3rd Graders' Study the Digestive System

In third grade language arts, the students experience a variety of subjects, including literature, social studies, and science, as a part of learning English. Each spring, Mrs. Brooks brings out the digestive system to study, as these paper bodies not only help to teach scientifc vocabulary, they also sit in the class chairs for the Annual Open House. The children learn the scientific organ names for the respiratory system and the digestive system. They are very matter of fact as they call to one another, "Has anyone seen my spleen? It was right here next to my kidney. " "Is it okay if I forgot my liver at home?" The project begins as a homework assignment of coloring, to specifications, and cutting out body organs. Then at school, the students are each traced onto large paper and given two diagrams to use, so that they can correctly place the organs, while leaving access to the organs placed underneath. It gets a bit tricky to fit all the organs into third grade bodies. After the vocabulary is learned, specific functions of the organs are taught through reading. Every year, older ISP students, walking through the busy hallway, show a bit of nostalgia when they remark, "I remember when we did that."