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To continue our study of community helpers, we opened up a theme center that was focused on community helpers from the medical community.  During the first two weeks of study, we focused on the language that would surround a doctor's office.  We had doctors, nurses, surgeons and even medical technicians working in this doctor's office.  We discussed some of the tools that could be found in a doctor's office as well as what a person might do in the waiting room.  The preschoolers looked at x-rays, listened to heart beats. fixed broken bones and helped many of the patients who had a sick tummy.

Over the first two weeks of this study, we also talked about the how the preschoolers felt about visiting the doctor's office.  We found out that a lot of them were afraid of going to see the doctor. However, we're hopeful that after acting out the roles of medical community helpers and dramatizing different types of medical visits, they might have a new attitude toward going to the doctor.  To further reinforce the fact that these community helpers were there to help them stay healthy, we watched a few video clips of other children going to the hospital/doctor's office and read various books about doctors and patients.  While they may not jump at the chance to go to the doctor's office, my hope is that they are now more comfortable with the idea of it.

During the third week of medical community helpers, we changed the center's focus to that of a dentist's office.  We talked about healthy teeth, unhealthy teeth/cavities and the importance of brushing our teeth after meals.  We learned about the job of a dentist as well as the helpers that might accompany him/her in the dentist's office.  We also learned about a few of the tools that one might find when they visit the dentist.  Interestingly enough, the preschoolers all liked playing with the drill.  :)  

In our fourth and final week of learning about medical community helpers, we changed the center's focus to that of an optometrists's office.  We learned about our eyes and about how important it is to tell adults if we are having trouble seeing the things around us.  While this unit was fun and informative, it may have also sparked some interest in the medical profession for some of the preschoolers.