Dr. Florez came out to meet the class who was clustered in her waiting room. They were all excited to learn about what a dentist does. When she told them she saw “about twenty patients every day,” they were very surprised. If you counted up all the teeth she saw, that was “more than four hundred teeth!” They all crowded into Dr. Florez’s exam room and she began to tell them about what went on in there. Jasmine sat in the chair and they all waited for Dr. Florez to begin after she put on “gloves and a mask.” After Jacob asked a question she started to talk about Pam, her dental hygienist.
After Pam scraped “gunk off with special tools,” she would polish their teeth. Dr. Florez showed them how the machine that polished them worked. Open up wide because after those teeth were polished it was time for Dr. Florez to take a look with her “tiny mirror and something she [called] an explorer.” She was checking for cavities and then showed the class a set of x-rays. They also learned about bacteria, the need to brush and floss each day, what to do to “keep your teeth happy,” fillings, toothaches, how she keeps track of patient’s teeth, and told them many other interesting things about what dentists do.
This is a fun look at Dr. Florez, a dentist, who teaches a class all about what she does. Elementary school children often go on field trips to visit professionals and learn what their jobs entail. This is a beginning chapter book that will enable young students to be prepared to ask important questions when they go to visit a dentist. There are numerous informative sidebars that add additional information to the text. This is one in a series, “Community Helpers,” that will enable children to explore and learn about people who work in their communities. The newly independent reader can work through this book with a bit of assistance. In the back of the book is an index, a glossary, an activity (Make an Apple Mouth Snack), and additional book and website resources to explore.
Quill says: If you want to enable your young students to learn about community "helpers," this is one series you may wish to add to your list!
