... to the inside of a cow.

I know I don't have a magic school bus, but I did get to play with some cow insides. It was so much fun!!! My family butchered a few cows a little while ago and I asked the butcher if I could keep some of the organs. I wanted to have a show-n-tell time with the fourth grade class that I volunteer in. They just finished their organ unit and what better way to finish than to actually touch and see the real thing?! So the buther gave me a heart and lungs attached with the trachea, and an extra heart. I cut off all the extra fat and junk at home, I also made sure to cut the heart in half and a little part of the lungs. Then I tried to inflate the lungs, I only got one little lobe to inflate, but it was still really cool! The kids had no idea that I was bringing it in, they were only told that we would have a special activity in the afternoon. They were so excited!!!! I brought gloves so everyone could touch it and feel the difference between when the lungs were inflated and when they weren't. They enjoyed sticking their fingers in the aorta and feeling the cartilage rings in the trachea. They thought it was so cool to see the valves in the heart. Some of them wanted to know if our heart and lungs looked the same. There was still some blood in the heart so some of the kids were grossed out but the majority wanted to make sure and get some blood on their gloves. They had a blast and I certainly did too!! I hope that next time I can get the liver or an eyeball, or maybe part of the intestines, or I could get part of a bone, maybe even a kidney....