Grade 2
Activity 1
My Respiratory System and Keeping it Safe
Objective
Students will understand the difference between inhaling and exhaling, and how poisons are
taken into the lungs when a smoker inhales the smoke from a cigarette. They will be able to
identify five poisons in cigarette smoke, experience how difficult breathing is for smokers,
and explain why they would say no to smoking.
Materials Needed
Pink and brown crayons
Straws (one per student)
Moth ball
Materials Provided
Color Respiratory System diagram
Student handouts (2):
1. My Respiratory System
2. Poisons in Cigarette Smoke
Essential Academic Learning Requirements Fulfilled
Health and Fitness
Health Skills: 2.1 Understand lung function
Influencing Factors: 2.2 Understand that the poisons in cigarettes are harmful to the
lungs
Science
Life Science - Systems: 1.2 Identify and describe the parts of the respiratory system
and system interaction.
New Words
Bronchial tubes, windpipe, inhale, exhale, cigarettes, oxygen, tar, nicotine, naphthalene,
arsenic, carbon monoxide, poison, tobacco
(These words are in bold the first time they appear in the activity.)
Class Time
30 minutes
Teacher Preparation
Read the Overview on Tobacco Facts and the Respiratory System.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 2
Activity 1
Step 1:
Learn about your respiratory system.
1) Distribute “My Respiratory System” handout.
2)
Ask students to:
Follow with your finger as I describe how air enters your body:
from the nose and mouth,
down the windpipe,
through the bronchial tubes
and into the lungs.
Step 2:
Demonstrate how air enters your body.
1) Ask students to:
Gently pinch your nose closed so you take in air just through your mouth.
Gently cover your mouth and take in air just through your nose.
Feel your windpipe, the tough cartilage at the front of your neck.
Feel your chest as you breathe.
2) Use the color respiratory system diagram to review the path of air again.
3) Ask students to:
Watch me as I show you the path of air again.
Nose and mouth, windpipe, bronchial tubes and lungs.
4)
Ask students to:
Trace the path of air entering the body on your respiratory handout with a crayon.
Step 3:
1)
Learn about oxygen.
Tell students:
Air comes in when you inhale.
Air is pushed out when you exhale.
The air you breathe is a mixture of different gases.
You can’t see these gases.
Oxygen is one of the gases in air.
Your body needs oxygen to stay alive.
You take fresh oxygen in when you inhale.
You push out old used oxygen when you exhale.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 2
Activity 1
Step 4:
Learn about the poisons in cigarettes.
1) Tell students:
Tobacco is a plant that is used to make cigarettes.
Cigarettes contain many poisons.
These poisons are very harmful to the lungs.
We will be learning about five of the poisons in cigarettes:
Tar, nicotine, arsenic, naphthalene and carbon monoxide.
These poisons enter your lungs and hurt them when you inhale cigarette smoke.
2) Tell students:
Tar is a brown sticky, ooey, gooey substance that burns the throat and the lungs.
Tar turns the lungs brown.
Tar sticks to the lungs making it harder for them to do their job.
Nicotine is a natural poison in tobacco, it makes the smoker want to smoke more.
Nicotine from the tobacco plant is used in bug spray to kill bugs.
Carbon monoxide is a very poisonous gas found in car exhaust.
Arsenic is a poison used to kill rats.
Naphthalene is a gas found in moth balls.
Moth balls are used to kill moths.
Step 5:
Demonstrate how the poisons in cigarettes effect your lungs.
Caution: Students with asthma or other health problems should not participate.
1) Gather materials:
Moth balls, straws.
2) Gather students around the demonstration area.
3) Open the container of moth balls.
Ask students to smell the fumes.
Caution: Don’t let the students get their noses too close to the container!
4) Ask students:
Would you want to put this gas into your lungs?
What do you think happens when the poisons in tobacco smoke enter the lungs?
(Makes it hard to breathe, burns, makes you cough, makes you sick.)
5) Give each student a straw.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
Grade 2
Activity 1
6) Tell students:
You are going to learn how smokers feel when they breathe.
7) Ask students to:
Put the straw in your mouth.
Hold your nose closed and breathe only through the straw.
Run in place for 30 to 45 seconds (time them).
Remember do not breathe through your nose, just through the straw.
8) Ask students:
How did that feel?
Would you want to breathe like that?
Step 6: Learn through doing.
1) Distribute the “ Poisons in Cigarette Smoke” handout.
2) Ask students to:
Name the poisons in cigarette smoke.
Tar (ooey, gooey brown sticky substance)
Nicotine (bug killer)
Arsenic (rat poison)
Carbon monoxide (car exhaust)
Naphthalene (moth killer)
Fill in the name of the poison on your handout next to the pictures.
Color the lungs brown.
3) Tell students:
Most people do not smoke because they want to stay healthy.
They know that tobacco is bad for them.
4) Ask students:
If someone offered you a cigarette what would you say?
Tell me why you would say no.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital and Health Center
My Respiratory System
Grade 2
Grade 2
Poisons in Cigarette Smoke
Fill in the blanks with the correct cigarette smoke poison.
Color the lungs brown.
Arsenic
Naphthalene
Carbon
Monoxide
Nicotine
Tar