Human Body, Reading and Tessellation

From Teachers TV, this video illustrates how three teachers bring maths, science and literacy together. Their creative, cross-curricular lesson plans include using music and dance to teach anatomy and tessellation.

Music can be used to teach human anatomy to Year Four children, as shown by Kirsten Graham, Key Stage Two teacher at Horfield Primary School in Bristol. Using the song Dem Bones, the class discovers basic anatomy and then learns the matching scientific terms. Finally Kirsten gives the children a puzzle of paper bones which they piece together to make a human skeleton.

In a maths lesson on tessellation, Kirsten encourages learning of shapes, space and measures by setting her Year Four children the challenge of creating their own tessellated picture. She then introduces two songs and the children learn that music can also be tessellated.

Rachel Milsom and Charlotte Butcher bring their Year Three classes together and, using the text The Village that Vanished, the children re-enact scenes through dance. With feedback and group assessment the children gain a better understanding of the text.