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February 11, 2014

Dental Hygiene Science Experiment

Across yesterday's Science block and today's, we did a really awesome experiment for Dental Hygiene Month. The kids were so intrigued by this... and to be honest... so was I!

Here's what we did:






- I brought in vinegar and a hard boiled egg. We used apple cider vinegar because I wanted the color to change the color of the egg slightly, but also be clear enough for us to see the egg in the jar.






- We talked about similarities between the egg and our teeth. We compared the shell to our teeth's enamel (we wrote down enamel and broke down the word as well, finding out how many syllables there are). We used adjectives to describe what they have in common. We put: hard, smooth, and white. I got the "Plaque Predictions" sheet from a free download on TpT by The First Grade Reader.




- We talked about plaque, what it is, why its bad, and how the vinegar in the experiment is like a whole lot of plaque.

- We learned the meaning of "predict" and the kiddos wrote down their predictions of what would happen to the egg if we kept it in the vinegar for a whole day. We got a lot of "it will rot," "it will crack," and "it will get cavities." They made me smile. :)



- We put the egg in a jar of vinegar and tightly screwed the lid on. I left the jar on display through the rest of the day and the beginning of the next day. The kids knew not to touch it and they loved checking on it as they lined up for lunch, went to bathroom, switched centers, etc.




- The next day, we visually observed the egg and talked about what we saw. Then we took it out of the jar. I put the egg in a little bowl and had the kids feel the end result. The egg was soft! The shell was gone. It was like a peeled hard boiled egg.




- They drew what the egg looked like now and we discussed that the longer plaque is on your teeth, the weaker your enamel becomes.

This was a really fun and super easy experiment that the kids loved. We practiced making predictions and observations and recording results.

If you try the experiment, let me know how it goes for you! I hope your kiddos love it as much as mine did!

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