The Circulatory System
I didn't originally plan to take a full week, plus a day to cover the circulatory system, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut anything. Every little component seemed important. Each one took just long enough to complete that I couldn't figure out an acceptable way to combine them without going way over on time. Looking back on way the material was divided, we more or less covered three mini chapters...the heart, circulatory system and blood.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Having Tessa find her pulse, hold onto it and then count her heartbeats three times in a row for a minute each for
"Count Your Heart Beat" was a wee bit too optimistic of an activity for her. Instead, I had Tessa feel her pulse and then we used a finger pulse oximeter to complete the corresponding worksheet. Had she fully understood the concepts of multiplication and time, I would have had her count for fifteen seconds and then multiplied the number by four to find her heart rate that way. The way we did it seemed more age-appropriate and she quickly got the gist of the activity, which was to understand that one's heart rate fluctuates with activity.
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| Tessa listened to her heart and then mine. She got a kick out of how much faster hers beats. (I bought an inexpensive Omron Sprague Rappaport Stethoscope from Amazon for this activity. It worked perfectly for us.) |
Thursday
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| Tessa was instantly captivated by the Learning Resource heart model. She quickly memorized the path of blood flow through the heart and body and then passionately regurgitated the information to anyone who would listen. As with the brain model that we examined earlier this school year, she cabbaged onto the heart and it became her favorite "toy" playmate for a couple of days. She even made it a special place to sleep next to her pillow at night! |
Following Tuesday
- Completed RSO Circulatory System Lab 2: Blood Model.
Like many RSO labs, Circulatory System Lab 1: Your Heart Rate was too tedious for my taste (and Tessa's, I'm sure), so we skipped it for the more age-appropriate
ScienceWorks "Count Your Heart Beat" activity mentioned above. However, I thought RSO Circulatory System Lab 2: Blood Model was right on! Tessa totally connected with it and it fit well with
A Drop of Blood that we read the previous day.
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| Tessa colored and labeled the diagram of a drop of blood per lab directions. |
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| Tessa poured corn syrup, red hots, lentils and lima beans into a clear plastic jar to create the blood model. Each item represents a component of blood (corn syrup = plasma, red hots = red blood cells, lentils = platelets, lima beans = white blood cells). |
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| After a quick stir, Tessa's blood model was complete. Afterward, she used it to complete the second page of the lab. |
This really is neither here nor there, but I want to mention how much I love empty Peter Pan peanut butter jars. The labels come off super easy and leave no sticky residue behind, plus their size and shape are perfect for
science projects. I'm not terribly brand loyal, but I do love Peter Pan peanut butter jars!
Following Thursday
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| After labeling, coloring and cutting out the various body systems from "Putting It All Together," Tessa assembled the paper model and then explained how all of the systems work together. Quick note...I didn't see the value of having Tessa copy the lengthy system names for this particular activity, so I just cut them out from the list on the first page of the worksheet and had her paste them in the appropriate spots. |
Other Books of Interest
- Hear Your Heart - Paul Showers (Sometimes, I get so caught up with library books that I forget about the good ones right on our bookshelf. I meant to read it on the day we listened to our hearts. So bummed I forgot!)
* RSO =
R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey
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