God sure does have a funny way of giving us learning opportunities in our tiny classroom. I have come down with a lousy sore throat this week, but (praise God!) have stayed well enough to come to school. I had a raspy, scratchy voice on Monday--which made me one wicked cowboy when we read a cutie-patootie wild west story by Diane Stanley called Saving Sweetness (really, check it out. It is stinkin' cute). But my voice sure didn't stay cute. My sweet students have been patient during "whisper mini-lessons" for the last couple of days.
They were shocked to hear that my voice was still not back to normal this morning! And so Noah asked an intriguing question. "I am wondering if there is something infecting your esophogus. What makes your voice go scratchy?" We started a unit of study on the human body last week--and have been focusing on the digestive system over the last few days--so we have been fascinated by all things digestion :)
So, we hit the books. Madison thought perhaps my ailment was more related to the respiratory system. After our books seemed to be no help, we turned to Brainpop. (I must admit that I am in the honeymoon stage with this fab-o educational resource website. We subscribed last week and I am in love. Apologies for the frequent references.) And wouldn't you know! There is a video on voice! We checked out the Q and A section, and there was a question about losing your voice. Holy smokes. So...just in case you are as curious as we were :) here it is!
The condition that causes a person to "lose their voice" is called laryngitis. Laryngitis is an inflammation of the vocal cords. It’s the most common reason that peoples' voices get hoarse. Laryngitis can be caused by a virus, a bacterial or fungal infection, too much coughing, or overuse of the voice. It usually goes away after a few days and may improve more quickly if people try not to talk at all while their vocal cords are healing.
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