Bone Unit

Originally, my assistant brought in parts of a cow that died on her family farm. It is not unusual for a farm to have a pile of bones somewhere. Then, while visiting Mt Rushmore I spotted a super cool roadside hut covered with bones. I knew that was the place to find my own cow skeleton! Found a book that had a good picture of the whole guy and made Parts of the Cow Skeleton vocabulary cards for the kids to copy and make their own book. It is a favorite and students remember this lesson for years after!

The unit expanded as I always find interesting things to bring to class. A dead rabbit lay as a skeleton right near the sidewalk down the street. I scooped him up and made a unit of pictures, fur and story writing about the poor creature.

My son dissects an owl dropping to reveal the minute bones of the mouse he ate.  It is examined with great curiosity and gross outness.

  Montessorians are collectors and so a deer foot, fur and antler are added to an antelope skull.
Student colors in a lovely deer picture.

Card matching. First lay out skeleton picture, then match animal, then read word and label.
All cut from books.

Kids copy my master for Draw in the Skeleton. I traced the masters from a book. These are 5 year old kindergarten students. Any older age would love to do this.

This bone unit can start with the wish bone from your baked chicken dinner and then the leg, breast, and wishbone from a turkey dinner. Lay the bones in the sun for many days in a place where the raccoons won’t get them and then scrub with bleach water.