LS.5.1.2: Use models to compare the major systems of the human body (digestive…

How Your Body Works Grades 3–5 · partly supports this outcome

Why your heart races when you run, what happens to your lunch, how your arm bends and where germs hide. Students take their own pulse, build a model gut and a card elbow, and run a handwashing fair test with glitter 'germs'. Everyday materials, no winter, works in any country.

• Why does your heart beat faster when you run? 45–60 min

  Students find their pulse, count it at rest, after a minute of star jumps and every minute while it comes back down, then graph the recovery. They use the pattern to explain the heart as a pump that sends oxygen and food to working muscles.

• What happens to your lunch? 45–60 min

  Teams build a working model of the gut: teeth (a fork), a stomach (a bag with water and vinegar) and an intestine (a stocking squeezed over a tray), and follow a cracker through it. They check their own teeth in a mirror and put the parts of the digestive system in order, with a job for each.

• How does your arm bend? 45–60 min

  Teams build an elbow from card, a paper fastener and two strings, and find that it will only bend if one string pulls while the other goes slack. They feel their own biceps and triceps swap jobs while lifting a bag of rice, and explain why muscles always work in pairs.

Printable practice for LS.5.1.2

These pages practise a closely related idea; the match to LS.5.1.2 is partial.

• How Your Body Works workbook included with the unit

  4 English-support pages, 4 practice pages, 4 readings, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Flowers, Fruit and Seeds: How Plants Make More Plants workbook included with the unit

  3 English-support pages, 3 practice pages, 3 readings, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Keep It Cool: Ice, Insulation and Staying Comfortable workbook included with the unit

  1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Your Senses: How Does Your Body Know? workbook included with the unit

  1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Winter Science: Ice, Snow and Staying Warm workbook included with the unit

  2 readings, 1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Groundhog Day Shadow Science free pack, written for Canada; the skill matches

  2 mini books, 1 reading, 1 cut-and-paste page, 1 assessment, with answer keys. Free sample.

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