Great Intro to Endocrine System!

Today we started the endocrine system with the 7th graders. My cooperating teacher started the lesson by telling the following story written by Janet Weaver of Rosary School in Oklahoma City, OK:

Say (pausing …. after each suggestion): Close your eyes….Relax your feet….Relax your knees….Relax your thighs… Relax your stomach….Relax your hands….Relax your shoulders….Relax your chest….Relax your forehead. Imagine yourself in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers….The smell is sweet….the colors are all of your favorites….there is no pollen to irritate you….you are perfectly relaxed….the sky is blue, with only small puffs of white clouds…. You look around and see a small dirt road leading into the most beautiful grove of trees….you decide to follow the road into the trees….As you walk on the road, the temperature gets cooler….there are still flowers among the trees…. You see the road makes a sharp turn ahead, and as you walk around the turn you notice a house at the end of the road….It is not large, but it is not small either….The house is not well kept, but it is not falling down either….You can tell that someone lives there…. You decide to go up to the house to see if anyone there could give you a drink of water….You walk up to the house and up the 3 broken steps to the front door….The door is standing open a little as you knock….No one answers your knock, so you knock again, a little louder….Now you hear a muffled sound coming from far inside the house….You look into the front room of the house and see clothes laying around….a half full glass of milk….and a kitchen in the back…. You hear the sound again….so you call out….again you hear a muffled sound from the back of the house….You walk into the house….looking around as you go towards the kitchen…. In the kitchen you notice a door, half open leading into blackness….you open the door and see steps leading down….you hear the muffled sound a little louder now coming from beneath the stairs…. You begin walking down the stairs, into the darkness….your hand brushes up against the cool wall….At the bottom of the stairs you hear the muffled sound coming from your right, and as you turn towards it your hand feels a wetness on the walls….You walk v e r y slowly towards the sound….in the darkness….then A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A (teacher screams as loudly as possible) Open your eyes. What is your body doing right now????

The kids screamed and jumped out of their seats! We had a great conversation about how our bodies are designed to react to potentially dangerous situations without us even realizing it! 

To end the period, we watched the beginning of the Brain Pop Endocrine System video. It a bit longer than the average Brain Pop video, but its jammed full of great information!!

We’re going to continue the unit with a detailed power point on the system, the glands, and the enzymes/hormones involved – I’m not a huge power point fan, but the kids need opportunities to learn how to take notes! Friday we are going to do a patient simulation, where each table will receive a patient’s chart and try to diagnose which gland is not functioning properly based on their notes. I’m looking forward to seeing how they do :)