Brushing Teeth: Before, During and After

Seven picture cards make up this 1st grade page, and each has three word buttons beside it: before, during and after. The child circles the word that tells when each picture belongs. On the sheet shown the cards are toothpaste squeezed onto a brush, a brush on the outside of the lower teeth, one tooth shining clean with sparkles, a child bent over the sink spitting with the brush laid down on the rim, a brush reaching the inside of the lower teeth, one tooth with dark spots of plaque, and a brush scrubbing the chewing tops with arrows going back and forth.

Brushing is three stages rather than one action, and the three words give children a way to say so. Two cards are before, three are during and two are after. The during cards show three different surfaces, outside, inside and the tops, which is exactly what a dentist asks children to reach. The two single teeth are the cards to talk about: they are not steps but states, a dirty tooth before brushing and a clean one after, so children have to think about what brushing changes, not only what a hand does.

One sheet, seven circles. It works best after the class has watched someone brush, or during a dental health week in February. Children who finish can put the before cards and the after cards in the order they would happen. The next face of the family turns from teeth to germs, and the base page matches each habit to the thing a child uses for it.