Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune in: Vocabulary builder

15 minutes

Find Out: Analysing messages

15 minutes

Take Action: Creating a preventative health message

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: Vocabulary builder

Step 1.

Explain to students that in this lesson, they will investigate teeth and how we can look after them. While we all know what teeth are and where we can find them, there is a bit of language around looking after our teeth that can be unfamiliar, but that is important to understand how best to care for them.

Break the class into pairs and distribute two oral health terms to each pair. Invite them to have a go at creating a definition for each term; emphasise that it’s not important to get the definitions right, but it is important to have a go. They can record their attempts in their workbooks.

Extension

Students requiring extension could also write a sentence that uses the words they have been assigned. For example:

Enamel - My enamel is strong and protects my teeth from decay.
Toothbrush - I use my old toothbrush to clean my dog’s teeth.

Step 2.

You can then work as a class to discuss and clarify student understandings of these terms, recording themes, ideas and questions on the board.

Keep a record of any questions and use these to guide further inquiry or as an activity for students requiring extension.

You can use the following definitions to guide you (also available on this document if you want to print it for students and use it as a group read-through activity):

Teeth - A tooth is a cream-coloured, hard, bony structure in the mouth. We have rows of teeth of different shapes and sizes. All together they are used for chewing and eating.
Baby teeth - Our baby teeth are the first teeth we get when we are babies. Very rarely, a baby is born with teeth. In most of us, the teeth appear in the first year of life.
Adult teeth - Our adult teeth are the teeth we will have most of our lives. From around 6 years old, we will start to lose our baby teeth as our adult teeth push through our gums.
Gums - The pink, fleshy bits our teeth sit and grow out of.
Enamel - Enamel is the thin outer layer of the teeth. The enamel helps to protect the teeth from damage.
Cavity - A cavity is a hole in your teeth that develops from decay.
Decay - When we talk about decay in our teeth, we are talking about the damage to our teeth from plaque.
Plaque - Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria that forms on your teeth. This bacteria produces an acid that can destroy teeth enamel, which may then lead to tooth decay. The good news is that looking after your teeth will stop plaque and decay.
Filling - When we have a hole in our teeth, we need to fill it to stop it from growing any bigger and to stop it from hurting. This is called a filling.
Dental team (dentist, dental assistant, oral health therapist) - A dentist and their team are like doctors and nurses for our teeth. They may repair damaged teeth, do things to strengthen and protect our teeth and will also give us advice on how we can look after our teeth.
Oral health - This is a general term we can use when talking about how healthy our teeth are and what actions we can take to look after our teeth. Good oral health helps us to talk, smile and eat.
Toothbrush - Brushing our teeth with a toothbrush twice a day (and using toothpaste with fluoride in it) is super important to keep our teeth healthy.
Toothpaste - We add toothpaste to our toothbrushes to help our toothbrushes to remove any plaque on our teeth. The fluoride in toothpaste also makes our teeth stronger.
Dental floss - We can use floss to clean between teeth in places that a toothbrush can’t reach. You can also use little brushes to clean between teeth.
Fluoride - Fluoride is found in toothpaste and helps to keep the enamel on your teeth strong. Fluoride is also found in most of our tap water.
Diet - The foods that we eat can affect our teeth and gums. Foods that contain sugars of any kind can contribute to tooth decay.

Find out: Analysing messages

Step 1.

Students will now examine a range of oral health messages that are delivered in different ways. They will make an assessment about who these messages are intended for and which ones they like the most and why.

Invite students to take a blank sheet of paper in their workbooks and divide it into a table with four squares (see example below). Label each square with one of the following:

Video	Text
Song	Image

Step 2.

Then work as a class to view each of the following oral health messages:

Video - Why do We Brush Our Teeth?
Song - The Tooth Brushing Song
Images - Caring for your baby’s teeth and gums
Text - Tips for brushing teeth

Use the following questions to reflect on each item, either through small group or class discussion:

What do you think this text wants you to know about oral health?
What do you like about how the messages in this text are delivered?
Who do you think this text would be most suited to?
What don’t you like about how the messages in this text are delivered? What would you do differently if you were in charge?

Following a discussion about each item, invite students to record key ideas in their table.

Extension

Invite students to incorporate some of the keywords discussed in the 'Tune in' activity into their tables, underlining any that they use.

Take action: Create a preventative health message

Step 1.

Students will now work independently or in pairs to create an informative text or image that shares what they learned about oral health and caring for our teeth from both the Tune In and Find Out activities. They can decide who should be the audience for their text or you could suggest that it be for someone their age or younger.

Students can use their workbooks to plan their information texts; final versions could be created in their workbooks or on a separate sheet.

Share the following rubric with students to explain what should be included in their informative text or image (also available as a PDF):

Things to include	Excellent	Good	Not yet
Information about brushing your teeth	Will include detailed information about how many times a day you should brush, how long you should brush for, how to make sure all your teeth get brushed, what type of toothpaste to use, and how often to replace your toothbrush. You could also include information about flossing.	Includes some information about how often to brush, how long to brush for and what type of toothpaste to use, but is missing some details.	Very little information is given about how often to brush, or about the type of toothpaste you should use.
Information about diet	Will include detailed information about the types of foods and drinks to avoid and why these should be avoided. Will recommend foods and drinks that are beneficial to our teeth.	Includes some information about what types of foods and drinks are bad for our teeth but doesn’t say why. Makes some recommendations about alternative foods and drinks that are beneficial to our teeth but is missing detail.	Very little information is given beyond stating that there are some foods and drinks that are bad for our teeth.
If you are creating a written text	Images are used to support your text and these images enhance and elaborate on what you have written.	Images are used to support your text but their connection to the text isn’t clear.	No images are used.
If you are creating an image	Labels are used to explain elements of the image, and help to enhance the meaning of the image.	Labels are incorrectly applied or don’t appear to enhance the image.	No images are used.

Differentiation

You could adjust this task to be a song (for example, set to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) or a short written report, depending on the needs of students and the time available.

Step 2.

Students can share their work with another student or pair. Students should assess each other's work based on:

the messages presented in the text or image
the target audience and whether the text or image is appropriate for them.

They can use the peer-to-peer feedback table (available on the Student Worksheet) when assessing each other's work. Remind students to be kind, helpful and specific when providing feedback.

Reflection

Invite students to respond to the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

The most important thing I learned about oral health is…
The most interesting thing I learned about oral health is…

Differentiated Learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool.org, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this. In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance to positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

Smile Squad - Analysing Oral Health Messages

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