Nurse Responsibility Graphic Organizer

• Write the word "nurse" in the middle of the board and circle it. Draw lines from the circle and connect exterior circles to the lines to create a graphic organizer. Hand students graphic organizer worksheets with a picture of a nurse accomplishing a specific duty next to each circle. Ask students to think about a time when they have gone to a doctor's office or hospital and have met a nurse or to think about their school nurse. Ask the second graders what they think a nurse's job entails. Write ideas that correlate to the pictures on the graphic organizer, such as "take temperature," "give medicine," "give shots," "give hearing and vision tests," "check for lice" and "check heart beat." Supply crayons and tell the students to fill out the graphic organizer and to color the corresponding pictures.
  
  

Nurse Equipment Collage

• Teach students about the instruments and tools a nurse uses. Bring a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff and first-aid kit to class. Provide each student with a baggie that contains a band-aid, piece of gauze, cotton ball, plastic glove, tongue dispenser and surgical hat. Give kids a worksheet that includes pictures of scrubs, nurse's shoes, a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff. Include another worksheet with the names of each instrument or article of clothing. Tell students the name and use of each object. Allow the kids to create a collage by gluing the objects in their baggie and on the worksheet to construction paper. Instruct them to glue the appropriate name of each object above it.
  
  

Nurse/Patient Role-Play

• Show students your stethoscope and blood pressure cuff and tell them the purpose of each tool. Take each student's heart rate and blood pressure while kids color and cut out their own life-size paper stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs. Provide students with gloves and a surgical hat to wear. Ask them to put their stethoscopes on and to carry their blood pressure cuffs. Pair the students up, with one as the nurse and one as the patient, and have them create a short play. Have them perform their plays in front of the class.
  
  

Nurse Puppet

• Create paper bag nurse puppets as a culminating activity. Supply the second graders with paper bags, material to create scrubs and facial features, surgical hats, plastic gloves and paper stethoscope cut-outs. Let the children use their puppets to pretend they are a nurse and to explain information they learned from your lesson. Kids can also work in cooperative learning groups to create a puppet play.