Skeletons: A Third Grade Tradition

Every year 3rd grade students at our elementary school spend the first quarter learning about bones. Each week they learn about the function of at least one bone, and then trace and cut it out of lightweight cardboard paper. They keep the bones in a folder until it is time to assemble their full skeletons. As far as anyone seems to know, this is a tradition that goes back to the opening of the school in the early 1990’s.

Lynnae’s third grade class was fast at work during the last two weeks to make sure all their bones were cut out. They even spent last Wednesday working only on Science to get it done! The teacher asked the volunteer parents to come in and help with the assembly on Halloween. Of course, I wouldn’t miss it... And I brought Charlie along for the fun too.

It was mass pandemonium. The desks were moved to the outsides of the room, and in the middle of the class 20 children had bones spread out all around them... As they learned how to attach the breast bone to the ribs, slide the vertebrae in, attach the neck bone and cocyx, the head and the pelvis, and on and on... Six parents and one teacher rushed from child to child to try to help them figure out how to align shoulder bones or help cut out missing bones. Finally, the project was done and it was recess time. I grabbed my camera with about half the kids still in the class and snapped a few pictures.

The kids had so much fun, and Mr. Bones proudly took his spot on the window by our front door to greet the trick or treaters that night. At least one set recognized that we must have a third grader in the house!