Heart Lesson Plan

Homeschool Teacher - Lesson Plan & Newsletter
February 23, 2007

February is National Heart Month, and today we will learn all about this amazing organ!
To put it simply, your heart is a pump that moves liquid from one place to another. In the process, your blood supplies oxygen to your entire body. Learn more about the heart here: http://www.helium.com/tm/177121/moment-begins-beating-until


Discussion Questions:
1. About how big is your heart?
2. In an average lifetime, how many times does the heart beat?
3. How many cavities are inside the heart?
4. What is the largest vessel called?
Science
Learn more about the heart with this interactive website:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/activities/circulatory.html

Try this science experiment to learn how to take better care of your heart:
http://www.mediaworkshop.org/armory/health_nutrition/heart.html

Heart Worksheet
http://www.childrenheartinstitute.org/kidsonly/heartflw.htm


Math
1. Using the resting heart rate you found during the science project, how many times does your heart beat in one day?
2. Using your rate, estimate how long it would take for your heart to beat a billion times.
3. Estimate the number of times your heart has beaten.
4. The American Heart Association has a value called average maximum heart rate. Find this value by taking 220 and subtracting your age. What is your average maximum heart rate?
5. When you exercise, you should try to have your heart rate in the target heart rate zone. This zone is between 50% and 75% of your average maximum heart rate. What is your target heart rate zone?

Journal
It is important to keep your heart healthy. Write a list of 10 things you can do to keep your heart healthy.