Pillows and Pig Hearts (If squeamish do not go below the pillows.)

Those who know me are aware I have no talent for crafts or sewing.  This morning, again like last week, the First Graders were switching rooms.  Our kids were going to work on pillows, the other class would work on poetry.  Ms. H asked me to go with our kids as there was a shortage of volunteers. I gave her the death stare, but went. 

The kids were making pillows with a pocket to hold a tooth for the Tooth Fairy.  The steps were to sew their names, then put the pocket on.  After that they sewed two pieces of fabric together. Finally they stuffed the pillows.  I threaded needles over and over.  They were using heavy multi strand embroidery thread.  Not easy getting all those threads in the eye of the needle.  But so easy for them to pull the needle off the thread.

Here are some of the pillows.

                                            

This shows the back side of a couple of pillows.

Later in the morning, one of the parents came to do a science unit on the heart.  She is a doctor and teaches medical students.  But she had the information at a primary level.  The kids were enthralled.  Me too.

She read this to them before she started the lesson.  Then each child received a copy to take home.

She drew a heart on the board, labeled the sections.  They talked about healthy eating, the purpose of the heart, what the blood carries.  They took their pulse in their necks.  Then she gave them latex gloves and they got to feel the pig’s heart.

She carried the heart around the circle, no touching yet.

                              

She cut the heart in half.  Showed them the parts she drawn.  Again, no touching yet.  The kids are wild to touch it.

You can see the scissors she used to cut the heart.  The hearts were placed on two trays and the kids finally could touch.  Some were squeamish and wouldn’t touch.  But most ran their fingers in and out of the valves, veins, and just prodded.  They loved it.  

                                                                    

This is a packet of worksheets for the children to do at their desks.  If you look closely, you can see the next page showing through.  They were to look at the top page, then draw the lungs and heart on the body on the next page. 

They also have a science journal they worked in.  They drew a cross section of a heart and labeled the parts.  They then wrote 3 or 4 sentences telling something about the lesson. 

People, I was so impressed by this woman.  She really gave them a lot of information.  And they ate it up.  They asked questions, they wanted more information, they were with her the whole lesson.  Bravo Mateen’s Mother.