The WEE Book of PEE

 

The Wee Book of Pee

The Amazingly Gross Human Body Series

By Kelly Regan Barnhill

Capstone, 2010 (Edge Books)

ISBN #1-4296-3357-3

Reading level grades 3-4   

Interest level grades 3-9

“Pee isn’t just some stinky yellow stuff people flush down the toilet. The body’s cells are constantly making waste products while they work. Something has to clean out all the gunk. Luckily, we have an amazing system of organs that keep our bodies clean and healthy. Let’s take a closer look at pee and how it’s made.

From needing to “go” on a car trip to peeing through history, this book sets the scene for the job the urinary system and its organs do in relationship to proper body functioning as an organism. Going about the job of cleaning the blood isn’t necessarily the polite topic of conversation in most places, but the importance of the job the urinary system does certainly is, and the book not only gives the outright facts but makes it fun, fascinating, and of course, gross!

New vocabulary is highlighted in blue and defined in a little sidebar at the bottom of the page. Details about how the organs work and their place in the urinary system make up a big part of the text areas. Photos and labeled diagrams clarify the text, and difficult ideas, such as pH, are explained clearly. The major illnesses related to the urinary system are mentioned and odd, quirky facts will help draw in the reader.

The title certainly drew me in. As a former science teacher, I can’t help but love topics (and books) like this. I wish this sort of book had been readily available when I was a child. I’m drawn to the way the systems in the body are so unbelievably intertwined and books like this can appeal to budding scientists or readers who want to know something gross equally well.

On a personal note, my dad had Type I diabetes and went into kidney failure when his kidney function dropped to 12% capacity. He started dialysis and I came to learn much about the disease, system, and nutrition involved with the shutdown of this important system of organs. While much progress has been made in controlling blood sugar and the damage it causes in the kidneys, the rise of Type II diabetes and resulting kidney failure continues to affect many people today.  This post is in memory of my dad, George Smith.

Activity 1

Review the organs of the urinary system. Draw the urinary system and label the major organs. Write a paragraph that follows the sequence of the wastes filtered from the blood through the kidneys to the urethra.

This print out of the urinary system can be used for the younger students.

Here’s a short movie about the urinary system.

This kid friendly site has information, games, and a coloring page.

Activity 2 For the older students

Look up dialysis and find out how it works to mechanically clean the body’s wastes.

This site has helpful information.

This site provides links to more kidney information.

National Science Standard: organization in living systems

This book is one in a series of six books about the human body and functions titled The Amazingly Gross Human Body.

Book received from Capstone Press.

Water, Water, Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink

Not a Drop to Drink

By Michael Burgan

National Geographic, 2008

ISBN# 978-1-4263-0360-9

Nonfiction grades 4-7

 

 

With more than 70% of the Earth covered by water, it seems that drinkable water would be available worldwide. But it’s not. With the available drinkable water threatened by pollution and overuse, the unequal distribution of water resources makes the search for water for many people a daily struggle.

 This book is one in a series of National Geographic Investigates. Detailed and well-researched, it covers water timelines, scientific studies and new developments, global warming and its effects on the supply, irrigation, and desalinization and the effects these issues have on our world. The text is broken into readable sections with headings, photos, and diagrams. Following a page of “What Lies Ahead” is a glossary, bibliography, and index. The reading level is a bit higher than most of the books I review, but it is well worth the information. It’s a great book for research.

Activity 1

Rates of evaporation experiment: Pour 2 cups of water into a foil pan. Cover it with see-through wrap and set it in a sunny place. For two weeks, measure the amount of water each day and record it in a data table. Plot the data on a line graph.

Adult supervision required! After observing and recording data for the first pan, pour 2 cups of water into another saucepan. Put it on a burner and let it come to a boil. Every 5 minutes, measure the amount of water remaining. Continue until the water is all gone. Make a second data table and plot these results on your line graph in a different color.

Identify the relationship of the evaporation to increased warming and draw your conclusions.

Activity 2

Do these activities and teachers and students can learn more about the water cycle and water vocabulary.

Look at this new water cycle book for the younger children: The Water Cycle by Bobbie Kalman

National Science Standard: Properties of earth materials