Tooth Unit

We did a "Tooth Unit" this week, which we'll probably wrap up by putting together a small lapbook or something on Monday.

If you know me well, you know that absolutely nothing I do is original, so of course I got all the ideas for this unit at Homeschool Share.


First we read Throw Your Tooth on the Roof.



Of course we all know about the tooth fairy, but did you know that kids in other countries do different things with their teeth? I didn't. It never occurred to me to wonder about it.

We discussed traditions and made various maps locating the different countries and the different Tooth Traditions in each. We also discussed direction. We played a little game where one girl hid Woofie, then had to give directions to the other girl to find Woofie: "Take three steps North ... okay, now five steps West," and so on.


Then we read one of Rebecca's Very Favorite Books, Open Wide, Tooth School Inside



This is a really funny book. The kind that has lots of inside jokes that only adults would get (for example, the stages of denial, anger, etc, that a tooth goes through when it gets a cavity. Or two teeth practicing for a play and one of them yelling, "You can't handle the tooth!"

We talked about personification and found examples in the book. Also, the book talks a lot about teeth anatomy, why babies need baby teeth, etc.


The least interesting book for the unit -- but still cute -- was Science Fair Bunnies, about a bunny who decides to use his first tooth for a science fair project instead of letting the Tooth Fairy have it.



The most interesting thing about this book was the "What Happens if you Don't Brush Your Teeth" science experiment that was written to go with it (which was not specifically in the book itself).

Take two hard boiled eggs. Put one in a jar of Coke and the other in a jar of vinegar, write down your hypotheses, and check them the next day. Easy. Even I, Miss Science-Phobe, can do that.

The Coke egg turned light brown, and the vinegar egg was actually soft and squishy. (Apparently the acid erodes the calcium in the egg shell.) The girls thought that was pretty cool.

I like unit studies, and I love that there are people at Homeschool Share who are more creative than I am, and willing to share their ideas.