Mini Med School Grades 3-5
Mini Med School Grades 3-5
Welcome to Mini Med School, a fun and exciting program for elementary students! In this hands-on, interactive class, students become “junior doctors” as they explore the amazing world of medicine and the human body. Through experiments, activities, and games, they’ll learn how the heart beats, how lungs help us breathe, and how to keep our bodies healthy and strong.
We will cover different body systems and medical topics—like bones and muscles, the brain and nerves, germs and hygiene, and even how doctors use tools like stethoscopes and x-rays. Students will also learn about healthy habits, teamwork, and problem-solving, just like real healthcare heroes!
What we are doing in class:
10/20-10/22: We will discuss in more detail the 6 main parts of the brain and what they do. We will wrap up our studies on the nervous system, and do an experiment that shows how important CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) is in our skull.
10/13-10/15: Today we did 3 experiments related to the nervous system and our sense of touch. A 2 point discrimination test to see how sensitive different areas on our body are. We compared the cheek, forearm, calf, index finger, thumb and forehead to learn just how sensitive our fingers are. We also did a test with sandpaper where we ranked the roughness of each one in order with our eyes closed, and we did a coin sort game from smallest to largest with our eyes closed. Our bodies are so fascinating!
10/6-10/8 Today we talked about neurons and labeled a neuron. We built a model out of pipe cleaners. We did an experiment related to our nerves where we would "draw" on our partners' back (on paper taped to their back) while they had to draw on paper what was being drawn on our back.
9/29-9/31 - Today we talked about the spinal cord and different types of nerves. We built spinal cords out of candy.
9/22-9/24 - Today we are learning about the nervous system and parts of the brain. We are making a brain hat and coloring parts of the brain. We learned some fun facts about our amazing brain - the worlds best super computer!
9/15-9/17 - We finished up learning about the heart and circulation. We talked about how to keep our heart healthy to avoid disease and plaque in our arteries. We did an experiment where we learned how much plaque can slow the blood flow. Then we went outside and ran through the chambers of a chalk drawn heart on the blacktop to see how long it took us vs the 11 seconds it takes our body. Some classes stayed inside (weather) and learned how to find our pulse and calculate our heart rate. Your students sure know a lot about healthy eating and good heart health!
9/8-9/10: This week we are learning about our circulatory system. What does the blood do in our bodies and in our organs? We are also building a pumping model of the heart.
8/25-8/27 - Today we learned about our heart! We discussed and identified the chambers of the heart and why this organ is so important. We also discussed the need to keep this muscle strong through exercise, just like any other muscle in the body. We built and labeled hearts out of salt dough. This was tricky work to create the tiny little labels and "pump" out these hearts in a short class time. They all did great!
8/18-8/20 - This week we did an intro to human body systems. We also did an experiment where brave students plugged their noses and closed their eyes to take a bit of an onion and then an apple. We learned how the sense of taste and sense of smell are connected. At first taste, they taste the same when your nose is plugged. Many of your kids really dislike onions! :) They are all great sports and so fun!