Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on and be grateful for all that is in your life. It is a time to gather with family and friends (perhaps not this year) and appreciate one another. On Thanksgiving, we pay special attention to all that we are thankful for, it is also important on thanksgiving to think about the history that got us to the place we are today, the people that came before us and their stories. Now that you are thinking about Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for? 

On Thanksgiving people often eat turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, bread rolls, and gravy!

My family is vegan so our Thanksgiving feast is a little different. We recreate traditional Thanksgiving meals with all vegan ingredients and instead of a turkey, we have a tofurky! 

It is important to consider, Thanksgiving is a holiday that has changed a lot since its creation. There are some aspects of the history of Thanksgiving that don't feel like something to celebrate: relations between pilgrims and Native Americans were often quite problematic. However, despite this all, Thanksgiving is now more so a time to come together with family and reflect on what you are thankful for. It is important to acknowledge the good and the bad in our history, it does not have to be one or the other. This all is wrapped up in the spirit of Thanksgiving. It is a day to acknowledge the pain of the past and acknowledge that the existence of both the good and the painful is an essential part of the human experience. With this, what are you thankful for? The good and the difficult. 

Body Systems: Nutrition

Nutrition: The digestive and excretory systems

The Digestive System

Our digestive system breaks food down into small particles called nutrients! Our muscles and organs need these nutrients to give us energy and help us grow. Once the digestive system has extracted the nutrients, it gets rid of the waste. 

Now lets go through the stages of digestion!

 

1. Digestion starts in the mouth! In the mouth, food is broken down by the teeth and mixed with saliva by the tongue. 

2. Next, the now broken up food travels down the esophagus to the stomach. 

3. In the stomach, gastric juices are mixed with the food to make it a thick liquid. 

4. Next, the food travels to the small intestine. In the small intestine, nutrients from the food are absorbed into the bloodstream. 

5. After the small intestine, the food travels to the large intestine. In the large intestine, water is absorbed from the remains. What is left is faeces. 

6. Finally, the waste, or faeces, leaves the body through the anus. 

Watch this video on the digestive system and the process of digestion!

To test your knowledge of the digestive system, try this interactive quiz!

Now that you know all about the digestive system, try to label the parts below. While you are doing this think of what each part does! 

The Excretory System

The excretory system removes excess water and other waste products from our body. 

Now lets go through the parts of the excretory system! 

1. In the kidneys, urine is produced. When blood goes through the kidneys excess water and waste products are dropped off. 

2. The ureters are tube shaped organs. The urine produced in the kidneys travels down these to the bladder. 

3. Urine is stored in the bladder. When the bladder is full it sends a message to our brain. 

4. The final organ is the urethra. Urine leaves the body through here.

Watch this video on the excretory system!

To test your knowledge of the excretory system, try this interactive quiz!

Now that you know all about the exretory system, try to label the parts below. While you are doing this think of what each part does! 

Review questions: 

1. Where does digestion start? 

2. What is the name of the tube that food travel through on its way from the mouth to the stomach? 

3. What is the difference between the small and large intestines? 

4. Where is faeces produced and how does it exit the body? 

5. Where is urine produced? 

6. How does the urine travel from the kidneys to the bladder? 

7. Where is urine stored? 

8. How does urine leave the body? 

Plants

Plants are living breathing things just like you and I! Plants are born, grow, reproduce, and die. To stay alive, plants need sunlight, water, minerals, and air. Unlike humans, plants can't move. Like humans, plants can move one or more of their parts (although most humans can move much more than one of their parts). While humans have to get nutrients from the world around them, plants make their own food through a process called photosynthesis. Although plants and humans are different in many ways, humans depend on plants for life. What are some ways plants are used in or benefit your life? Do you like to look at plants? Do you eat plants? 

The Parts of a Plant

Plants have leaves, stems, and roots. Each of these parts has a vital function for the plant's overall well-being. The leaves of a plant make the food for it. The leaves make food with water, air, minerals, and sunlight. The stem of a plant connects the roots and the leaves. Water, minerals, and nutrients pass through the stem. The stem also holds the plant up. The roots of a plant absorb water and minerals from the soil. The roots also fix the plant in the soil. 

Try these activities to test your knowledge of plants! 

 Write the correct part of the plant according to the description.

LEAVES     -      STEM      -      FLOWER     -      ROOTS

_____________________they take in water and nutrients from the soil.

_____________________they take energy from sunlight and make food for the plant.

_____________________it takes water though the plant to the leaves.

_____________________it matures to form the fruit. 

Fill out this word search and identify the needs of plants! :) 

Plant Reproduction

All plants have a process of reproduction. Plants that have flowers or flowering plants, reproduce by making seeds in their flowers. Inside a plant's flower, there are various reproductive organs that allow the plant to reproduce! Here are the reproductive parts of a flower.  

A flower's corolla is made up of its petals. A flower's petals are meant to attract insects. The pistil is the flower's female reproductive system, inside the pistil are ovules. The stamens are the flower's male reproductive organs. They have pollen on the top of them. Flowers have both male and female reproductive organs. The calyx is made of sepals. Sepals are green and protect the flower! 

Plants reproduce through a process called pollination. Watch this video to review the parts of a flower and understand pollination. Parts of a flower and pollination!

Plant Nutrition

Plants make food through a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process of plants converting minerals, water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide into food for them and air for us! Without the process of photosynthesis we would have no air to breathe. This is one of the many reasons it is so important to protect all the plants on our earth! Watch this video to understand the process of photosynthesis!

Lets review! The process of photosynthesis begins with a plant absorbing water and minerals from the soil through the plants roots. From the plants leaves it absorbs carbon dioxide and sunlight. The water and the minerals travel up the plant's stem to the leaves. In the leaves, the water, minerals, sunlight, and carbon dioxide make food for the plant and oxygen for us!  

I hope you enjoyed learning about plants! Now that you know why we need plants to survive, can you think of anyways we can help protect all the plants on our earth? 

 Locations, Positions, Plans, and Routes! 

How do we know where things are and how do we talk about the place or position something is in? From the previous blog post, we know that the cardinal points are one way we can understand the location or position of something. To review the cardinal points, or cardinal directions are north, south, east, and west. Aside from the cardinal points, we can understand the location of something by saying whether it is above, below, to the left of, or to the right of something else. By doing this we are understanding the position of one thing in relation to something else. 

Take a look at the picture of a park below and use the new vocabulary you have learned to describe the position and location of things in the picture! The swings are ________ the treehouse. The clouds are _______ the grass. The stairs are _______ the slide. The trees are _______ the blue sky. Find the answers at the bottom of this blog post. 

Plans, also known as maps, show us where things are! When you are in a new place it is helpful to get a map of the city to help you figure out where the things you want to see are. 

In this map of San Francisco can you find the golden gate bridge, the financial district, the mission district, and the SF zoo? 

Answers: The swings are to the right of the treehouse. The clouds are above the grass. The stairs are to the left of the slide. The trees are below the blue sky.

Our World

Our World 

The world is a big and beautiful place. We can understand our world by looking at different visual representations of our world, such as maps and globes. Maps are in two dimensions, while globes are in three dimensions! Because globes are in three dimensions they help us get a better sense of what our world really looks like from space.  

Important vocabulary:

 

Maps

 Globes 

Which one of these images is a map and which is a globe? 

Explore this INTERACTIVE WORLD MAP  to get a better sense of our world and all its places!

How is our world represented and understood?

 Our world is a sphere. The sphere of our world is divided into two parts. The two parts of the world are the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere. The two hemispheres are divided by an invisible line called the equator. At each furthermost point of each hemisphere, there is a pole. The poles are on either side of another invisible line called the earth's axis. In the southern hemisphere there is the south pole and in the northern hemisphere the north pole. 

Important vocabulary:

Sphere 

Southern Hemisphere 

Northern Hemisphere 

Equator 

Axis

South Pole 

North Pole 

The Cardinal Points

The world is also understood in terms of cardinal points or cardinal directions. The four cardinal directions are north, south, east, and west! Listen to this song to learn the cardinal points! 

Important vocabulary:

Cardinal points 

North 

South 

East 

West 

Try this interactive quiz to see how well you know our world: YOU AND YOUR WORLD VIDEO QUIZ