2012 – 2013
Grade 5
Spring Packet
Heart Health
Benchmark: SC.5.L.14.1 Identify the organs in the human body and describe their functions,
including the skin, brain, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, intestines, pancreas, muscles and
skeleton, reproductive organs, kidneys, bladder, and sensory organs.
Concept: The heart muscle pumps blood through a network of tubes, or blood vessels,
throughout the whole body. As blood travels throughout the body, it transports oxygen and
nutrients to all living cells and carries waste away from these cells.
Materials: a stop watch, optional music (to make it a little more fun), picture of human heart, a
tennis ball
Procedure:
Part I
1.
2.
3.
4.
Review pages 362-363, “Beat It”, in ScienceFusion. Textbook can be found on Edline.
Find your pulse using your carotid artery (at neck) or radius artery (at wrist).
Count your pulse for 60 seconds. This is your pulse rate (beats per minute).
Have a parent, grandparent, or sibling find their pulse rate and discuss similarities and
differences.
5. Run in place, dance, or jump around for one minute.
6. Take pulse immediately after stopping.
7. Repeat exercise and take pulse. Record data. Do a total of three repetitions. Is there a
pattern?
Review Questions:
1. What is the heart and what does it do?
2. Why do we need blood to travel throughout our bodies?
3. When we work our muscles does our heart beat slower or faster? Why?
Part II
1. Every time your heart beats, it does the same amount of work that was done by
squeezing that tennis ball one time.
2. Squeeze a tennis ball for two minutes at the same rate as your resting heart rate.
3. Your heart pumps tirelessly without stopping for your whole life. It’s a lot harder job
than you thought, huh?
Heart Facts:
The heart weighs less than 12 ounces (a can of soda)
The heart is the strongest muscle in the body
The heart pumps 4,000 to 5,000 gallons a day (100 bathtubs)
The heart is the size of your clenched fist (6” long, 4” wide, and 3”thick)
Moving Air
Benchmark: SC.5.E.7.3 Recognize how air temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind
speed and direction, and precipitation determine the weather in a particular place and time.
Also assesses SC.5.E.7.4, SC.5.E.7.5, and SC.5.E.7.6
Concept: Moving air exerts lower pressure on things it’s floating past than the air around it.
Materials: strip of paper 20 cm by 10 cm
Procedure:
1. Place strip of paper under your lower lip. What do you think will happen when you blow
over the top of the paper? Try it.
2. What happened?
3. Moving air has less pressure pushing sideways than the air around it. The moving air
above the paper pushes down less than the still air below the paper pushes up. The
slightly higher pressure below the paper pushes the paper up.
Now try this –
1. Fold paper in thirds.
2. Stand paper up like a bridge on a smooth table or magazine.
3. What will happen when you blow under the bridge? Put your cheek on the table top
and blow.
4. Try it. What happened? The paper collapses due to the change in air pressure.
5. Where is the lowest air pressure? Where is the highest air pressure?
Invertebrates
Benchmark: SC.5.L.14.2 Compare and contrast the function of organs and other physical
structures of plants and animals, including humans, for example: some animals have skeletons
for support – some with internal skeletons others with exoskeletons – while some plants have
stems for support. Also assesses SC.3.L.15.1 and SC.3.L.15.2.
Concept: A backbone or skeleton gives structures to the body. What provides structure for
creatures without a backbone?
Materials: white Elmer’s glue
Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Paint your thumb with Elmer’s glue.
Hold perfectly still while it dries thoroughly.
Predict where you think the glue will split.
You have produced an exoskeleton. How does it feel?
Once dry, slowly start wiggling your finger to break out. No touching thumb with the
other fingers.
6. After the experiment, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly.
Exoskeleton Facts:
Exoskeletons come off in one piece and split like paper towels. Initially, the new
skeleton is soft, leaving the animal vulnerable until it hardens. Splitting out is an
exhausting event. Phew!
Abandoned exoskeletons can be found near wetlands, ponds, rivers, ocean shores and
any other place you may find certain invertebrates: dragonflies, crabs, many insects, etc.