Body Systems - Nervous System Materials needed - Nervous system slide #3 (projected), video clip Intro: 1.Teacher will create a loud noise, without warning, causing students to exhibit reflexes. 2.Ask students : 1.What kind of reactions did you have? (eyes blinked, jumped out of seat, felt heart skip a beat, etc.) 2.Do you know what these involuntary reactions are called? (reflexes) 3.What inside your body causes these reflexes to occur? (nerves or nerve impulses; nervous system) Activity I: 3.Show students slide 2 of this PowerPoint. 4.Explain the CNS is composed of the brain, brain stem, spinal cord, nerves/ nerve cells and sensory organs (such as the eyes, ears and taste buds). A. Control and communication center for your entire body. B. Job is to send and receive messages C. Controls all your thoughts and movements 5.Tell students a story about how most flights into space are controlled from Earth by Mission Control at NASA. Mission Control monitors all of the functions of the spacecraft, just like your CNS does. 6.Show the video clip to review the body parts. 7.Brain - is the command and main information center and helps body respond to the information it receives from the senses. 8.Brain stem - link to the spinal cord and controls digestion, breathing, and heartbeat. 9.Spinal Cord - tube of neurons that runs up the spine and attaches to the brain stem. Extends from the lower part of the brain down through the spine. Info. from nerves that branch out to the rest of the body and goes to the spinal cord 10.Nerves / cells - The cells that make up the nervous system ( long and stringy/ carry electrical messages to and from your brain and the rest of the body). Activity II: 1.Conduct an experiment with students forming a circle holding each other’s wrists. (this can be done as a whole class or using only volunteers). 2.To start, designate one student to squeeze the wrist of another student to the right of them, and so on. This response to the squeeze and pass is using their nervous system. 3.Explain, when the nerves in their skin feel the pressure, they send a signal to the brain. The brain sends a signal to the opposite hand to squeeze their neighbor. 4.As the activity continues, they should move the squeeze more quickly. This shows that the brain is able to respond more quickly with practice. 5.Also, it shows the passing of the squeeze through the circle is the passing of signals between nerve cells. 6.Show the video clip to review the experiment. 7.Assess as needed.

1.Brain - is the command and main information center and helps body respond to the information it receives from the senses. 2.Brain stem - link to the spinal cord and controls digestion, breathing, and heartbeat. 3.Spinal Cord - tube of neurons that runs up the spine and attaches to the brain stem. Extends from the lower part of the brain down through the spine. Info. from nerves that branch out to the rest of the body and goes to the spinal cord. 4.Nerves / cells - The cells that make up the nervous system ( long and stringy/ carry electrical messages to and from your brain and the rest of the body). Central Nervous System (CNS) Discovery Education Streaming Video

Take 10 seconds to study the picture. Picture memory questions - Try to recall as much information from the picture as you can. Write down your answers on a separate sheet of paper. 1.How many kids were in the picture? 2.Were there 3 or 4 trees? 3.What was the animal the girl on the right was riding? 4.What color was the slide?

1.6 kids are in the picture 2.3 trees total 3.The girl is riding a duck 4.The slide is red

CNS quiz 1.CNS stands for - ___________ __________ __________ 2.______________ are the long, stringy cells that carry electrical messages to and from your brain and the rest of the body. 3.The _______________ links to the spinal cord and controls digestion, breathing, and heartbeat. 4.The ______________ is the main information center helping the body respond to information it receives from the senses. 5.The _______________ is the tube of neurons that runs up the spine and attaches to the brain stem. Word Bank for answers 2 – 5 brain stem brain nerves / cells spinal cord