Teeth

Write three factual sentences about your teeth. Include the words 'tooth' or 'teeth' in each one. Use them correctly.

Label the parts of a tooth. Then in a paragraph, explain the job of each of the parts.

Play a game in which a student states a fact about teeth, passes a token to another person, and that person must give a new fact which begins with the next letter in the alphabet. Begin the game with a letter chosen from a hat.

After washing their hands, have students count their own teeth as they run a finger over their top and bottom teeth. Use plastic teeth molds (available in bulk at Halloween), and have students count the number of teeth sets. 

Play “I'm going to the dentist at . . . ” Hand out cards with time written on them. Students sit in a circle and are given one of the cards. Play begins with one student reading their time and saying, “I'm going to the dentist at (say time on card).” The next student says, “I'm going to the dentist at (say their time)” and “(say last student's name) is going at (say their time).” This is a variation on the game “I'm going on a vacation.” It will be important for students to hold up their cards so that each player can see the time written on them. As play continues, each player will tell their own time and then the times, in order, of the players who preceded them. The last player will read all of the cards and relate it to the student who holds them. Add AM and PM to the cards if you desire.

The enamel on our teeth is similar to the shell of a hard-boiled egg. Acids in the foods we eat can break down the enamel. Test this by placing hard-boiled eggs in containers of various liquids including milk, water, soda pop, and other liquids we might ingest. Measure the time it takes to break down the shell — test each egg daily with a toothpick to determine progress. (The egg in the milk should be placed in the refrigerator to prevent the milk from going bad.) Create a chart of your data.

Different animals use their body parts in different ways to grasp objects, protect themselves, and seek and take in food. Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive.

Many characteristics involve both inheritance and the environment. Characteristics result from individuals' interactions with the environment, which can range from diet to learning. The environment also affects the traits that an organism develops.

Different sense receptors are specialized for particular kinds of information, which may be then processed by the animal's brain. Animals are able to use their perceptions and memories to guide their actions.

Animals have various body systems with specific functions for sustaining life: skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, muscular, digestive, etc.

Populations of animals are classified by their characteristics.

The energy released from food was once energy from the sun that was captured by plants.

Food provides animals with the materials they need for body repair and growth.

Natural selection leads to the predominance of certain traits in a population, and the suppression of others. Emphasis is on using concepts of natural selection, including overproduction of offspring, passage of time, variation in a population, selection of favorable traits, and heritability of traits.

Emphasis is on inferring general patterns of relatedness among structures or different organisms by comparing diagrams, pictures, specimens, or fossils.

Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to release energy.

In multicellular animals, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems. These subsystems are groups of cells that work together to form tissues specialized for particular body functions.