Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Skin We're In

In thinking of all the ways to approach our monthly theme, the human body, I thought of perhaps starting from the outside and going in. It seemed logical. So the first organ we are learning about is the very largest organ - the skin! You may have noticed some tricky spelling words on this week's list - epidermis, dermis and melanin. WARNING: If you visit the room any time soon, you may get teased with children chanting, "I can see your epidermis!" 



Our special guest teacher today was Dr. John Pui, Samantha's dad. As luck would have it, he happens to be a dermatopathologist - a skin doctor! He spends a lot of time looking through microscopes, studying skin samples to diagnose diseases. John brought in two microscopes for us to use this afternoon - a regular slide microscope and a dissecting scope. We got to look up close and personal at our own skin, fingerprints, and other interesting objects.

John also drew a diagram that showed a "map" of that amazing organ, the skin. I was impressed with how much the children had to offer about what they knew about the topic, as well as their very genuine and enthusiastic interest.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Another wonderful area for the children to discover and it is so awesome that there are parents like the doctor to make it more fun and interesting. You are doing such a great job with those kids.
Odie

Angela said...

Wow, what a great experience! Thanks to Samantha's dad!