Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.1C Grade 8 CPI 3

 

Standard: 2.1 - Wellness

 

Strand: C - Nutrition

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 - The student will describe the impact of nutrients on the functioning of human body systems.

 

Grade: 8

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        THE BODY SYSTEMS GAME - Prior to class, print the names of the body systems and associated organs on index cards. Inform the class they will be playing a game that requires them to associate a body organ with the correct body system. Tape one of the index cards to each student’s back. (Obviously the student cannot know what is on the card.) Students circulate around the room and can ask each student one yes or no question in an attempt to identify the system or organ on their card. When the student correctly identifies the card, the card is removed from his/her back and taped to the front of the student’s body. As students guess their identities, they join other class members associated with the same body system. Finally, when all the cards are guessed, students in each group develop a poem, rap, or song about the body system and ways to keep it healthy.

 

      Variation: Students develop skits that describe the functions of the body systems and perform the skits for younger students. Costumes can be designed to appropriately reflect the characters.

Variation: Students create a diary of a body system or organ entitled “A Day in the Life.”

Variation: Students create a pyramid graph that illustrates the various components of a body system. Cells occupy the point of the pyramid and the systems the base.
 

·        EXERCISE AND BODY SYSTEMS - Students develop an individual exercise plan. As part of the plan, students describe how the plan will benefit the various body systems and correlate the plan with a healthful diet.

 

·        NUTRITION AND GROWTH - Brainstorm answers to the following question: “When is good nutrition especially important?” Using the students’ answers, divide the class into small groups and assign each group a time or condition that requires healthy eating (e.g., infancy, puberty, pregnancy, illness, injury). Each group researches the rationale for healthy eating and develops a healthful eating plan noting the impact of diet on the body systems. Groups present their plans.