Lesson 6: Bone Business
Grade Level: K-6
Suggested Time: 60 mins
Overview
Students will engage in a variety of activities, including interactive reading and the skeleton dance, to learn about the parts of the human skeleton. Then they will design their own labeled diagram in a fun arts and crafts project.
Vocabulary
- Bones
- Marrow
- Skeleton
- Ligament
- Joints
- Organs
- Body
- Anatomy
Objectives
- Students will learn the basic anatomy of the human body, focusing on the skeleton.
- Students will learn about different types of bones, how they move, and what holds them together.
- Students will compare what they’ve learned in the children’s literature with an anatomical diagram, identifying the appropriate names for bones and other parts.
Required Project Materials
Multimedia Resources
Optional Multimedia Resources
Before the Lesson/ Background Information
- Do a Google image search for “color skeleton”. There are many fun images available. Download several for printing.
The Lesson
Part 1: Dancing Bones
- Show “How Your Bones and Skeleton Works” and read Bones: our Skeletal System.
- Choose a fun skeleton video from the optionals list, and do a skeleton dance with the students.
Part 2: Coloring Bones
- Continue reading materials with the kids. After each book, have them identify what they learned on the anatomical skeleton diagram or add their own lyrics to the Skeleton Dance.
- Pass out copies of the skeletal diagrams for coloring. Encourage students to be creative with their coloring… but they must also label the bones!
Part 3: Build Your Own Skeleton!
- Give each student a black piece of construction paper.
- Using Q-tips, each student should assemble a skeleton on the paper. They can cut or bend the Q-tips to make desired shapes. Encourage them to be creative!
- Afterwards, students should place the organ stickers in their appropriate places on theskeletons.
- The next step is to label each major bone in the body. Students should use the gel pen to write labels on the black paper.
- Finally, students will decorate the skeletons.
- Each student will have a skeleton to take home!
*Another way of conducting this lesson is to separate students into groups. Each group will build a separate section of the skeleton, then connect the skeleton together and hang the finished product on the wall and fix labels near the parts. This can also be done with other kinds of materials.
Accommodations
- Have subtitles on for the "How Your Bones and Skeleton Works".
- Provide a visual and short description of how the bones and skeleton works.
- Have a word box for the labeling of the bones.
- For the building your own skeleton, again having a word box available to help the label of bones.
- May help to allow students to use their notes to place the Q-tips and organ stickers.
Modifications
- Choose specific bones that are essential for the student to learn (example: femur, tibia).
- Choose specific organs that are essential for the student to learn.
- Allow the student to rework incorrect placement of bones, organs, and labels.