SMILE, YOU’RE ON CANDID CAMERA

MASTER TEACHER  Jill Scott

GRADE (S) Pre-School – First Grade

OVERVIEW 
Loosing your teeth is a normal rite of passage for pre-schoolers and kindergartners.  The students will learn why they loose their baby teeth, what causes cavities, how to properly care for their teeth, and what it is like to visit the dentist.

ITV SERIES
Head to Toe #114   A Healthy Smile

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to
*Identify baby teeth and permanent teeth 
   from a model
*Give two steps to maintaining healthy
    teeth
*Identify what causes tooth decay 
*Sort by one characteristic (missing teeth)
*Choose from several foods the ones that 
    build strong teeth

MATERIALS
Picture of students with missing teeth either on computer or in print

Per student
2 apple slices 
1 tablespoon of peanut butter 
1 craft stick 
8 miniature marshmallows 
Books
  Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth by Lucy Bate
  Curious George goes to the Dentist by 
  Rey, Margaret and H. A.   

Centers
lab coats (2)
mirror (1)
doll(1)
appointment book (1)
play money
pens
paper
paper towels
dog tooth
cow tooth
shark tooth
human tooth 
model of human teeth showing both adult and baby teeth
tooth shaped blank books (15)
tooth shaped chart
markers (8 - one of each color)
marshmallows
materials already available in the art center
shark teeth
a pocket with a hole in it
a ziploc bag with a hole in it
a cup with a hole in it
a piece of paper with a hole

wax paper – one 9x12 sheet per student
2 tablespoons of bubble gum pudding per
   student
cake sprinkles – 1 container
chart paper
markers
Book Cooks by Janet Bruno, illustrated by Raquel E. Herrera, 1991, Creative Teaching Press, Inc.  Cypress, CA 90630

SESSION ONE

PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITY
Before class, look for pictures of children who are smiling, showing missing teeth.  In your class, take pictures of smiling children who have lost teeth. You can show these pictures on the computer screen if you use a digital camera or a scanner.  If you do not have access to these, show the copies of the pictures.  Ask the children,  “What do you see missing from these pictures?” Accept all answers.  

FOCUS FOR VIEWING
To give the students a specific responsibility for viewing, tell the students that they will be watching their friends on the video “Head to Toe.”  Have them listen to Bob to see if he can figure out what is missing from his group of friends.

VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Start the video where Bob says “Okay, everybody.  Hold still.  Smile” and you see Bob taking a picture with a camera.  Pause the video when Bob looks at the camera and says, “Have you lost any teeth recently?”  Ask the students to tell you what the children in the video were missing. (Teeth)  Show the pictures you used in the pre-viewing activity.  What were these children missing? (teeth).  Using paper and marker make a chart of children who have lost a tooth, children who have lost one tooth, and children who have lost more than one tooth.  Ask the children, “Why do we loose our teeth?” Accept all answers.  Continue by saying, “Let’s see if Bob can help us answer this question.”  Resume the video.  Pause the video when Bob shows the model of the baby teeth behind the permanent teeth.   Ask the students, “ Do you think that those big teeth can push out the little ones?  Can we see behind our gums like the picture on the television?“(No)  Using an over head projector pen, circle on the television screen the permanent teeth that are shown on the gums.  Explain to the children that these teeth are the permanent teeth you will keep always, and you must take good care of them.  Resume the video.  Prepare to stop the video when Jodie comes on the screen showing her monster teeth, and Bob says, “ Boy, you must have a hard time brushing those.”  Stop the video when Bob looks at the camera and says,  “Somehow, I feel that those were not Jodie’s real permanent teeth.”

POST-VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Say “Wasn’t that neat to see the model of our permanent teeth growing behind our baby teeth.  Do any of you have a loose tooth now?”  Allow the students with loose teeth to express their answers.  Say “We have a book about a little Rabbit that had a loose tooth.  The name of the book is Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth by Lucy Bate.”  Read the book.  After you read the book have the children wash their hands and sit at their tables.  Demonstrate the cooking activity for the students.  Take two apple slices and spread peanut butter on one side of each slice.  Place miniature marshmallows on the peanut butter of one slice of apple.  Place the other slice of apple on top of the marshmallow peanut butter side down.  Turn the apple slices towards the children with the red peeling showing.  It looks like a mouth with white teeth.  Pull out one marshmallow tooth.  Now you have a mouth with a missing tooth.  Provide peanut butter, craft sticks for spreading, 2 apple slices, and miniature marshmallows for each student.  Help them make their own mouth and loose their very own tooth.  Book Cooks by Janet Bruno has an excellent version of this activity.   The rest of the teeth and mouth make a very healthy snack. 

SESSION TWO

PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITY
Show the students a pocket with a hole in it, a ziploc bag with a hole in it, a cup with a hole in it, and a piece of paper with a hole in it.  Ask the students what these objects have in common.  

FOCUS FOR VIEWING
To provide a focus for viewing tell the children that you want them to listen and watch the video to find out what you call a hole in a tooth and what can make a hole in a tooth. 

VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Start the video when Bob is holding a large white model of a tooth and says, “The covering of your teeth is the hardest part of your body.”  Pause the video when Bob turns the model around and says, “Cavities are holes in our teeth.”  Say, “Who knows what we call ‘holes in our teeth.’  (Cavities)   I wonder what makes those cavities in our teeth.  Listen and see if we can find out.”  Resume the video.  Pause the video when the magnetic imaging clip of a person chewing his food and swallowing begins.  Using an overhead projector pen, circle the parts of the mouth - teeth, food, throat, etc.- to help the children identify what is happening.  Stop the video when Bob says,  “So if you don’t want cavities, you have to clean that food away” and he walks toward Tiffany who is dressed up like a dentist.  Ask the students how they would clean their teeth.  Accept all answers.  Say, “Tiffany is going to show us how we can brush our teeth.”  Resume the video.  Stop the video when Bob closes the model of the teeth and says’ “If you brush your teeth after you eat and before you go to bed you will wash away most of your left over food and have fewer cavities.”

POST VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Give the students a large piece of wax paper.  On the piece of wax paper give the students 2 tablespoons of bubble gum pudding.  Using their fingers and the pudding “paint,”  have them draw an open mouth and teeth. After they have their teeth drawn, give them cake sprinkle to add as food in their teeth.  They can then take a new toothbrush and brush all of the correct ways that Tiffany showed them in the video to remove the food.  Allow the children to be creative with the pudding.  They can draw their mouths more than once if they want.  Of course, they can eat their drawing, too. 

SESSION THREE

PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITY
Say “How many of you have been to the dentist? (Accept all answers)  What does the dentist do?  (Accept all answers)  Why do we go to the dentist? “  Encourage all the children to participate in the discussion.  Say “I can’t take all of you to the dentist today, but I can show you on the television how Christopher went to the dentist.”

FOCUS FOR VIEWING
To provide a focus for viewing, explain to the children that they will watch as Christopher visits the dentist. Three special things will happen.  After seeing the video,  you are going to ask them what three things happened to Christopher.  (Looking for cavities, cleaning, and fluoride treatment)  Tell them that they will also get to pretend to be the dentist when the video is finished.

VIEWING ACTIVITY
Start the video where Bob is leaning on the little screen and says; “ Recently Christopher learned a lot about that.”  Stop the video when the two girls, one dressed as a dentist and the other as the patient have finished their performance and say, “Because I know how to floss”.
 
POST VIEWING ACTIVITY
Ask the students where Bob went and what he did. Ask the students what three things happened.   Have the students write an experience story about Bob’s trip to the dentist. Use chart paper and markers to write down the story as the students tell you.  This is a group activity.  Encourage as many students as possible to participate.  After the group has finished the story,  read “Curious George goes to the Dentist.”   After reading, have the students compare Bob’s visit and Curious George’s visit. You may want to use your chart paper again and make a Venn diagram of their answers.  Provide dramatic play props for the children to act out the visit in the dramatic play center. 

EXTENSIONS
Use the learning centers to extend the lesson on teeth.  Also provide opportunities for the students to brush their teeth after lunch.  A chart about teeth brushing may be sent home where parents can give stickers if the students brush their teeth after supper, after breakfast, and before bed.  This activity can involve the family in the learning experience.  Have the students bring the charts back to class to share with the group.  Sample charts are available from the Internet sites listed in this lesson

LEARNING CENTERS

Housekeeping/Dramatic Play
Provide children with a child size lab coat, mirrors, and dolls.  Allow them to play dentist.  Remember to have an appointment book, a receptionist, and money to pay the bills.
Science Center
Have several types of teeth  (dog tooth, cow tooth, shark tooth, human tooth) to look at with a magnifying glass. 
Provide a model of the human mouth showing adult and baby teeth.
Writing Center
Provide tooth shaped books for writing stories about the tooth fairy.
Provide a tooth shape chart to record when a student looses a tooth.
Art Center
Using the idea from Little Rabbit’s lost tooth,  provide small marshmallows for the students to incorporate into their art for the day.  Some children may want to use the marshmallow as part of a collage or some may want to make a necklace.  Allow them to use the materials in the art center to be creative.
Sand Center
Hide animal teeth, such as shark teeth, in the sand.  Allow the students to dig for the teeth as an archeologist would do.

ACTION PLAN
Invite a dentist or dental hygienist to visit your class.  Have them bring x-rays of teeth as well as their equipment.  
Start a lost tooth  club like the students on the Internet site have done.  The students can include their own class, their own school, or develop a web page to include other students across the country. 
 
INTERNET
Yahooligans search engine lists several good sites for teeth.

Magic Schoolbus

http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/colgate/index.htm provides interesting information about teeth along with games to play. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bate, Lucy.  Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth
Munach, Robert   Andrew’s Loose Tooth
Rey, Margaret and H. A.  Curious George goes to the Dentist

Updated:  April 01, 2008