Pop Up Smiling!

1. Invite students to contact the American Dental Association to learn more about the latest recommendations to keep teeth and gums healthy. Search for on-line resources, brochures, and magazine articles on the topic, appropriate for the age of the students.
2. Allow time for students, working in small groups, to investigate the purpose for each of the ADA's recommendation for oral health.
3. To reflect their learning about teeth and gum health, students will plan a pop-up book about the subject. On white paper, use Crayola® Markers to list tips and recommendations to include on each page. Student groups brainstorm how to illustrate each idea with pop-up figures.
4. For each page of the book, students fold construction paper in half so the shorter sides meet. Make two cuts with Crayola Scissors into the fold for each pop-up tab. Each cut should go in from the fold one or two inches (2-5 cm). Fold tabs away from fold edge and then open paper and pull tabs through to the open side.
5. Draw pop-up figures with markers on construction paper. Cut out each figure. Put Crayola School Glue on each tab and press on figures. Dry.
6. Add written text to each page in colorful marker lettering. Writing should reflect learning from the research and interview portion of this dental health activity.
7. Arrange pop-up pages in order. Glue the back sides together.
8. Fold construction paper around the glued pages and glue to make the front and back cover of the book. Add a title and design the cover with markers.
9. Students share their individual books with small groups of classmates. What have they learned about the importance of dental health?

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

MATH: Solve problems involving measurement and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects.

SCI: Construct explanations of how structures in animals serve functions of growth, survival, reproduction, and behavior.

SS: Explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns.

SS: Identify and describe ways family, groups, and community influence the individual's daily life and personal choices.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Possible classroom resources include: ABC Dentist: Healthy Teeth from A to Z by Harriet Ziefert; Open Wide: Tooth School Inside by Laurie Keller.

Invite a local dentist or oral hygienist to visit with the class. Prior to the meeting, students compose questions for their guest. After the meeting, students post learning to a class blog.

Students sponsor a classroom or school dental health poster contest. For judging the posters, students also develop a rubric with specific criteria. Brainstorm important things that should be included on posters. Display posters in hallways as dental health reminders. The Tooth Book: A Guide to Healthy Teeth and Gums by Edward Miller