1. Five Points of Life in the Classroom
3-5 Education Program
Five Points of Life
in the Classroom
3-5 Education Program
A program of:
Hi. My name is ________. I work for LifeSouth Community Blood Centers. Does anyone here know anything about LifeSouth and what we do?
LifeSouth has a very important job because we collect blood from people that volunteer to donate blood, and then get it to our hospitals to people who need it. LifeSouth not only saves lives by collecting blood for people in the hospital, it also has an education program called the Five Points of Life which raises awareness on the different ways to share life with others. We feel that everyone should know how to share the gift of life. I am here today to teach you about the five ways that you can give the gift of life with someone else.

2. Let’s talk a little about our bLet’s talk about our bodies…
Are we made up of cells?
Yes, cells are the basic structural unit of a living thing.
Are we unicellular organisms (made up of one cell) or multicellular organisms (made up of more than one cell)?
We are multicellular organisms.
Cells in multicellular organisms are organized at different levels.
To start, let’s talk about our bodies. As a class can you answer these questions?
T1 - Are we made up of cells?
T2 – Yes, cells are the basic structural unit of a living thing. Can you see a cell right now? We can see a whole bunch of cells, but as for one cell, we would have to look under a microscope wouldn’t we? They are very, very small.
T3 – Are we unicellular organisms (made up of one cell) or multicellular organisms (made up of more than one cell)?
T4 – We are multicellular organisms. We are made up of more than one cell. What does it mean when it says that multicellular organisms are organized at different levels? It means that our basic unit that makes us up are cells, but those cells are like building blocks. They build on each other to make us who we are.
Source:
Badders, W., Douglas, C., Feliciani, J., Jeanpierre, B., Sumners, C., L & Valentino, C. (2007). Science: Florida. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

3. into tissues. What is a tissue?
Let’s talk a little about our bLet’s talk about our bodies…
Let’s talk a little about our bodies.
Cells are organized
into tissues. What is a tissue?
A large group of similar cells that work together to perform a specific function.
Example: Muscle cells form muscle tissue, nerve cells form nerve tissue, bone cells form bone tissue, skin cells form skin tissue, etc.
What is an organ?
A group of related tissues that perform a specific function.
Example: The heart, brain, stomach, liver, etc.
Cells come together to form tissues. Tissues are a group of similar cells that work together to perform a specific function.
T1 - For example, muscle cells form muscle tissue, nerve cells form nerve tissue, bone cells form bone tissue, skin cells form skin tissue. Do you think skin cells that form skin tissue look like muscle cells that form muscle tissue? No, they look very different because they have very different functions. Skin cells are usually flat and close together to provide protection while muscle cells are larger than other cells and can contract and relax to cause movement. Being multicellular means we have a variety of cells that form a variety of tissues.
T2 - So, we start with cells that come together to form tissues to tissues forming organs. Organs are a group of related tissues that perform a specific function. Can you tell me an organ in our body? Can you tell me what it does?
T3- The heart (pumps blood around the body), the brain (tells our nerves what to do and how to act), the stomach (churns our food) and the liver (it has many functions but basically cleans our blood) are all organs in our body. So, we are made up of cells that form tissues that form organs in our bodies.
Source:
Badders, W., Douglas, C., Feliciani, J., Jeanpierre, B., Sumners, C., L & Valentino, C. (2007). Science: Florida. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

4. What happens if those cells, tissues or organs in your body stops working?
You get sick…
What happens if those cells, tissues or organs in our bodies stop working?
T1 – We get sick, don’t we?

5. The Five Points of Life raises awareness for the five ways to share life with others through the donation of:
Blood
Apheresis
Marrow
Cord Blood
Organ and Tissue
The Five Points of Life raises awareness for the five ways to share life with others through donation. There are ways to make someone better if their cells and tissues and organs stop functioning. How can we do that?
T1 – The first way is through the donation of blood.
T2 – The second way is through the donation of apheresis.
T3- The third point of life is bone marrow. Has anyone heard of bone marrow and what it is? Bone marrow is where blood comes from and is very important in our bodies.
T4 – Cord Blood is the fourth point of life. Ask the class if they know what cord blood is and mention that it comes from a mom’s umbilical cord.
T5 – The last point of life is organ and tissue. I bet you all know that you can give organs and tissues to someone to save their life.
T6 – Today, we are going to be talking just about 3 of the 5 points of life and they are blood, apheresis and organ and tissue.

6. What is BLOOD? How can we save lives through BLOOD?
So, what is blood and how can we save lives through blood?
Ask kids to get out their Play-Doh that you either hand out to the kids or already have laid out on their desks. (Note: much easier if Play-Doh already on corner of desk.) Give them direction on how to get it out of the container and ask them to put the container back at the corner of their desk.
Now that you have your Play-Doh out of the container and have put the container back on your desk, I want you to warm up your Play-Doh by rolling it around in your hands while I tell you a little more about blood. How many of you know that blood is actually broken into four pieces or parts?
Tell story related to blood components. Example:
When I was in high school and gave blood on the bloodmobile, I thought that the bag that collected my blood went straight to the hospital to the person that needed it. That is not true. Blood is actually broken into four separate parts and has four separate functions in our body. After a person gives blood, their blood goes back to LifeSouth where we put the bag of blood in this big machine called a centrifuge. The centrifuge spins the blood really quickly and separates it into four parts. Then we take each one of those parts out a piece at a time and send whatever part is requested by the doctor to the hospital.

7. Red Blood Cells
The first part, or component, of blood is red blood cells. Did you know that red blood cells are what make your blood red? The liquid part of your blood is not red. There are just so many red blood cells in your blood that it makes your blood a red color.
Looking at the picture on the screen, can anyone tell me how to make a red blood cell? (Let kids answer. Use one of the suggestions, if you would like, and also give the included direction.)
I think that red blood cells (or what we call them at the blood bank “RBCs”) look like a donut without the middle poked through. So, let’s break off a piece of Play-Doh and roll it in a ball. Then let’s put the ball between our thumb and pointer finger and squash the middle. It should look like a donut without a hole in the middle.
Let me see if I can show you the size of a red blood cell. Click on the link on the slide and use the slide to demonstrate how small a blood cell is. If you are not able to pull up the link, just use the written description.
Do you want to know how big a red blood cell is in your body? I want you to imagine a grain of rice. If you were to take that grain of rice and smash it with a hammer, one of those tiny specks would be about the size of a red blood cell.
T1 – What do red blood cells do? There are millions of red blood cells in your body carrying around oxygen to the parts of your body that need it and taking away the carbon dioxide we don’t need. So, red blood cells act like a boat by picking up oxygen in your lungs, dropping it off to other body parts and then carrying away carbon dioxide we breathe out from our lungs.
Demonstrate how RBCs work using Play-Doh RBC. Have kids do this with you.
Place a Play-Doh RBC in front of your lungs.
The red blood cells pick up the oxygen in your lungs. Can everyone take a big breath in? You just gave your red blood cells all kinds of oxygen to take around your body. Once the red blood cell has picked up oxygen, it goes to your heart.
Place Play-Doh RBC in front of your heart.
Your heart pushes the red blood cell really fast from your heart out to the body parts that need that oxygen to survive.
Move the Play-Doh RBC from your heart down your body to show how the heart pumps the blood. Keep moving the RBC as you talk.
The red blood cell does not just drop off oxygen to the organs and tissues in your body. It also picks up carbon dioxide that our body does not need and brings it back to lungs for us to breathe out. Can everyone breathe out? You just got rid of all that carbon dioxide you don’t need.
So, how important are our red blood cells? Without them, our bodies cannot function. For a piece of candy, can anyone tell me what red blood cells do? Answer: Act like a boat by picking up oxygen in your lungs, dropping it off to other body parts and then carrying away carbon dioxide we breathe out from our lungs.
Have students make one or two more RBCs and place them on their desk.
Act like a boat by picking up oxygen in the lungs, dropping it off to other body parts and then carrying away carbon dioxide we breathe out from our lungs.

8. Kill Germs to Keep You Healthy!
White Blood Cells
The second part, or component, of blood is white blood cells. Looking at the picture, how do you think we can make a white blood cell?
Take a piece of Play-Doh, ball it up and give it spikes.
We are only going to make one white blood cell to put with our red blood cells because there really aren’t that many white blood cells in comparison to our red blood cells.
T1 - White blood cells kill germs to keep you healthy. If you have ever had a cold and were coughing and sneezing and wondered if you were ever going to feel better again, you are! The reason you get better is because your white blood cells fight those germs to make you better. So, every time you feel better and are able to go back to school, thank your white blood cells!
Let’s put our white blood cell next to our red blood cells.
For a piece of candy, can anyone tell me what our white blood cells do? Answer: Kill germs to keep you healthy.
Can anyone remember what red blood cells do? Answer: Act like a boat by picking up oxygen in your lungs, dropping it off to other body parts and then carrying away carbon dioxide we breathe out from our lungs.
Kill Germs to Keep You Healthy!

9. Platelets Clot to stop bleeding.
The next component of blood is platelets. Can you tell me how we can make platelets based on the picture?
Have students do this with you. Take a piece of Play-Doh and roll it between your hands until it gets long and skinny. Then place it over the red blood cells and white blood cell. Repeat four or five times.
Platelets are what keeps parts of blood inside our bodies so that they can do their jobs. Platelets clot to create a natural bandage or what we call a scab. If you have ever wondered why your scab is a red color, it is because the platelets have trapped the red blood cells when they clot, just like what the picture shows. I want everyone to do me a favor and go home and ask your parents why scabs are red. See if they can tell you. . . if not, you get to teach them something tonight.
Platelets are really special. They only live five days outside of the body and only eight days inside the body. So, to make sure they are available for all the people who need them, LifeSouth has to work hard to get platelets.
Can anyone tell me what platelets do? Answer: Clot to stop bleeding.

10. Is the liquid portion of the blood.
Plasma
The last part of blood is plasma. Plasma is the liquid portion of blood. The red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are all floating in plasma. What color is the liquid portion of the blood? So, you see that the liquid part is not red, but it is the red blood cells that make the blood red.
How can we make plasma out of our Play-Doh? Let’s take our extra Play-Doh and mix it all up with our red blood cells, white blood cell and platelets and put it all back in its container, which would be our bodies. The red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma are all moving around our bodies doing their job.
Instruct students to pick up all the extra pieces of Play-Doh before placing it back into its container.
For a piece of candy, what are the four parts of blood? Answer: Red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, plasma
What can you tell me about red blood cells? Answer: Red blood cells act like a boat by picking up oxygen in your lungs, dropping it off to other body parts and then carrying away carbon dioxide we breathe out from our lungs.
What can you tell me about white blood cells? Answer: They kill germs to keep you healthy.
What can you tell me about platelets? Answer: They clot to stop bleeding.
Plasma? Answer: Liquid portion of the blood.
What is your favorite part of blood and why? Answers vary.
Is the liquid portion of the blood.

11. Let’s Make Some Blood!
*Note: If you have pre-packaged activity kits, have students take out their materials and place them on their desks. If no activity kit is provided, use the following set up instructions.
Suggested set up:
 Plastic cup of gummy worms. Each child should be able to have 4 gummy worms.
 Container of red Kool-Aid open, with a plastic spoon for scooping.
 2 packs of white mint Tic-Tacs
 Plastic cup filled ¼ of the way with water
Are you ready to make some blood?
Now, using what we learned from the presentation, we are going to make some blood. I say that if we are going to make blood, we should start with the liquid part of blood. Can anyone tell me what the liquid portion of the blood is called? Answer: Plasma
Can you tell me what would be the plasma out of the materials before you? Answer: The water
Pull the plasma in front of you. What component of blood carries oxygen around the body? Answer: Red Blood Cells
What in front of you do you think would be your red blood cells? Answer: The Kool-Aid
Listen to my directions and then I will give you 3 minutes to put your red blood cells in your plasma. Since red blood cells make your blood red and there are millions of red blood cells in one drop of blood, I want you to take a good spoonful of Kool-Aid (or packet included in activity kit) and pour it into your plasma. Make sure to watch as the plasma turns red. Then, I want you to take the spoon and mix your red blood cells into your plasma (or cap the water bottle included in activity kit and gently shake). Then pass it on to the next person in your group.
Walk around and keep the kids moving on pouring and mixing. You want the water to be a nice red color, not watery looking.
I am looking for everyone’s eyes on me to know that you are done mixing your plasma and red blood cells. Now, someone raise their hand and let me know, what is the next component of blood you would like to add to our plasma and red blood cells?
What would be the white blood cells? Answer: The Tic-Tacs
What do white blood cells do? Answer: White blood cells fight germs.
Since there are not many white blood cells in one drop of blood, we are only going to put 2 Tic-Tacs in with our plasma and red blood cells. So, put 2 white blood cells in your blood and you can have one for yourself to help fight off germs. I will give you all 3 minutes to put your white blood cells in your blood. When all eyes are on me, I will know you are done.
What is the last component of blood we need to put in our mixture? Answer: Platelets
What do platelets do? Answer: Platelets clot.
I want you to put 3 platelets in with your plasma, red blood cells and white blood cells and then you can have one to boost the platelets in your body. I will know you are done when all eyes are on me. Now, it is time to drink your blood. When I count to three, I want to see how many vampires we have in this class. Who will like the taste of the blood? Are you ready? One, Two, Three. . . drink your blood!
Give the students a minute to drink the blood and then have them put it to the side of the table.

12. How can you share life with others through BLOOD?

13. Did you know that every 3 seconds someone needs blood?
Donate!
Did you know that every 3 seconds someone needs blood?
Donate it! Doesn’t this high school student look so happy giving blood? Don’t you think you will look just like him when you give blood?
Every 2-3 seconds someone in the United States needs blood. One, Two. . . Someone just needed blood.
So what is the first way you can share life with another? Answer: Blood.

14. What is APHERESIS?
The second way you can share life with others is apheresis. You don’t even know that you already know what apheresis is. Apheresis is simply the collection of platelets. It is the process of giving platelets. Can anyone tell me what platelets do again? Answer: Clot to stop bleeding.

15. Did you know that platelets only live 5 days outside your body?
The collection of platelets
Did you know that platelets only live 5 days outside your body?
Apheresis means to separate, so you can see in the picture that instead of the blood having to go to our components lab to be placed in a centrifuge, this machine does it for us. We can actually tell this machine what of the four components of blood we want and it will just take those parts and give you back the rest.
Again, platelets live just 5 days outside our bodies, so we have to collect them and get them to the hospital very quickly.

16. Do you remember the last point of life?
ORGAN AND TISSUE
Does anyone remember the fifth point of life?
T1 – Yes, it is organ and tissue. Before we start talking about the donation of organs and tissues, I want to see what you know about your organs. I am going to show you a picture. I want you to raise your hand if you recognize an organ in the picture. Can you tell me what it does?

17. Circulatory System Heart Arteries – (red) Veins – (blue)
Does anyone recognize an organ?
T1 – The heart. Can you tell me what the heart does? Answer: It pumps blood around the body.
T2 – This whole organ system is called the circulatory system and it is how blood gets around the body to carry out all the tasks that the four parts of blood must do. Does anyone remember the four parts of blood? Answer: Red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, plasma
The circulatory system carries oxygen to all parts of the body. The heart pumps red blood cells to the lungs through the arteries. The arteries carry this oxygenated (oxygen rich) blood to the whole body. The capillaries are smaller tubes that release the blood to each cell and then collect the blood again to deliver it to the veins. The veins carry the blood back to the heart.
The main role of the circulatory system is to transport nutrients, gases (such as oxygen and CO2), hormones and wastes through the body.  Major Organs: Heart, blood vessels and blood.

18. Respiratory System
Here is the respiratory system. Does anyone recognize any major organs? Yes, the lungs would be one. They are what takes in the oxygen and gets rid of the carbon dioxide.
The respiratory system is made up of the nose, mouth, throat, trachea, and lungs. This system is used to allow breathing. When humans breathe, they inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Lungs have tiny sacs called alveoli. These sacs help get oxygen to the lungs by the blood that is flowing from the heart.
The main role of the respiratory system is to provide gas exchange between the blood and the environment.  Primarily, oxygen is absorbed from the atmosphere into the body and carbon dioxide is expelled from the body. Major Organs: Nose, trachea and lungs.

19. Nervous System Brain Eyes Nerves Spinal Cord
Do you recognize any major organs? The brain, eyes, spinal cord.
T1 - The brain, eyes, spinal cord. The nervous system is made up of the brain and nerve cells, which helps to control all of the functions of the human body. It assists in monitoring the five senses.
The main role of the nervous system is to relay electrical signals through the body.  The nervous system directs behavior and movement and, along with the endocrine system, controls physiological processes such as digestion, circulation, etc.  Major Organs: Brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.

20. Digestive System
What major organs do you recognize in the digestive system? The liver, gallbladder, intestines, stomach, etc.
The digestive system takes in food and turns it into energy that the body uses. Food is chewed in the mouth into small pieces that the body can digest easier. Saliva is added to the food to start the digestion process. Food travels down the esophagus and goes to the stomach. The stomach releases acid to digest the food more. The small intestine absorbs the energy in the food and gives it to the blood to carry to other body parts. The large intestine absorbs water from the food.
The main role of the digestive system is to breakdown and absorb nutrients that are necessary for growth and maintenance. Major Organs: Mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines.

21. Excretory System The excretory systems has the kidneys and bladder.
The main role of the excretory system is to filter out cellular wastes, toxins and excess water or nutrients from the circulatory system. Major Organs: Kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra.

22. Integumentary System Hair Nails Skin
Did you know that the skin is the largest organ on your body?
The integumentary system is made up of human skin. It protects the body from infection and keeps the body from losing water.
Skin

23. Activity Time! Let’s talk about what organs can be donated.
I need a volunteer. Can you please come to the front of the room with me?
Anatomy Apron Demonstration:
Here I have an X-ray machine. Pick up anatomy apron and show it to the kids. Since we can’t see inside the body because of the integumentary system, we will use this machine to look inside at our organs. Place anatomy apron on volunteer.
Looking at our machine can you tell me the organs shown and can you tell me what they do?
See Anatomy Apron Activity Guide for instructions on how to lead class in location and discussion of organs. Extra information on each of the organs that can be donated is included.
Lungs
Each day, you take about 23,000 breaths, which bring almost 10,000 quarts of air into your lungs. The air that you breath in contains several gases, including oxygen, that your cells need to function. With each breath, your lungs add fresh oxygen to your blood, which then carries it to your cells. The main function of your lungs is respiration. Respiration is the process of oxygen from incoming air entering the blood, and carbon dioxide, a waste gas from the metabolism of food leaving the blood.
A piece of the lungs can be donated while a person is alive.
Heart
It is responsible for supplying the body with oxygenated blood. It can only be donated once we pass away and the heart must be transplanted within 24 hours.
Intestines
The small and large intestines perform different functions. The small intestine is where the most extensive part of digestion occurs. Most food products are absorbed in the small intestine. The large intestine is responsible for absorption of water and excretion of solid waste material.
Liver
The liver has many functions. Some of the functions are to produce substances that break down fats, convert glucose to glycogen, produce urea (the main substance of urine), make certain amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), filter harmful substances from the blood (such as alcohol), storage of vitamins and minerals (vitamins A, D, K and B12) and maintain a proper level or glucose in the blood. The liver is also responsible for producing cholesterol. It produces about 80% of the cholesterol in your body.
If your body was an automobile, your liver would be considered the engine. It does hundreds of vital things to make sure everything runs smoothly. Some of the most important functions of the liver include:
- Stores vitamins, sugar and iron to help give your body energy.
- Controls the production and removal of cholesterol.
- Clears your blood of waste products, drugs, and other poisonous
substances.
- Makes clotting factors to stop excessive bleeding after cuts or
injuries.
- Produces immune factors and removes bacteria from the bloodstream
to combat infection.
Releases a substance called “bile” to help digest food and absorb important nutrients.
A piece of the liver can be donated while we are alive. The part that is donated will regenerate with time.
Kidneys
The kidneys have a couple of different functions. The main purpose of the kidney is to separate urea, mineral salts, toxins, and other waste products from the blood. The kidneys also conserve water, salts, and electrolytes. At least one kidney must function properly for life to be maintained. One kidney can be donated from a live donor.

24. What organs can be donated?
Again, can you tell me the organs that can be donated?
T1 – Lungs
T2 - Heart
T3 – Liver
T4 – Kidneys
T5 - Intestines
We are going to watch a video about a little girl in Australia that needed a heart.

25. Who had fun today?
For a piece of candy, raise your hand if you would like to tell me what you learned today.
Thank you for being so wonderful today. I have a I am the Donation Generation sticker (or pencil) and a LifeSaver to give you now since as being part of the Donation Generation, you are a LifeSaver. Also, we have a pencil and activity book that I will give to your teacher to either use in class or take home.
*Optional: Have a wonderful day and I look forward to giving you a tour of our blood center on <<DATE>>.