Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
Grade Level: K–2
Curriculum Focus: Life Science
Lesson Duration: Three class periods
Program Description
From mammals and reptiles to ecology and nutrition, introduce young students to a wide variety of life
science topics with these segments drawn from Discovery Channel School's award-winning series.
Lesson Plan
Student Objectives
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Discuss the parts of the human body.
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Draw and cut out outlines of the human body.
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Draw pictures of human organs and place them correctly.
Materials
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Video segment “Human Biology: Introduction” in Discovery Science Library:
The Basics: Life Science
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Computer with Internet access
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Newsprint and markers
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Paper and scissors
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Markers and colored pencils
Procedures
1. Ask students what they know about the human body. Write their ideas on a sheet of newsprint.
Students may mention the following:
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The heart beats inside the chest.
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Skin covers the body.
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The brain is in the head.
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Bones and muscles help us move.
Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
2.
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Tell students that they are going to watch the video segment “Human Biology: Introduction,”
which identifies some parts of the body and explains the jobs those parts perform.
3. After students have finished watching the segment, explain that they will work on an activity to
help them remember what they’ve learned about the parts of the body. Distribute paper and
scissors, and ask students to draw an outline of the human body and then cut it out.
4. Explain that students will use crayons or colored pencils to draw different parts of the body in
the correct locations on their figures. First ask students which body parts they should include.
Make sure students include the following:
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Skin: the largest human organ, covers the body.
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Heart: inside the chest, pumps blood throughout the body.
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Bones: hold up the body, give it shape.
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Lungs: inside the chest, absorb oxygen from the air.
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Brain: body’s control center, allows us to move, talk, think.
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Spinal cord: a thick column of nerve cells protected by the backbone, connects the brain to
the rest of the body.
5. Give students time in class to draw these organs on their figures. Encourage students to draw
the body parts as accurately as possible and to put each organ in the correct location.
6. Ask volunteers to share their completed drawings with the class. Then collect the drawings and
display them in the class.
7. Conclude the lesson by showing the class the sheet of newsprint with their ideas about the
human body. What did students learn from the video and the activity? What else would they
like to learn about the human body and how it works?
Assessment
Use the following three-point rubric to evaluate students’ work during this lesson.
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3 points: Students were highly engaged in class discussions; created an accurate
representation of the human body that included all the organs drawn and placed correctly.
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2 points: Students participated in class discussions; created a satisfactory representation of
the human body that included most of the organs drawn and placed correctly.
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1 point: Students participated minimally in class discussions; did not complete a
representation of the human body, and the organs were incomplete or placed incorrectly.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
Vocabulary
bones
Definition: Structures in the body of hard material that make up and support the skeleton of
most vertebrate animals
Context: Eating a healthful diet and getting plenty of exercise help your bones stay strong.
brain
Definition: Organ in the skull and part of the central nervous system that controls most of the
body’s thought and functions
Context: Without a brain, we wouldn’t be able to think or move.
heart
Definition: A muscular organ in the chest that expands and contracts to move blood throughout
the body
Context: With every beat of the heart, blood is being pumped to the body’s other organs.
lungs
Definition: Paired organs forming the special breathing structure of vertebrates that breathe air
Context: After coming in through the nose, oxygen travels to the lungs, where it is absorbed by
blood vessels.
skin
Definition: The body’s outer covering that protects us from injury and infection, prevents the
loss of water, and helps regulate temperature
Context: The skin is the body’s largest organ.
spinal cord
Definition: The thick column of nerve cells, protected by the backbone that connects the brain to
the rest of the body
Context: The brain receives messages from the rest of the body in the form of nerve impulses,
which travel through the spinal cord.
Academic Standards
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)
McREL’s Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education
addresses 14 content areas. To view the standards and benchmarks, visit http://www.mcrel.org/.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
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Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
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This lesson plan addresses the following national standards:
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Life Science—Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms
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Language Arts—Viewing: Uses a range of strategies to interpret visual media
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences provides guidelines for teaching science in grades K–12 to
promote scientific literacy. To view the standards, visit this Web site:
http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/overview.html#content.
This discussion guide addresses the following science standards:
Grades K-4
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Life Science: Organisms and environment
Support Materials
Develop custom worksheets, educational puzzles, online quizzes, and more with the free teaching tools
offered on the Discoveryschool.com Web site. Create and print support materials, or save them to a
Custom Classroom account for future use. To learn more, visit
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http://school.discovery.com/teachingtools/teachingtools.html
DVD Content
This program is available in an interactive DVD format. The following information and activities are
specific to the DVD version.
How To Use the DVD
The DVD starting screen has the following options:
Play Video—This plays the video from start to finish. There are no programmed stops, except by
using a remote control. With a computer, depending on the particular software player, a pause
button is included with the other video controls.
Video Index—Here the video is divided into sections indicated by video thumbnail icons; brief
descriptions are noted for each one. Watching all parts in sequence is similar to watching the video
from start to finish. To play a particular segment, press Enter on the remote for TV playback; on a
computer, click once to highlight a thumbnail and read the accompanying text description and click
again to start the video.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
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Standards Link—Selecting this option displays a single screen that lists the national academic
standards the video addresses.
Teacher Resources—This screen gives the technical support number and Web site address.
Video Index
Segment 1: Ecology: Introduction (3 min.)
Find out about ecosystems and the features they all share. Observe plants and animals in
different ecosystems and learn why they depend on each other to survive.
Pre-viewing question
What do you know about the term “ecosystem?”
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
How do living and nonliving things depend on each other in an ecosystem?
Answer: Plants make food from energy that comes from the sun. Some animals eat plants, and
others eat animals that eat plants. Decaying organisms make the soil fertile, which lets plants
thrive so that they can continue to make food for animals.
Segment 2: Temperate Rain Forest (7 min.)
Travel to Olympic National Park, a temperate rain forest in Washington State. Observe the trees
change color in the fall and watch bears play and look for food.
Pre-viewing question
Have you ever visited a forest?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
Why is the temperate rain forest a good place for bears to live?
Answer: Bears have plenty of room to move about as they search for food: leaves and berries
and fish in rivers and streams.
Segment 3: Polar Ice (9 min.)
Explore Antarctica, an icy continent and location of the South Pole. Find out why it is always
cold there, and watch penguins care for their young.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
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Pre-viewing question
Why do you think it is always cold in Antarctica?
Answer: Some students may know that the ice reflects the sun’s heat instead of absorbing it.
Post-viewing question
How do male and female penguins work together to care for their young?
Answer: Females lay an egg and keep it warm under a flap of skin called a brood flap. About 9
weeks before the egg hatches, the females feed in the water and the males keep the eggs warm
by placing them under their feet. The eggs hatch while the females are gone, so the males care
for the young until the females return.
Segment 4: Plants (7 min.)
Examine many types of plants and learn the five main parts of a plant: roots, stem, leaves,
flower, and seeds. Discover what plants need to make their own food.
Pre-viewing question
What plants are you familiar with?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
What are the five main parts of a plant, and what does each part do?
Answer: The five main parts of a plant are roots, the stem, leaves, flowers, and seeds. Roots
anchor a plant to the ground; stems carry food and water to the rest of the plant; food is made in
the leaves; the flower makes seeds; and seeds become new plants.
Segment 5: The Lives of Butterflies (8 min.)
Learn about the life cycle of butterflies. Watch butterflies as they start from an egg and develop
through the stages of caterpillar, pupa, and adult butterfly. Look closely at the parts of a
butterfly’s body.
Pre-viewing question
Have you seen caterpillars or butterflies?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
What are the four stages in a butterfly’s life cycle?
Answer: The stages are egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
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Segment 6: Mammals: Introduction (4 min.)
What characteristics set mammals apart from other animals? Observe a wide range of mammals
in their environments.
Pre-viewing question
What animals do you know about that are mammals?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
How are all mammals alike?
Answer: All mammals have hair on their bodies, and females produce milk to feed their young.
Segment 7: Reptiles: Introduction (3 min.)
Observe snakes, turtles, lizards, and crocodiles—all examples of reptiles. Find out how reptiles
are similar and different.
Pre-viewing question
What do you know about reptiles?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
What are two unique features of a horned lizard?
Answer: The horned lizard lives in the desert and is the color of sand so it can blend into its
environment.
Segment 8: Frogs and Toads (4 min.)
Learn about amphibians, animals that spend part of their life in the water as well as on land.
Find out what makes frogs and toads alike and different.
Pre-viewing question
What are the differences between frogs and toads?
Answer: Answers will vary, but some students may know that frogs jump and prefer moist
environments, while toads walk live in drier environments.
Post-viewing question
What trait do brightly colored frogs share?
Answer: Brightly colored frogs are poisonous.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
Segment 9: Invertebrates: Introduction (4 min.)
Explore the world of invertebrates on land and in the water. Learn the characteristics that
invertebrates share.
Pre-viewing question
What is an invertebrate?
Answer: Some students may know that an invertebrate is an animal without a backbone.
Post-viewing question
Can you name two kinds of invertebrates that live in different environments?
Answer: Jellyfish live in the water and scorpions live on land.
Segment 10: Mold (2 min.)
Learn about mold, a kind of fungus. Find out how mold was used to make penicillin, a
medicine that has helped save many lives.
Pre-viewing question
Describe the appearance of mold on bread or another food.
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
Who discovered that mold could stop the growth of bacteria?
Answer: The scientist Alexander Fleming made this discovery.
Segment 11: Human Biology: Introduction (3 min.)
Check out different systems in the body--the skin, skeleton, lungs, the heart, and brain—and
learn about the functions of each.
Pre-viewing question
What body systems are you familiar with?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
What is the brain’s function?
Answer: The brain is the body’s control center, directing movement and thought.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
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Discovery Science Library: The Basics
Life Science
Teacher’s Guide
Segment 12: Nutrition (3 min.)
Discover why a healthful diet is essential to a well-functioning body. Learn the foods people
should try to eat, and observe athletes working on their skills.
Pre-viewing question
What foods healthful foods do you eat?
Answer: Answers will vary.
Post-viewing question
What three things can you do to stay healthy?
Answer: Reduce the amount of junk food, add healthful foods to the diet, and exercise
regularly.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
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