During our unit on Wind and Water, we read a story called One Dark Night. This story tells the tale of how a boy named Jonathan helps a stray cat to take care of her kittens during a thunderstorm. We also read a book from the library called Gracie, the Lighthouse Cat. This story also tells the tale of a mother cat that rescues her kitten during a storm. The children compared and contrasted the similarities and differences of the books. Ask your children if they could tell you about these stories. After reading these books, the children shared about their own pets and the care that animals may need. The children started taking care of some animals that were placed in the Dramatic Play area. During the course of their play and conversations, we decided that we could turn the Dramatic Play area into a veterinarian's office and animal hospital to care for all sorts of animals. |
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 Calum and Sienna care for a turtle, checking his temperature to see if he has a fever.  The vet's office gets very busy with patients. Caroline, Theo, and Iyanna are on duty, while Seamus brings in his turtle as a patient. Caroline and Theo take down the information about the owner and the patient's name.  Theo is very gentle as he takes the puppy's temperature with a thermometer. We learned that there are all different types of thermometers, but Theo says, "This one is to take a dog's temperature and I can just put it in his mouth. Not like the one in the window to see if it's cold out. Oh, he is sick!"  Seamus listens to a dog's heartbeat with a stethescope. Seamus says, "YOu have to be quiet so that you can hear the heart beat."  This patient is one happy llama after being treated for a sore neck! "This is so he won't try to scratch his neck," Seamus explains.  Dr. Michelle works a shift and takes the dog's blood pressure before admitting him to the hospital.  Dr. Max checks an x-ray before deciding how to treat his patient. We learned that x-rays are pictures of our bones. Doctors use these to see if something is broken and needs to be fixed.  Unfortunately, Max and Summer conclude that the turtle's leg is broken! Luckily, Max knows how to treat it by putting a cast on the leg to keep it straight until the bone heals.  Dr. Nolan calls the owner to tell them that the turtle is feeling well enough to go home, while Sienna does the final check of his injury.  Sarah matches her patient's leg to the x ray to make sure that it is the correct xray that she is looking at. Smart thinking, Sarah!  Max records what he thinks is wrong with the patient in his records.  Ethan says goodbye to his dog and makes sure he is cozy in his cage before he leaves him at the hospital for treatment.  Max researches what he can give to a dog patient for a treat.  Theo and Ethan listen to the heart of a dog that doesn't feel well.  Vasilia needs to more information on the patient and takes another x ray to look at.  Dr. Katherine prepares some food for her patient. |
 Caroline checks on a puppy that an owner has brought in. She is applying a bandage to his foot.  Nurse Iyanna checks some information about her patient in a non-fiction book at the vet's office. She is looking up what the dog should be eating.  Oh no! This poor puppy needed a bandage on his nose. Good thing the doctor was available!  Iyanna and Summer work together to diagnose what is wrong with their patient. Iyanna takes the dog's collar off on the examining table and Summer looks in the Dog Care book to see what they can find out.  "He's scared cause he's going to the hospital!" Iyanna says. Sometimes a patient needs a hug! Thanks Iyanna!  Seamus bathes a llama before surgery.  Summer researches in our X-ray book that we keep in the animal hpspital. She consults with Dr. Max about what they see in the x-ray.  The next day, Dr. Nolan checks on the turtle to see how he is doing.  Sienna is very busy completing the admitting forms for her patient. She needs to write the patient's name, the owner's name, and draw or write what is wrong with the patient.  Sarah calls Max for a consult on her patient after reading the x ray.  Ethan brings his pet to the animal hospital and Sarah takes the information from him so that she can admit the animal.  Seamus helps to feed the patients that are in their cages at mealtime.  There were no bones at the hospital, so Max made one out of paper. "He can't really chew it cause it would get wet when he chewed it and fall apart, but I'm just pretending!" Good thinking, Dr. Max!  Well, no wonder the patient doesn't feel well! Dr. Theo diagnoses a broken bone in his leg and his head! Ouch!  These are just a few images that the children were using to make their diagnosis for each patient. Thank you so much to Alex Miselis's (K2) mom for providing the x rays. Thanks Dr. Miselis! |
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