Did you know that February is the National Children's Dental Health Month? According to the American Dental Association, it is! Their website has lots of resources for teachers and parents to teach their kids about keeping their teeth happy. Check it out!
Speaking of teeth, remember this post from when some Dental Hygiene students from the U of M came to teach our students how to keep our teeth healthy? It was such a fun experience for the kids!
In honor of National Dental Health Month, I've posted a new item in my TpT store! Check out my new "Taking Care of Our Teeth" unit!
I am SO excited to share with you something that happened in school this week! I could have put it in my most recent Five for Friday, but I felt it deserved its own post.
Do you remember when we got that large donation of school supplies from Delta Dental? And they gave us lots of toothbrushes and toothpaste too? Well, instead of just giving the kids the toothbrushes and toothpaste, I felt like they needed more guidance and instruction.
My life-long friend Eva is a Dental Hygiene student at the University of Minnesota. I asked her and some dental friends to come and teach our kids about taking care of their teeth. It was AWESOME!
First, we watched a short video about our teeth and cavities. It was very kid-friendly. Check it out and see if you can use it in your class!
Then they played a game of "good foods" and "bad foods" for our teeth. So fun! The funniest part was when they asked about broccoli. ALL of the kids put a thumbs down, like it is bad for our teeth. I had to clarify... "No, 3rd graders, not if you LIKE broccoli, they're asking if broccoli is good for our teeth!" Then we saw thumbs up. Haha
We talked about the best way to brush our teeth. And then....
....They took our kids into the bathroom and showed them how to properly brush their teeth! They gave each student a tablet to chew that dyes plaque pink so students could see how we can't usually see plaque and where exactly they need to brush.
Check out those pearly whites!
While the kids were waiting to go brush their teeth, I read them a story.
You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
After reading the story and reviewing ways to care for our teeth, we did some writing.
"It is important to take care of my teeth because if you clean your teeth your teeth will be white."
"It is important to take care of my teeth because if we don't brush our teeth it will be yellow and it will have cavity."
This little guy drew a picture of himself brushing his teeth. He said, "Miss Woodward, that little green stuff on my brush is mint." Gotta love the attention to detail!
It was such a wonderful experience having the U of M dental hygiene students here to teach us about our teeth! I really think the kids learned a lot! And they are super excited that they have their own toothbrush to keep!
Does your school do any type of hygiene programs for kids? I'd love to hear about them!
