Site:
Northwest Elementary School
1202 W First Street.
Ankeny, Iowa
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Topic/Statement of purpose
Happy Healthy Teeth- A presentation of how to have good oral health through prevention and nutrition.
Overview
The audience is a kindergarten class of 25 mostly Caucasian male and female students all around the age
of 5-6. The teachers name is Lisa May. Mrs. Mays class is at Northwest Elementary School located at
1202 W First Street in room 407. The students have a basic understanding of dental health and read at a
beginners level. During the observation, the teacher introduced me to the class and told them what I am
going to school to do. Every one of the students raised their hand when asked if they had visited the
dentist. They are all very friendly and interactive with each other. Parking behind the building is easily
accessible. To enter the building, a button is pressed to be buzzed in to the main entrance. A drivers
license is required to check in and a stick-on badge is given to the visitor. The classroom has white boards
with markers, a big rug centered in front of the white board, ELMO, a projector, and desks are clustered
in groups of 5-6. The lesson will be presented in one session, with a different subsequent lesson in the
spring. The length of the presentation will be approximately 30- 40 minutes allowing 5 minutes for set up.
Goals/Objectives
Goal 1: Students will have a better understanding of what the dental team does
Objective: During the presentation, the students will report two roles of the dental team with 90%
accuracy. (cognitive)
Goal 2: Students will understand why teeth are important and their purpose
Objective: By the end of the lesson, children will be able to tell me three things our teeth do with 85%
accuracy. (cognitive)
Goal 3: Students will know different ways to take care of their teeth
Objective: By the end of the lesson, children will be able to identify two ways to keep their teeth healthy
by drawing two pictures of ways to take care of their teeth on a piece of paper with 95% accuracy.
(psychomotor)
Goal 4: Students will understand which foods are appropriate for snacks and which foods should be eaten
occasionally to promote oral health
Objective: During the lesson, children will be able to identify which foods make our teeth happy and
which foods make our teeth sad with 90% accuracy by placing their provided food in in the properly
marked bin. (psychomotor)
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Instructional Set
Hi class! Do you remember me from the last time I was here?! (Class answers in unison) My name is
Karlee, and as your teacher said the last time I visited, I am a dental hygienist. Can anyone raise their
hand to tell me what you remember about what my job is? (Allow children answer question and build
from the responses.) Those are good answers! Yes, my job is to count and clean teeth before the dentist
comes in to look at your teeth. Today, I am here to talk to you about:
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2. What do our teeth do?
a. Chew
Hold up poster of color- coded dentition and show students each type of tooth and discuss
how many of each kind they have in a primary dentition. Discuss what each type of tooth
does and give an example.
a. Smile
- Have students show their smiles. Tell them you want to see their sparkling clean,
white teeth.
b. Talk.
- Discuss how teeth help us say our words correctly. Have children pronounce the
word toothbrush out loud. Now tell them to pretend they have no teeth by wrapping
their lips around their teeth and say the word toothbrush again to hear the
difference.
c. Hold space for our permanent teeth.
- Discuss baby teeth (20) and primary teeth (32).
- Hold up primary and permanent tooth models to show difference in size and
number of teeth.
- Inform them that we lose our baby teeth, but we arent supposed to lose our
permanent teeth. To keep our permanent teeth, we must take good care of them.
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3. How do we take care of our teeth? Ask kids to raise their hands and assess their basic knowledge of
oral health. Build from responses and give clues.
- Brush
- Floss
- Fluoride
- Sealants
- Choose healthy foods
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4. Eat healthy foods to make our teeth happy.
Discuss that some foods can cause cavities which make our teeth sad. Ask class knowledge of
cavities and briefly explain what cavities are. Explain that the bacteria in our mouths eat the food
that we put in our mouths. They leave behind yucky stuff (acid) that can create holes in our
teeth which are called cavities. We want to eat foods that make our teeth happy with no cavities.
Give each student a piece of plastic play food. Have them line up and tell the class what their
food item is. The class will sort foods and place in appropriate bin marked as a happy tooth or a
sad tooth.
Closure
1. Read the book Brush, Floss, and Rinse. This book is a great review of topics discussed
previously, as well as goes in to details, such as plaque, amount of toothpaste used, and how often
to replace toothbrushes.
2. Ask the following questions about the book and todays lesson and allow children to raise their
hands and answer.
1. Why do you need your teeth?
2. What is plaque?
3. How often do we brush?
4. How much toothpaste should we use?
5. How often should we get a new toothbrush?
6. What is in milk that keeps our teeth strong?
7. What do our teeth do?
8. What is a cavity?
3. Dismiss kids from carpet and instruct to go back to their desk. Pass out a paper with a blank
tooth. Instruct children draw two ways they keep their teeth healthy. Walk around and ask
children to explain what they drew. Place a happy tooth sticker on their paper when they are done.
Inform students to take picture home to tell their parents about different ways they can keep their
teeth healthy.
Good job today class! We talked about many ways to take care of your teeth and keep them healthy.
Today we learned what the dental team wears and does in the dental office and that our teeth help us
smile, talk and eat. Dont forget to brush two times a day and to choose foods that make our teeth
happy! Im sending a chart to go home with you to help you track your daily brushing and flossing in
the morning and night time. Your parents can help you put a check mark after you have brushed and
flossed in the morning, and check again when you brush and floss at bedtime.
Evaluation Activities
Objective 1: Ask students to raise hands and tell what they know about what the dental team does. At least
90% had a base knowledge of the role of the dental team.
Objective 2: Ask the students what our teeth do for us. By the end of the lesson, the children were able to
tell me the function of teeth with at least 85% accuracy.
Objective 3: Have children draw 2 ways to take care of their teeth. Students were able to draw at least 2
ways to take care of their teeth with 95% accuracy.
Objective 4: children will place plastic play food in correctly labeled bin. Children named their food with
the correct name and placed in proper bin marked happy tooth or sad tooth with at least 90%
accuracy.