Grade: Elementary
Subject: Science

#3434. Body Systems Unit (10 day)

Science, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Mar 17 04:49:19 PST 2005 by Jo Martin (jmartin@newcaneyisd.org).
Crippen Elementary,
Materials Required: various: please email for worksheets
Activity Time: 10 days / 30 minute periods
Concepts Taught: Body Systems

2nd Grade Anatomy
Compiled by Jo Martin

(TEKS 2.6) Science concepts. The student knows that systems have parts and are composed of
organisms and objects.

The student is expected to:
(A) manipulate, predict, and identify parts that,
when separated from the whole, may result in
the part or the whole not working, such as
flashlights without batteries and plants without
leaves;

(B) manipulate, predict, and identify parts that,
when put together, can do things they cannot do
by themselves, such as a guitar and guitar
strings;

(TEKS 2.3) Health information. The student understands the basic structures and functions of the human body and how they relate to personal health throughout the life span. The student is expected to:
(A) describe behaviors that protect the body structure and organs such as wearing a seat belt and wearing a bicycle helmet;
(B) identify the major organs of the body such as the heart, lungs, and brain and describe their primary function; and
(C) identify the major systems of the body.

Anatomy Day 1 (Overview of Body Systems)

Focus: Show a simple machine (hand held can opener, or clock) to show how parts work together. "The organs in your body work together in groups called systems."

*Show video or read Magic Schoolbus Inside the Human Body .

*Identify the names of the systems that work together in the human body.

Ernie Endocrine
Can Circulatory
Never Nervous
Remember Respiratory
Digestive Digestive
System Skeletal / Muscular

*Groups may work together to come up with a "Memory Sentence."

*Partners trace each other's body on butcher paper. (They will later place organs inside their bodies).

Close: Review the names of the body systems they will learn about. Tell how the human body can be compared to a machine.


Anatomy Day 2 (Nervous System)

Focus: The class forms a circle. The students cup hands. Teacher drops a message on a note card into one student's hands. The student passes the message to the student on the right without reading the message, he will pass it to his right, and so on. The teacher will tap a student on the head to stop the message (representing the brain). The student will read the message, which gives a command such as "touch your nose," or "stand on one leg." The (brain) student will pass the message back to the original student to perform the task on the card.

NOTE: The nervous system provides the vital communication link between our internal and external worlds. The sense organs of the nervous system receive external information and relay it to the brain. The information is then passed to organs, tissues, and cells so they can adapt to changes. (This system consists of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) and nerves peripheral nervous system).

*Teach that the nervous system is the body's messenger. The main parts are the BRAIN and the SPINAL CORD.

*WS 36 "Your Body's Messenger Service." Read the information together.

*Students take turns explaining the function of the nervous system.

*Do "Think Fast" on WS 36 with a partner.

*Color the brain -- gray, the spinal cord -- blue, and the nerves -- red

Close: Glue the brain to the student body traced yesterday. Label it as: BRAIN and Messenger Service. Review the names of the body systems.


Anatomy Day 3 (The Endocrine System)

Focus: Show Popeye video. When Popeye is in danger, he gets an adrenaline pump when he eats his spinach. Tell story about a child has been trapped under a car, and the mother was able to lift the car to free the child.

Note: The endocrine system is a communication network that regulates basic drives and emotions, promotes growth and sexual identity, controls body temperature, assists in the repair of broken tissue, and helps generate energy. Its key components are the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, adrenals, pancreas, ovaries, and testes.

*Teach that the Endocrine System keeps the other systems balanced. It is made up of glands that release chemical substances called hormones. The endocrine system is like a thermostat (regulates temperature) or a smoke alarm. It is made up of glands that control how we grow and sweat. It gives us our emotions. Some hormones make us sleep, hungry, grow, sweat, control the function of our organs, "fight or flight" and determine if we have male or female characteristics. It alerts the systems that there is a possible problem that needs to be attended too. This is when changes in the body occur.

*Go outside or stay in, and have the students do a physical activity that makes the students sweat.

*Have partners measure how tall each other is.

*Have students share in groups how there bodies and emotions react to these scenarios: "Just before a big test," "Riding Dungeon Drop at Astroworld," "Performing a solo in a school program," "Being called down to the principal's office," "Your best friend is hanging on the edge of a cliff," Your pet is missing."

Close: These activities were based on how your thermostat or smoke alarm is working in your body. If you sweat, grow, get goose bumps, cry, have a sudden burst of strength in a dangerous situation, it is just your ____________________system working to keep the other systems balanced.


Anatomy Day 4 (The Digestive System)

Focus: Give out a small, healthy snack, such as a slice of apple. Give out the "Apple Adventure" maze WS 68.

Note: The digestive system breaks down food for fuel and makes it available to the whole body. The fuel we provide must not only be of high quality, but it must also be assimilated properly. The digestive system consists primarily of the stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas and small intestine.

*Teach the Digestive System breaks down the food into liquid.

*Show "The Digestive System" overhead transparency. Say it like a rap. Go back through it slower and ask, "WHERE?" as the food travels. Underline the organs the food passes through.

*Guided Practice: WS 83 "How Does Eating Work." Read together. Guide them through the questions, underlining the answers in the story.

*Independent Practice: Evan-Moor WS 3 "Where Does All That Food Go?"

*Partners may practice telling each other the sequence of digestion.

Close: "Human Digestion" Divide the class so that a group of students will form the mouth, another will be the esophagus, another will be the stomach, the small intestine, and the large intestine. The teacher will be the "food." As the food walks into the mouth, the students will have their hands clasped in a circle, stomping around. The food will then be twirled down the esophagus. The students representing the stomach will surround the food and walk in a circle as the food is bumped around. When the teacher says, "Ready" the students will pass the food into the small intestine, where the food is tugged on. Finally what is left of the food is pushed to the large intestine, and OUT! You may do this several times by allowing each group to rotate as the different organs.

Place the organs onto the traced body from Day 1. Label.


Anatomy Day 5 (The Respiratory System)

Focus: "How many breaths do you take in 30 seconds?" Time students for 30 seconds as they keep track of their breathing while at rest. Predict what will happen when they jog in place for 30 sec. Jog in place and count breaths per second again. Compare.

Note: The respiratory system is essential to the growth and movement of the body. By supplying oxygen, this system enables us to produce energy. If the respiratory system's efficiency begins to diminish, the energy processes of our body also diminish. Without proper nutrition the respiratory system may function at less than its optimal level. Herbs have played a traditional role in cleansing and building the respiratory system for thousands of years.

*Teach the Respiratory System is responsible for your BREATHING. The main organs are the lungs. Describe the relationship between plants breathing in our "waste" called carbon dioxide and we breathe in plant "waste" called oxygen.

*Guided Practice: Evan-Moor WS 5, "How Do You Get Your Oxygen?" Circle the bold words. Give a few minutes to complete. Go over together. Have volunteers describe the process that allows us to breathe.

*Independent Practice: Evan-Moor WS 7 "Then What Happens?" Work on the assignment, then on the back sequence the process that helps us breathe.

Close: Blow up a balloon and ask what organ in our body it reminds them of. Place the lungs onto the traced body. Label.


Anatomy Day 6 (The Circulatory System)

Focus: Stethoscope, make one! Plastic tube, plastic bottle tops and tape. Discuss what this tool is used for. Show how to check a pulse on the carotid artery. Draw a picture of what your heart looks like in your body.

Note: The circulatory system transports food, oxygen, and water to every system of the body through an intricate network of blood vessels. It consists primarily of the heart, blood vessels, and lymphatic system.
For optimal circulatory system health, consider the following support products:

*Teach by using info from WS 34 "Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub" Draw the picture of a heart and the path the blood takes to the heart from the lungs and throughout the body. It is like a circle, because it keeps coming back to the heart. The heart is the most important organ in this system, but the lungs play a big role as well!

*Guided practice: Sequence on sentence strips:
Blood needs oxygen and goes to the lungs.
Blood with oxygen goes back to the heart.
The heart pumps the blood with oxygen throughout the body.
The blood returns to the heart with all of the oxygen used up!

*Do "Something Special" on the Lub-Dub WS 34.

*Independent Practice: Evan-Moor WS 8 "The Heart and Blood Vessels"

Close: The Circulatory System is the Blood Pumper of the body. When blood needs oxygen it goes to the ______________. Then the blood goes back to the ______________. It is then pumped ____________________. When it is out of oxygen it goes back to the _________________. When the heart realizes the blood doesn't have oxygen, the blood is pumped back to the ______________.


Anatomy Day 7 (Skeletal / Muscular System)

Focus: "There are 206 of me in your body. What am I?"
Have you ever seen a house being built? What do they start with? The bones in your body give you shape. The skeletal / muscular system is the frame of your body!

*Give each student a clothespin. See how many times it can be squeezed in 20 seconds in the right hand, now the left. What makes you able to move? It is the 600 muscles in your body! Which muscles are stronger, the left or right? Why??

*Demonstrate using popsicle sticks. The stick is the frame or the bones, then add rubber bands around it, to show the muscles, and over that put cloth or paper to show the skin. Now you have popsicle man!

*Guided Practice: Read WS 29 "Framework." Circle all bold words. Match words in the question to those in the story to fill in the correct words.

*Put a paper skeleton together.

Close: "How does the skeletal / muscular system work with the other systems in your body?" The bones provide protection for your organs.

"What is a way to protect your bones when biking, skateboarding, etc. . .?"


Anatomy Day 8 (Review)

Focus: Show a 22 foot piece of yarn all curled up. Tell them that it represents the small intestine, but don't say how long it is yet. Slowly stretch it out.

*Review the different body systems. Ernie, Can, Never, Remember, Digestive, System. Endocrine, Circulatory, Nervous, Respiratory, Digestive, Skeletal. Let students share their own "Remember Sentence."

*Show traced bodies with body parts glued on and labeled.

*Play "The Organ Game" Partner A reads the clue card, Partner B says the name of the organ. Correctly named with one clue gets 4 points, two clues gets 3 points, three clues gets 2 points, and four clues gets 1 point. When finished, they can make up their own clue cards.

*Review behaviors that can protect the body structure and organs such as wearing a seat belt and wearing a bicycle helmet.


*Discuss how if the organs are not there, then the system would have trouble working, like flashlights without batteries.

*Discuss how when the organs are put together, they can do things that cannot be done alone, such as a guitar and guitar strings.

Anatomy Day 9 (Review)

*Teacher made study sheet.

*Begin "Build a Body." Get different body parts from magazines and make a complete person. Write a story about that person.

Anatomy Day 10 (Evaluation)


*Teacher made test.

*Complete "Build a Body." If time students may present their stories.