Learn About The Brain
Fifth Grade
Science,
by Sanayya Sohail
September 19, 2015
Use this lesson to teach your students how the different parts of a brain are responsible for any act they do. This
lesson will teach your students how a 3.5 pound organ controls a grown human being!
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to identify the four lobes of the brain. Students will be able to identify the function of the
four lobes of the brain.
Materials and preparation
Poster sized picture of the brain
Brainiac worksheet
Notebook papers
Your Body: The Brain worksheet
The Incredible Human Brain worksheet
Why Do Zombies Love Brains worksheet
Brain Diagram worksheet
Computers
Key terms
cerebellum
spinal cord
brain stem
temporal lobe
occipital lobe
frontal lobe
parietal lobe
Attachments
Brain Diagram (PDF)
Braniac (PDF)
The Incredible Human Brain (PDF)
Why Do Zombies Love Brains (PDF)
Your Body: The Brain (PDF)
Introduction (5 minutes)
Tell your students that today they will be learning about the brain and how it is divided into 2
hemispheres.
Explain that the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body while the right hemisphere controls
the left side of the body.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (20 minutes)
Put a poster sized picture of the brain on the board.
Ask your students to take notes while you explain key concepts related to the brain.
Point and go over the parts of the brain with your students.
Explain to your students that the brain stem controls breathing and other vital sensations.
Inform them that the spinal cord connects parts of the body to the brain.
Explain that the cerebellum controls movement, coordination, and balance.
Introduce the four lobes of the brain, explaining that the frontal lobe helps a person think, plan, and
solve problems, the parietal lobe helps a person with movement and sense of taste, the occipital lobe
helps a person see, and the temporal lobe helps a person hear.
Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/
Guided Practice (15 minutes)
Ask your students to complete the Brainiac worksheet with a partner.
Go over the worksheet as a class.
Independent working time (20 minutes)
Direct your students to complete the Your Body: The Brain worksheet.
Go over the worksheet as a class.
Differentiation
Enrichment: Ask your students to pick a lobe to research. Instruct them to research two symptoms that
would occur as a result of damage to the lobe. Ask your students to write a short essay explaining their
findings.
Support: Give each student the Brain Diagram worksheet. Ask students to label the brain parts and the
lobes. Have them write the function of each part and lobe next to it on the picture. Help your students
complete the activity if they get stuck.
Assessment (10 minutes)
Ask your students to complete the The Incredible Human Brain worksheet.
Review and closing (20 minutes)
Divide your students into groups of four.
Give each group a copy of the Why Do Zombies Love Brains worksheet.
Ask your students to read the interesting facts about the brain and ponder upon the areas responsible for
different things by looking and reflecting at the picture with their group.
Have them write the ideas that they found most interesting about the brain from the worksheet and
explain why.
Go around the class and ask them to share what they wrote.
Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/
Brain
1
2
3
4
1. cerebrum 2.cerebellum 3. brain stem 4. spinal cord
Copyright © 2010-2011
2011-2012 by Education.com
More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets
Brainiac
1
2
3
4
Directions: Use the clues in the picture to figure out what the different parts of the brain do.
Match the part of the brain to the definition.
1. cerebrum
a. a bundle of nerves that sends messages to your brain
2. cerebellum
b. the thinking part of the brain
3. brain stem
c. controls balance, movement, and coordination
4. spinal cord
d. keeps you breathing, digesting food, and blood circulating
Brainiac
1
2
3
4
Directions: Use the clues in the picture to figure out what the different parts of the brain do.
Match the part of the brain to the definition.
1. cerebrum
a. a bundle of nerves that sends messages to your brain
2. cerebellum
b. the thinking part of the brain
3. brain stem
c. controls balance, movement, and coordination
4. spinal cord
d. keeps you breathing, digesting food, and blood circulating
answers: 1b, 2c, 3d, 4a
How well do you know your brain?
Okay junior scientist, it’s time to do some research on the amazing human brain. Match the
following terms for different brain parts to the best description.
Cerebrum
Balance and coordination center of the brain.
Frontal Lobe
Controls your breathing and other vital functions.
Brain Stem
The part of your brain that processes sensations.
Occipital Lobe
Largest part of the brain.
Temporal Lobe
This part of your brain is home to your personality.
Parietal Lobe
Your brain’s visual processing center.
Cerebellum
The part of the brain that helps you hear.
Bonus activity: On the back of this page, list the characteristics
of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Copyright © 2012-2013
2010-2011 by Education.com
More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets
WHY DO ZOMBIES LOVE BRAINS?
What do you think makes brains so appealing to zombies? Perhaps it’s because the brain is where our entire body
is coordinated, where our memories are stored, and where our senses are interpreted. Learn about your amazing
brain on this page!
ANATOMY OF YOUR BRAIN
MOVEMENT
SENSATIONS
TASTE
THOUGHT
VISION
SPEECH
HEARING
SPEECH
COORDINATION
BLUE: FRONTAL LOBE
(reward, attention, motivation, planning,
short-term memory, intelligence,
personality, emotions, logic)
ORANGE: PARIETAL LOBE
(spatial sense, touch, language,
navigation, recognition)
GREEN: TEMPORAL LOBE
(visual memories, new memories, sensory
input, understanding language, hearing,
long-term memory)
PURPLE: OCCIPITAL LOBE
(perception of motion, space, and color,
visual input)
PINK: CEREBELLUM
(fine motor control, fear, pleasure, timing)
YELLOW: BRAIN STEM
(sleeping, alertness, breathing, eating,
heart rate, consciousness, sending signals
to and from brain)
Interesting Brain Facts:
- The average adult brain weighs three pounds, contains
around 100 billion neurons, 1 trillion other cells to
support the neurons, 100 thousand miles of blood
vessels, and generates enough electricity to power a
low-wattage light bulb!
- The brain is more powerful and complex than even
the most advanced supercomputer.
- It’s also a myth that we use only 10% of our brains.
Even though there are still many things we don’t know
about it, we do know that each part of the brain has a
purpose.
- Your brain only makes up about 2% of your body
weight, but uses about 20% of your energy and oxygen.
- The bursts of light a person sees after hitting their
- Sensory neurons send signals that about 150 miles per head (“seeing stars”) are the result of the brain hitting
the back of the skull. The back of your brain is where
hour, and motor neurons can transmit at about 200
vision
is processed.
miles per hour!
- There are no pain receptors in your brain, so it
doesn’t feel any pain.
- A bigger brain doesn’t mean a smarter person. Albert
Einstein’s brain was slightly smaller than average.
- Surgeons say that a living brain feels a lot like soft tofu.
YUM!
2013-2014
- It isn’t true that your brain stops making connections
once you become an adult. The ability to make new
neural connections has been seen in adults who have
had brain injuries, who form connections around the
injured area.
science : know your galaxies
Name
Date
YOUR BODY: THE BRAIN
While scientists, surgeons and doctors have mapped
and studied every part of the body, there is still not
much we know about the human brain. Your brain
is a powerful, complex, clever organ that deals with
hundreds of messages around you. The brain receives
messages from many, many nerve cells all through
your body. These messages are sparked when you
see, hear, smell, touch, taste and move in your world.
Nerve fibers across your body are like computer
wires, where information can travel all the way from
your little toe to the nerve cells in your brain.
your body, while the right hemisphere controls the left
side of your body.
The brain is split into two hemispheres, and each
hemisphere controls a side of your body. Interestingly, the left side of your brain controls the right side of
Your brain is an important organ that helps you live,
so be sure to protect it with the right safety gear when
you bike or play sports! Brain safety is smart safety.
Scientists have sectioned the brain into different
lobes, based on how they interact with the information around you. The frontal lobe helps you talk,
plan ahead, smell, and even solve problems. You can
recognize faces and what people are saying because
of the temporal lobe. The parietal lobe assists
with your sense of taste and how you move, while the
occipital lobe allows you to see.
You will need crayons, markers, or colored pencils for the
following activity.
1. You use this part of the brain to talk, smell, plan, and solve problems. Color this brain lobe green.
2. Color the brain lobe that controls your vision red.
3. This part of the brain controls your hearing. Color the brain lobe yellow.
4. Color the brain lobe that helps you move and taste food blue.
Parietal Lobe
Occipital Lobe
Frontal Lobe
Temporal Lobe
4