Body Systems WebLessons
General Instructions
Teacher Information
Skeletal System
Muscular System
Circulatory System
Respiratory System
Digestive System
Nervous System
If you find a non-working link, copy and paste it into The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine which makes it possible to surf pages stored in the Internet Archive's web archive.
General Instructions

1. Complete the activities below on each system with your group - trading ALL jobs with each new question. Make sure that all members participate equally. Each group is responsible for writing their answers on acetate to share on the overhead. The work will be evaluated by the class for quality work.

2. Be sure to label each assignment clearly and list your group number and your name. You may download a Word document with the questions. See example below:

Team 1: Your names
Skeletal System

3. List each question by number (1, 2, 3, etc.).

4. You will be evaluated on cooperative work skills as well as written work. Your written answers will be scored according to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning guidelines.

5. SPELLING AND NEATNESS COUNT!!!

6. Extra points will be given for high quality work and bonus answers.

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Assignment 1 - Skeletal System

Get ready to learn about your skeletal system! Your body has lots of bones! Bones help give your body shape. All your bones together are called your skeleton. When we talk about the way your bones work together it is called your skeletal system. Without your skeleton, you could not stand or even move. Think about what your life would be like if you didn't have a skeleton, or if your bones didn't work together in a system.

Find the answers to the following questions at Skeletal System and Kids & Their Vitamins: Calcium. Watch the BrainPop Skeleton Movie.

1. Why is the skeletal system important?
2. How many bones are in a human body? Why do adults and babies have different numbers of bones?
3. Why do we need calcium and how do we get it?
 
Every bone in your body has a name. Look at the human skeleton at Skeletal System. Print out the Skeleton Worksheet ((htm) or download and print (Word) and label your bones in your worksheet.
 
Find the answers to these questions at Amazing Facts.
4. What is the longest bone in your body and where is it located? Where are the smallest bones in your body located and where are the majority of your bones located?
 
Find the answers to these questions at Your Gross & Cool Body: Skeletal System.
5. What would happen if humans didn't have bones? What do bones do?
6. How do your bones move?
7. Are your bones alive? What is the soft stuff in the middle of your bones and what does it do?
 
Compare your skeleton to the skeleton of a frog at Virtual Frog Dissection Kit: The Whole Frog.
8. How are the skeletons the same? How are they different? Hint: If you click on the picture of the frog's skeletal system you will get a larger view.
 
Explore Your Gross & Cool Body: Sprained Ankle.
9. What happens when you sprain your ankle?

BONUS: The Big Story on Bones - What are the most interesting things you learned here that you didn't know. Plan to share your most unique facts with your peers.

BONUS: BrainPop Broken Bone Movie - Watch the movie and then take the quiz about broken bones.
 
BONUS: MEDtropolis - Virtual Body: Skeleton

 
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Assignment 2 - Muscular System

Muscles are attached to your bones to help them move. Without muscles you couldn't move at all! Muscles also give us strength. Muscles are constantly doing simple things like helping you blink or breath. They also do harder chores like help you run, jump, and play. So how do they work?

Explore Your Multi-talented Muscles and How the Body Works: The Muscles at KidsHealth. It takes a long time to load, so be patient. It is worth the wait! Then look at Muscular Introduction , and Your Gross & Cool Body: Muscular System and answer these questions:

1. Do you have more bones or more muscles? How do you know?
2. How do muscles work? List and describe the job of each type of muscle.
 
BONUS: Does your heart have anything to do with the Muscular System? Explain.

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Assignment 3 - Respiratory System

What's a respiratory system? Breathing and the way your body uses oxygen is called respiration. We must breath to live. The organs used to help you breathe and use oxygen make up the Respiratory System.

Learn about your How the Body Works - The Respiratory System at KidsHealth and the drawing at Asthma. It takes a long time to load, so be patient. 

1. Draw and label your Respiratory System. (Or you may print out the Respiratory System Worksheet or download it and label that instead of drawing.)
 
2. Compare a cough and a sneeze. What are the similarities and differences?
 

3. What is the Respiratory System ? How does it work? Share at least two interesting facts about the Respiratory System.
 
Now go to The Human Respiratory System. (Site not available, I have used a wonderful resource The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to allow you to view an archived copy) Read about your Respiratory System.

4. Describe how the air passes through the respiratory system, the four major areas it travels through, and what happens in each place.
 
BONUS: Many adults and children have Asthma. Tell your group about anyone you know who has asthma. Work through this OUTSTANDING tutorial to learn about asthma and answer the questions below. Be sure to take time to look at the movies and sounds of normal breathing and breathing during an asthma attack (be patient it takes awhile to load - but it's worth the wait). Then answer the questions below.
 
5. What is asthma? What happens when someone has an asthma attack? Describe normal breathing and compare it to breathing during an asthma attack. What causes an asthma attack? How does it feel?

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Assignment 4 - Digestive System

The food you swallow goes on a long journey through your body. The digestion process begins as you take your first bite of food and ends as your body disposes of the unusable parts. The digestive system mixes, mashes, and breaks down foods into nutrients that your body can use. What is not needed leaves your body.

Look at How the Body Works - The Digestive System at KidsHealth. It takes a long time to load, so be patient. It is worth the wait! Check out the next questions while you are waiting for it to load. Then check out The Real Deal on the Digestive System.

Find out about what happens when you eat something and the path it takes in its journey through your body at Your Gross and Cool Body: Your Digestive System and The Digestive System.
 
1. Draw and label a picture of the digestive system and trace the route that food takes through your body using a red crayon. (Hint: The picture at The Digestive System is a simpler to draw. You may want to use that site to get your drawing started.)
 
2. Describe your digestive system. What mixes with the food when it is in the stomach? What does it do to the food? How long does food stay in each area? Share two interesting facts you learned about the digestive system.
 
Check out the guidelines for a nutritious, balanced and yummy diet. Find out what you should be eating and how much at the US Govenrment Food Guide Pyramid and Kids Health Food Guide Pyramid.
 
3. Draw a food pyramid and label it with the different food groups. Name the different categories of foods and how many servings a day you should eat.
 
4. Below your food pyramid, list the food groups in a row across the paper. Under each food category list all the food you have eaten in that category for one whole day.
 
5. Evaluate your eating habits. How did you do? What should you do differently to have a healthy body?
BONUS: Take the quiz at Food Keeps Us Well! Then take the Food Guide Pyramid Quiz. See how much you know about the food you eat and what's good for you! Make sure that you read each page out loud carefully and learn anything you don't know!

Your heart works constantly to keep your blood moving throughout your body. Your pulse is part of the circulatory system. In an average lifetime, the heart beats more than two and a half billion times, without ever pausing to rest.

Explore The Circulatory System. Then look at Circulatory System and All About Your Heart at KidsHealth. The first takes a long time to load, so be patient. It is worth the wait! Check out the next questions while you are waiting for it to load.
 
1. Explain your circulatory system. Where is the heart located in your body? What does it do? Explain how blood travels through your body. Make sure to tell about the difference between veins and arteries.
 
2. What does each side of your heart do? Explain and draw a picture of the heart labeling the various parts. (Or print out the Circulatory System Worksheet and label it.) In your drawing, place arrows indicating the flow of the blood through the heart. What do you need to do to keep your heart healthy?
3. Print the Blood Chart (htm), or download it in Word, or make a chartand beside each job, write which type of blood cell does that job.

  • Carry oxygen or food to your lungs
  • Find germs
  • Eat foreign things in your body
  • Take carbon dioxide or waste away
  • Kill infections

BONUS:Blood is made up of four parts: red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, and platelets.
What does each part do? How much blood is in the average adult's body? What happens when you loose a small amount of blood? Why are blood cells red? Hint: Check under Red Blood Cells. Tell at least two interesting facts you learned about the circulatory system.

BONUS: MEDtropolis - Virtual Body: Human Heart

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Assignment 6 - Nervous System

Your brain controls everything you do. It communicates with your body, keeps your body functioning, and helps you think. It helps you do things you think about and also does things you DON'T think about. How does it communicate and keep your body working so smoothly?

Check out these resources and find out!Check out your Brain at Your Gross & Cool Body: Brain and your Nervous System at Your Gross & Cool Body - Nervous System.

1. What is your brain made of? How much does it weigh? How does your brain communicate with your body?
2. What is your nervous system? What are nerves and what do they do? How do nerves pass along messages?To find out how the brain controls everything, go to Neuroscience for Kids: Lobes of the Brain.
3. Draw the brain and label each of its four sections. (Or you may print Brain Worksheet (html) or download it (Word) and label it.)
4. Each part of the brain is responsible for specific actions. What are they? Add them to your diagram.Make a chart with a column for each part of the brain. Place each action below in the appropriate column (or print out the Brain Chart (html) or download it (Word) and place a check in the correct column).

  • Making plans for your birthday party
  • Planning what you are going to eat
  • Talking on the telephone
  • Feeling cold during recess
  • Remembering your trip to Disneyland
  • Figuring out how to do multiplication
  • Laughing at a movie
  • Playing Square Ball
  • Feeling the soft fur on a puppy
  • Finding a light switch in the dark
  • Listening to music
  • Watching a movie
  • Feeling pain when you fall

  WOW! You have completed all the Body Systems Activities. Now you are ready to begin your own Body System WebQuest. Go to the Body Systems WebQuest page and begin your project!

 


 Contact Paula Barnard, Learning Central @ Pioneer
Pioneer Elementary School , Arlington Public Schools, Arlington, WA, USA
Updated February 17, 2003