Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.3A Grade 2 CPI 2

 

Standard: 2.3 - Drugs & Medicine

 

Strand: A -   Medicines 

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 2 -  The student will explain that medicines can be helpful or harmful and that when used correctly, medicines can help keep people healthy.

 

Grade: 2

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        WHY DO I NEED SHOTS? - Ask the students: “How many of you really like to go to the doctor and get a shot? Do you know what shots are for and why they are so important?”. Put the responses on the chalkboard. Explain to the class that most people in our country are protected against many very serious diseases because they have had shots or immunizations (write the word on the board). Explain that most children are immunized as infants because babies are very susceptible to germs. Sometimes as children and adults grow older they need a booster shot. This shot boosts or pushes the body’s defense system to work better. Use a PACMan type video or computer game to illustrate how the body’s defense system literally eats germs in our systems. Explain that immunizations help the body by creating more good PACMen to fight off the bad germs that enter our bodies. Next, use a doll to show students the many ways germs can enter our bodies. Point out that the most common ways children become exposed is through the mouth and cuts on the skin. Divide the class into four groups and give each group a doll or stuffed animal. (Be sure the doll or stuffed animal has a name, or allow the group to select a name.) Each group writes or illustrates five ways that the doll or animal can protect himself/herself from germs. Groups develop a story about the doll or stuffed animal and how he/she is protected from germs and share their stories with classmates.

Variation: Many hospitals have teddy bear clinics where students can bring a favorite stuffed animal to find out about health and safety issues. Prepare the students for the hospital visit by discussing germs and the body’s defense system.

 

·        MEDICINES CAN MAKE YOU WELL - Tell the class a story about a make-believe creature who isn’t feeling well (e.g., a dragon with a sore throat). Ask the students: “What makes you feel better when you don’t feel well. Maybe you have a cold or a sore throat. What makes you feel just a little bit better?” Students will probably respond with things like “soup,” “sleep,” or “medicine.” Write the student responses on the board and relate them to the story. Each student draws a “Get Well Creature” picture illustrating something that might make the creature in the story feel better. Use the student pictures to define the word medicine and explain how medicines can help the body. Follow this activity with a visit to the school health office. The school nurse explains the reasons for medicine use, safety rules for medicines, and related school rules including what students should do when they do not feel well in school. After the visit, brain-storm reasons why people might need medicines. Each student writes or illustrates one safety rule about the use of medicines. The rules are displayed as a border for the “Get Well Creature” drawings.

 

·        HOW DRUGS CAN AFFECT MORE THAN ONE PART OF THE BODY - Students locate their hearts by putting their hands on their chests. Ask the students where the blood goes after it is pumped through the heart. Using diagrams or anatomical models, explain how the blood travels around the body. Students place one hand over their stomach and the other hand over an ear. Explain that if they were to take medicine for an earache, it would enter the bloodstream near the stomach and the blood would carry the medicine to all parts of the body. Reinforce that drugs change the way the body works. Remind students that the body is like a machine where all the systems and parts must work together. A change in one system can cause a change in another. Demonstrate this using dominos to show the action of drugs affecting the body. Using tape, put the name or picture of a body part on each domino. Sequence the dominos in the order medicines or other drugs pass through the body. Stand the dominos upright in the correct order. Place a domino marked “drug” at the beginning of the line and let it fall. Point out all the body parts that the dominos knocked down (or that were affected by the drug). Discuss the activity with students. Allow small groups to realign the dominos, and perform the exercise again. Conclude the activity by asking students what might happen to the body if one organ or system is damaged by alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs. Reinforce the concept that children should not take medicines without adult supervision because they do not know what changes the medicines might cause.