I Teach Bilinguals: Bilingual Teaching Resources: Dental Health with A La Escuelita

Dental month happens in February but learning about dental health is so important that you can teach it anytime of the year. I’ve noticed that a lot of the curricula we use don’t include a lot about dental health. I like to integrate all subjects into my weekly themes. So, let me share with you some of the activities you can do with your students during dental week.

First of all, for math, students can make a teeth number line. Students can cut out the teeth, place them in order and glue them on a sentence strip or on manila paper. To get the number line teeth, click here.

For language arts, students can create a toothbrush and then you can assign something for them to write on. For examples, for pre-k, they can just write “My Toothbrush”, for second grade, they can write adjectives that describe their toothbrush.

For science, demonstrate how soft drinks and coffee will stain their teeth but water will not. Discuss how water is the best and healthiest drink they have that will benefit not only their teeth but the rest of their body as well.

For social studies, model the proper way to brush their teeth and floss using an egg carton.

You can also demonstrate what a cavity is and how a dentist takes care of it by putting a small silver hat over the hole in their tooth.

Students can get creative by creating a smile using a paper plate, crayons or markers, a popsicle stick and glue.

Involving and educating parents is crucial when it comes to dental health. So, I’ve created an “Advice for Parents” that you can print out and send to your parents. They might not know that if their child doesn’t take care of their baby teeth, they can actually damage their adult teeth underneath. I’ve actually heard people say, “It’s okay, those teeth are going to fall out anyway!”. Parents might also not know that cheese is actually a very good snack for their teeth. Click here to access the "Advice for Parents".

Oh, and let me show you a dollar bill I got a hold of! I’m not saying you should write on your money, I’m just saying that a tooth fairy did and I think it’s cute!

All of these activities and more can be found in my dental unit, check it out! Also, if you purchase any of my dental units during May, June or July, you will help sponsor my sister’s Dental Mission Trip! She has been given the opportunity to volunteer to go on a mission trip to Jamaica in July. She will be traveling from Dallas, TX to Montego Bay, Jamaica on July 18^th through the 25^th. The purpose of this trip is for dental students to work with as many patients as possible to help people get the much needed dental care for free. Dental students are responsible for paying for their own fee, $800 plus airfare, $600. Check out all the dental activities included in my Dental Health unit!