Today was National Spinach Day so we talked about the benefits of spinach and where it originated. I showed children a picture of the old cartoon character, Popeye the Sailor Man, and told them how Popeye credited spinach for his strength. (After all, his theme song says "I'm strong to the fin-ich 'cause I eat my spin-ich.")
Our activity for the day was learning about 4 different muscles in the body: biceps, triceps, quadriceps, and hamstrings. I got out the skeleton to show children where these muscles were located in relationship to the bones. They also learned about how these muscles work in pairs (antagonist muscles). One contracts while the other one relaxes. We used some small one and two pound weights to do a little routine to the song "Stronger." Children got the opportunity to use all the muscles we talked about.
Mrs. Dennill's class works on lifting and lowering their weights.
Keeping the back straight is important when lifting and lowering the weights.
This student shows the location of the tricep.
This student tries out a tricep curl.
The skeleton helped children better understand where muscles are located.
This student points out the location of the bicep.
