Human Organ Museum and a Visit from the "Tuba-intendent"

As you all know, my third graders spent all of second trimester learning about the human body and more specifically seven organs. We worked in study groups researching the seven organs for a month taking notes and developing a massive word wall with over 60 new vocabulary words. 

Students took the information they learned and developed some awesome end of unit projects. We spent months perfecting human body stories about shrinking to a miniature size and venturing into the human body. Shrink rays and magic chocolate, gum and doorknobs started out stories while sneezing, burping, and yawning let us out. Our stories were so great that museum visitors said they looked they were written by much older students. They loved our creativity and imaginations. 

Students also spent a good deal of time writing letters from the organ to a human they knew. The organ was giving advice on how to keep the human body healthy. We practiced writing persuasively by giving reasons for why it was so important to keep the organs healthy and warning about what might happen if they didn't. Mohamed A. told Mr. Bayissa that if he "want to be died than smoke!" because smoking turns your lungs black and kills you. He signed it "Love, Your Lungs and Mohamed". Other students talked about the perils of eating junk food to your digestive system or exercising to keep your heart healthy. Noah even wrote himself about how to take good care of his lungs and his asthma!

Students also put up our organ Pop Art that we mentioned earlier in the blog. Organs drawn completely of words about organs. Students used information they had written in their notes about organs to design the art with the help of Ms. Gibbons, the school librarian, and combined their art to make one organ per group of students. The work was incredible and was displayed in the school library for over a month. 

But we all know the highlight of our museum was the edible organs! Students made organs out of food and at the end of the day, we ate them! Awesome! The lungs were Italian bread loaves, jelly, and Twizzlers. The stomach was brilliant! Chyme (mashed up food) was made of cookie dough, mixed with stomach acid and mucus- honey, and wrapped in stomach muscles made of Twizzlers and the stomach lining was Fruit Roll Ups. Another class favorite was the heart- orange slices, Fruit Roll Ups, Twizzlers, and Jolly Ranchers. Students worked really hard to make organs that looked very real and spent a lot of time thinking about the perfect materials to make them, just think about a molded popcorn brain or Strawberry Shortcake Roll intestines!

 I think the most rewarding moment of the museum was to sit back and watch the students talk about their work with the visitors. We had invited all of our Spruce pod (4th, 5th, and 6th graders) as well as the four Pre K classes, Mrs. Polisky's kindergartners, the vice principal, the office administrative assistant, and the Lewiston school superintendent, Mr. Webster! Mr. Webster loved our museum and learned a lot from his tour guide, Trevon O. At the end of his visit, Safa A. talked about how excited she was that Mr. Webster, the "tuba-intendent" came to see all of our hard work. Everyone was so proud.!