Download My Circulatory System and Keeping it Safe Objective Materials

Grade 3
My Circulatory System and Keeping it Safe
Activity 2
Objective
Students will understand that their heart and lungs work together to supply oxygen to their
cells through their arteries and veins. They will also understand that nicotine in tobacco
causes plaque to build up, closing off the arteries making it hard for the blood to get to the
cells. The students will talk about saying no to tobacco and sign a pledge to be tobacco free.
Materials Needed
Pencil
Straws (one per student)
Red Beads (small enough to fit through a drinking straw)
Materials Provided
Color “How Your Circulatory System Works” diagram
Student handouts (2):
1. My Circulatory System
2. Student pledge certificate
Classroom pledge poster
Essential Academic Learning Requirements Fulfilled
Health and Fitness
Health Skills: 2.1 Understand circulatory system function
Influencing Factors: 3.2 Understand tobacco causes heart disease
Science
Life Science-Systems: 1.2 Describe and analyze interaction of the circulatory system
Life Science-Human Biology: 1.2 Understand circulatory function as a system to mainain
health.
New Words
Heart, pump, beat, oxygen, nicotine, arteries, veins, plaque, circulation, alveoli,
trachea, chewing tobacco
(These words are in bold the first time they appear in the activity)
Class Time
30 minutes
Teacher Preparation Time
15 - 20 minutes
Read the Overview on Tobacco Facts and the Circulatory System.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 3
Step 1:
Learn about your circulatory system.
Activity 2
1) Distribute “My Circulatory System” handout.
2) Show students the color “How Your Circulatory System Works” diagram.
3) Tell students:
The heart is a muscle that pumps blood through tubes called veins and arteries.
The red tubes are the arteries.
This blood is red because it is full of oxygen.
Blood gets oxygen from the alveoli in your lungs.
We learned about alveoli in the activity about the lungs.
The arteries carry blood from your heart all the way to your feet.
The blue tubes are the veins.
Veins bring the used blood without oxygen back to the heart.
Step 2:
Demonstrate the flow of blood through your arteries.
Caution: Students with asthma or other health problems should not participate in this
exercise!
1) Ask students to:
Stand up.
Run in place for one minute (time them).
Put your fingers on your neck next to your trachea (windpipe).
Feel the blood pumping through your artery.
Can you feel it?
2) Tell students:
This artery carries blood from your heart to your brain.
Your brain needs a lot of oxygen from the blood so you can think.
Other arteries carry blood to your legs so you can run.
The process of blood traveling through your body to your cells is called circulation.
3) Review the flow of blood using the students circulatory system handout.
The heart pumps blood through your arteries to take oxygen to your cells.
The blood without oxygen returns to your heart through your veins.
4) Ask student to:
Find the heart on your handout.
Find the veins and arteries.
Color the veins blue and the arteries red.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 3
Step 3:
1)
Learn how tobacco effects your circulatory system.
Activity 2
Tell students:
Tobacco in cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing tobacco contain a poison called
nicotine.
Nicotine makes your heart beat faster and wears it out.
Nicotine is addictive and makes it hard for smokers to quit smoking.
Nicotine also causes a sticky substance called plaque to stick to the sides of the
arteries. When plaque gets thick, it is hard for the blood to flow through your arteries.
When your blood cannot get through your arteries, it is hard for your cells to get oxygen.
2)
Ask students to:
Hold your breath as long as you can.
How do you feel after holding your breath?
What happens if your cells do not get enough oxygen?(Become tired, weak.)
Would it be hard to run and play sports if your cells did not get enough oxygen?
Step 4:
Demonstrate how plaque restricts blood flow in the arteries.
Caution students not to put the straw or beads in their mouths to avoid aspiration of
beads!
1)
Distribute the straws and the beads.
2)
Ask students to:
Put the beads all the way through your straw.
Now pinch the middle of the straw closed.
Put the beads into the straw again.
3)
Ask students:
What happened to your beads when you did not pinch the straw closed?
What happened to the beads when you pinched the straw closed?
4)
Tell students:
When you smoke or chew tobacco, nicotine causes plaque to close your arteries.
Eating foods high in fat like cheese and fried foods can also close your arteries.
When your arteries close up from plaque, it is hard for the blood to flow through just like
in your experiment.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 3
Activity 2
5) Ask students:
What can you do to keep your arteries healthy?
(Not smoke, eat foods low in fat, exercise.)
Do you want to be a smoker?
What would you say if someone offered you a cigarette?
Step 5:
1)
Learn about saying no.
Ask students:
What are some of the ways to say no?
(Walk away, tell an adult, say no!, No way!. That’s not healthy!)
Is it hard to say no sometimes?
2)
Tell students:
Sometimes it is hard to say no because you are afraid that you might lose a friend or that
some one might laugh at you.
I don’t want to have a friend that will get me in trouble or who wants me to do things that
will hurt my body.
Do you?
If you want to be tobacco free, you can join the Tobacco Free Kids Club today.
Step 6: Sign the pledge
1)
Distribute the students’ individual pledge certificate.
2)
Read the pledge out loud.
3)
Ask students to:
Sign your pledge certificate.
Take it home and share it with your family.
Put it somewhere to remind you that you do not want to smoke.
4)
Show the class the Tobacco Free Kids Club pledge poster.
5)
Ask students to:
Come up and sign the class poster.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 3
Activity 2
Step 7:
Conclusion
1) Post the Tobacco Free Kids Club pledge poster.
2) Tell students:
Thank you for participating in these Tobacco Free Kids Club activities.
I hope you have learned a lot about how tobacco hurts your body.
I am happy you want to grow up tobacco free.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grades 1, 2, 3
My Circulatory System