Doctors

To follow up with our discussion of nurses, we talked about doctors this week.  We started by reading Froggy Goes to the Doctor.  We thought it was quite funny.  Then we read a book about A to Z doctor things.  It was quite interesting.  We learned some new terms like U is for Urine among other things.  We got to look at some tools that doctors use and then we took our weight and height and did an eye test.  We ended up trying to make our own doctor kit.  (I was going for something like the picture above), but we found out crafts is not the favorite activity of the day, so I don't think any of them made it past the trash can today.  We enjoy "doing" activities better than "making" activities.

Next week:  A visit with a police officer.

We are hoping to join the Core kids on a field trip to the Caterpillar Factory on April 16th.  More information to come.

Nurses

We had a fun week learning about what nurses do.  A big thanks to our visitor Melanie Stucki and her two children, Rachel and Will.  Nurse Stucki told showed us picture of what she dresses like when she is a work.  She works with a surgeon.  She is completely covered up.  We got to practice putting masks on like she wears.  She showed us the tools she uses at work also.  Her stethoscope, otoscope, tiny flashlight, and blood pressure cuff.  Then we learned about parts of our bodies and got to play a game where we guessed where each part was.  We were pretty close.  Finally we all got to make fun first aid kits out of altoids tins.  They are just the right size to carry on a hike.  Everyone agreed we are really prepared now.

Ambulance

Future EMTs in action.

We got a visit this week from a real live ambulance (and we didn't even have to call 911).  Teacher Shannon's sister Katie brought her ambulance to show us.   Unlike our visit to the fire station, this time we got to touch everything.  EMT Katie even let the children sound the siren.  You may have noticed some extra "stickers" stuck to the kids' legs and arms.  Katie did an EKG on each of the children and gave them each a printout to take home.  She showed us 3 different kind of stretchers:  A big one with wheels, a back board and one just for stairs.  To make things even more exciting, there was a real emergency on the other side of Albertsons.  We got to hear them calling for ambulances on the radio and even heard them when they showed up.  Luckily, Katie didn't have to leave because she was off-duty. A huge thanks to Katie for the awesome tour of her mobile hospital.

Spencer and Tristan show off their print outs.  "We're glad to know we are alive.  Here's proof."

Lily gets an EKG.

It's true.  Ambulances do have the name spelled backwards on the front.  The kids ran to the front of the vehicle to make sure.

Judah models the neck stabelizer.

Next week:  Doctors

Paramedics/EMTs

This week we learned a little about Paramedics and EMTs in preparation for our visit from a paramedic next week.  Did you know that the term "paramedic" came from the army medics who would parachute into the field to give aid?  We read a book about a day in the life of paramedics and another book about ambulances.  We then made an ambulance paper craft.  The children were very creative in their construction.  Some of them even tried to write "ambulance" backwards like on the front of a real ambulance.  We finished up with a movie about rescue workers where we saw some old-time ambulances (with horses and wagons) and saw some real paramedics in action.  Next week we will have a visit from Shannon Hayes' sister, Katie Hemming who is a paramedic.  She is going to bring her ambulance to let us see inside.

The project we did in class.  The children were very creative in embellishing them so your child's will look more or less similar.