood flow again.  I sketched huge hearts on paper to use next week with yarn or crayons to trace blood flow, too.  We usually do more hands-on labs.  It's grueling to spend two hours on a single lesson for everyone.