Eye Didn t Know That Grades K 2 Downloadable Version Lesson Script I. Introduction Today s lesson is called: Eye Didn t Know That. We will be going on a journey to discover many wonderful things about our eyes. We will look at our eyes, their purpose, how to protect them and how to prevent injuries. We will also explore what happens when you visit the eye doctor. Our eyes are working hard for us from the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we fall asleep at night. You may even have an Eye Didn t Know That moment today. Before we get started, I would like to go over a few rules: 1. No talking please. 2. Raise your hands if you have an answer to a question. 3. Hold your questions and stories for the end. II. Purpose Our eyes are like little cameras constantly taking pictures. All day long your eyes take pictures of the world around you and send these pictures to your brain. This is one way we can learn about the things around us. A. Seeing is one of our five senses; it is called the sense of sight. Our other senses are: hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. (Point to the organ as you say it) (Show picture of watermelon, #1) Can you almost taste and smell this watermelon? Which of your five senses comes alive when we see this train? (Show picture of train, #2) Yes you can almost hear the choo choo. Our sense of sight is the most important sense for learning. (Show picture of 1+1, #3) Your eyes just told your brain 1+1 and your brain just told you it equals 2. Most everything we learn is through our eyes. B. Let s learn about our sense of sight. Your eyes are the organs that make up your sense of sight. Your eyes do so many things, like Blinking (blink), Staring (stare), Squinting (squint), Watching (gaze), Looking (look), Peeking (peek) Spying (spy), and Winking (wink). Let s all wink! All these jobs send information to your brain. C. A fly can see in every direction. (Show picture of a fly s eyes, #4) Their eyes have hundreds of parts. That is why it is so hard to swat them. Our eyes have two million Page 1
working parts to help us see things up close and very far away. An eagle flying can see a snake hundreds of feet below. Wouldn t it be great to have an eagle eye? D. Let s explore a few of the parts of the eye. (Display eye diagram, #5) The different parts of the eyes include: 1. The eye brow (Point to your eye brow). The eye brow keeps moisture, like sweat out of the eyes. 2. The eyelashes (Bat eyelashes) work to keep dust and other tiny things out of the eyes. If something gets to close to the eyes, the eye lashes are like guards that cause the eyes to close. 3. The job of the eye lids (Point to your eye lids) is to keep eyes moist and clean. We blink approximately 10,000 times per day! 4. Our eye is about the size of a ping pong ball. We only see a little bit of the eye. Did you know we were all born with the about same size eyes as we have now! Who knows which animal has the largest eyes in the world? (Show picture of a squid, #6) The eye is about the size of a beach ball. 5. The white part of the eye is called the sclera. Can you say Sclera? It is a funny word, and now you can go home and ask your parents to point to their sclera. You may have to teach them. 6. Raise your hand if you have brown eyes. (count) How about blue eyes? (count) What about green eyes? (count) (You can review, i.e. we have 5 brown, 2 blue, 4 green children today) The colored part of the eyes is called the iris. It has muscles attached to it, so it can change its shape. 7. The black dot in the center of the eye is called the pupil. The pupil opens and closes to let just the right amount of light in. The pupil also helps protect the inside of your eye. 8. The clear covering over the iris is called the cornea. Can you say cornea? 9. Finally, let s talk about the optic nerve. That s a big name with a big job. The optic nerve is the messenger in the back of the eye. It carries messages from the eye to the brain. Like a telephone, when you see an image, the eye telephones the brain through the optic nerve. III. Protect Wow, our eyes are very important; they do a lot of work for us. Taking care of them is as important as brushing our teeth or wearing a seatbelt when we are in a car. We need to take care of our eyes because they are the only eyes we have. Let s explore how to protect them. A. The sun warms our bodies and makes us feel good! But too much sun can be harmful. The sun sends invisible rays to the earth. These rays are called Ultraviolet Page 2
rays. Even on cloudy days, the sun s rays shine through and can cause damage. The sun s rays can even bounce off of things like pavement, sand, water, and snow. 1. You can get a sunburn on your eyes. A sunburn on your eyes will hurt the cornea. Remember that the cornea is the clear covering over the iris. Children are at risk for getting sunburn on their bodies and their eyes because they are outside more. 2. It is important to protect your eyes by wearing proper UV protection. Just like you wear your helmet when you ride your bike to protect your brain and you wear sunscreen to protect your skin. You also need to protect your eyes from the sun. You can do this by wearing a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses. Some sunglasses are just for fun but it is important that you wear sunglasses that have a UV protection tag. If you wear glasses to help you see, you can get Transition glasses that turn dark when you are out in the sun. B. Transition lenses help protect your eyes from the sun, now let s look at some other ways to protect your eyes. Who plays sports? Raise your hand if you play baseball, basketball, or racket sports. Does anyone swim? Who plays outside; running and jumping? You can harm your eyes whenever you are playing. There are things you can do to protect them and keep them from injury. (Show picture of racquetball player, #7) You should wear swim goggles with UV protection whenever you are in the water. They will protect your eyes from the water and the sun. To protect your eyes from sun in the winter time, wear goggles with UV protection when you ski, ride a sled, or snowboard. It is a good idea to wear goggles when you are playing contact sports like basketball and baseball. C. There are other ways to protect your eyes: 1. Do not sit too close to your television, computer, or handheld devices. (Picture of young girl, #8) There is an easy rule to remember: Put your fist on your chin. (demonstrate) You should keep the screen no closer than your elbow. Can you do this with me? (demonstrate again) Another thing to remember is that it is important to blink often when you are watching television, on the computer, or playing handheld electronics. 2. Always use good lighting when you read. Like when you are playing video games, you can put your fist on your chin to make sure you do not have your video game to close or too far. Why do your parents tell you not run when you are carrying scissors or sharp items? Yes, if you fall, sharp objects like scissors can damage your eyes or other parts of your body. Please stand away from firecrackers. Firecrackers can burn your skin and your eyes. Page 3
IV. Prevent We just discovered ways to protect our eyes. There are other things we can do to help keep our eyes healthy. Remember, they are the only ones we have. A. Some school age children may get pink eye. (Show picture of pink eye boy, #9) Has that happened to you? Eyes become red, puffy, and itchy. Pink eye comes from germs that you may have on your hands. It is important to wash your hands often and try not to touch your eyes. Another good way to prevent pink eye is to not wear other people s glasses and don t share yours. You should only wear glasses that your parents or doctor give you to help you see. Not wearing your glasses can cause headaches, cause you to rub your eyes, and make you sleepy. B. If dirt or liquid gets in your eye, tell an adult right away. Do not rub your eye it could scratch your cornea. An adult will wash it out with water. The same thing if you get hit in the eye. You may want to rub it, but try not to you need to let an adult know as soon as you can. Sometimes your eyes may get very dry, because they are not receiving enough moisture. It is important to drink lots of water to help them stay moist. C. Another good way to keep your eyes healthy is to eat nutritious foods. Fruits and vegetables are a great way to get the vitamins and minerals your eyes need to stay healthy. V. Professional A. One of the most important ways to take good care of your eyes is to visit an eye doctor. (Show picture of doctor, #10) He will check your vision and let you know if your eyes are healthy. When you start school, you need to see your eye doctor on a regular basis. Even if you don t wear glasses, it is still very important to visit the eye doctor since your eyes change everyday as you grow. If you start to notice you are having trouble seeing, tell your parents or teacher. If you are having trouble seeing things far away or if you have to hold your book very close in order to read it, you need to tell an adult. Maybe your vision is a little blurry or you are just not seeing things clearly; you do not need to be afraid, but it is important to tell your parents or your teacher. B. Let s talk about your visit to the eye doctor, so you will have no surprises when you get there. 1. First we will look at the machines that help the doctor check your eyes. 2. This is the slit lamp. (Show picture of slit lamp, #11) This magnifies your eyes to help the doctor see them better. 3. This machine (Show picture of phoropter, #12) lets the doctor know if you need glasses. Page 4
4. And this machine checks (Show picture of tonometer, #13) the pressure of your eye; much like you may check the pressure in a tire before you go on a bicycle ride. 5. The eye doctor may put drops in your eyes to make your pupils bigger. Your eyes may feel a little sticky like bubble gum and they will be a little sensitive to light when you leave the office. Do not worry, it will not last long. You may want to wear your sunglasses or the eye doctor may have paper sunglasses for you to wear. 6. Raise your hand if you have ever seen a chart like this one? (Show picture of eye chart. #14) Who wants to volunteer to read it for me? (Ask as many volunteers to participate as time permits.) VI. Power The doctor may determine you need glasses. Glasses can help you see well. A. They will help correct things like farsightedness, (Show picture #15) which means you can see far away, but have trouble seeing things up close. B. They can also help with nearsightedness. (Show picture #16) This is when you cannot see things far away, only things up close. C. Astigmatism that is a hard word, but it is when your cornea is uneven. (Show picture #17) It can affect how light comes into your eyes and change how something looks. D. Why do some people need glasses and others don t? Everyone s eyes are a little Different; not just the color but the way they work and how well they see. Sometimes all the parts of the eye don t work together the way they should. Eye glasses, also called corrective lens, can help those who need them to see more clearly. If the doctor determines you need glasses, the next step is fun. You get to try on glasses to find your perfect pair. Wearing glasses, if you need them, can help you excel in sports you can see the ball coming at you faster, you may react quicker. Wearing glasses helps you read faster and many times better. V. Conclusion I have enjoyed exploring our eyes with you. (Show picture of children with glasses, #18) We had a lot of Eye Didn t Know That moments as we discovered the importance of our sense of sight. We learned our eyes are forever and we must take care of them by protecting them from the sun, visiting the eye doctor, and wearing our glasses, if we need them. We can also help keep them healthy by not putting our fingers or other objects in them and by eating nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables. Remember, if the doctor tells you that you need to wear glasses, wear them all the time, so you can always be your very best. Page 5
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