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Learning About the Skeletal System
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Just as a building could not stand without the steel
beams that support it, you would collapse without your
skeleton. Your skeleton has five major functions. It
protects your internal organs, provides shape and support
for your body, enables you to move, produces blood cells,
and store certain materials, like calcium, until your body
needs them.
One of the functions of the skeleton is to give
shape to the body. Humans, fish, deer, frogs and giraffes
all have different shapes because their skeletons have
different structures. Bones are hard, white, and mainly
composed of a mineral compound called, calcium
phosphate Bones protect many of the organs in your
body. For example, your skull protects your brain and
your breastbone and ribs form a protective cage around
your lungs and heart. Your skeleton provides support by
allowing you to stand up.
Fun facts about the Skeletal System:
• The human body’s longest bone is the femur, which is
about 25% of your height.
• There are 230 joints in your body.
• 52 out of the 206 bones in the skeletal system are in
both feet.
Materials: a bag with various bones
What To Do:
1. Use your book to help you label the bones on the
diagram. You must use the scientific name.
2. Lay out all the bones in the bag on your table.
3. Determine the name of the bones by comparing them to
the Human Skeleton diagram.
4. Write the scientific names of the bones in the chart
below. Then determine the common name (what you
call it).
Scientific Name
Common Name
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Questions:
1. How are the bones you observed similar? Different?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
3. Which of these bones might protect internal organs?
______________________________________________
4. Which of these bones might provide support for the
body? _________________________________________
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How Your Body Bends
Bones move and allow you to bend only at joints.
The soft connective tissue between joints is
called cartilage. Ligaments attach bones to each
other so that they can move and tendons connect
muscles to bones.
There are three main kinds of joints in the body.
They are fixed joints, partly moveable joints and
moveable joints. Fixed joints do not allow any
movement. The joints of your skull are not moveable
after you are born. Partly moveable joints, like the ones
in your ribs allow a little movement. Most of the joints of
your body are moveable joints. There are four kinds of
moveable joints. Look at the pictures below.
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The Integumentary System
The integument is another name for skin. It is
the body’s largest organ. The system includes the skin,
hair, nails and some glands. There are several functions of
the integumentary system. The first, and most important,
is to act as a physical barrier to invaders such as bacteria
and viruses. It also helps to regulate our temperature and
keeps us cool by using the sweat glands and uses UV
sunlight to make vitamin D. It also contains the nerves –
called receptors - that allow us to gather information from
the environment like feeling pain, touch, hot and cold. In
addition, it eliminates waste through our sweat glands.
Fun facts about the Integumentary System:
• You lose about 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells every
minute.
• The skin is the largest organ in the human body.
Watch the video segment and circle where each kind of
joint can be found.
Ball and socket
Hip
Finger Shoulder
Hinge
Hip
Knee
Finger
Color the section of skin above the following colors:
Pivot
Arm
Neck
Hip
Gliding
Spine Wrist
Toe
Pores – purple
Epidermis –pink
Dermis – yellow
Sweat gland – blue
Hair shaft – brown
Hair follicle –green
Receptors (nerves) – red
Fat cells, Hypodermis (subcutaneous tissue) - orange
Those Crazy Bones Lab
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Complete the procedure listed in your student guide and
answer the questions below.
2. Describe the function of the skin: _________________
______________________________________________
3. Describe the muscle of the chicken leg: ____________
______________________________________________
5. What do the tendons look like and what is their
function? ______________________________________
______________________________________________
Human Leg
4. What is the function of the muscle in the chicken’s leg?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
10. Draw and label two diagrams comparing the legs of a
chicken and a human.
Chicken Leg
1. Describe the texture of the skin: __________________
______________________________________________
6 Those Crazy Bones Lab, continued
6. Describe the chicken’s bones. What do bones do?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
7. Describe the hinge joint. What is this joint’s function?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
8. Describe the bone marrow. What does the bone marrow
do? __________________________________________
______________________________________________
9. In what ways is the chicken’s leg similar to a human’s
leg? __________________________________________
______________________________________________
11. What are the 5 main functions of the skeletal system?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Love the Skin You’re in Lab
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Use the paperclip and instructions in your Student Guide
to complete the following.
Body Part
Index finger
Bottom of wrist
Upper arm
Upper lip
Cheek
Nose
Back
Calf
Top of foot
Bottom of foot
Paper clip gap (mm)
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Name ___________________ period _____ date______
EXIT TICKET- Skeletal/Integumentary Systems
1. Which of the following is NOT a function of the
skeletal system?
A. Support your body
B. Give shape to your body
C. Bring oxygen to your body
D. Protect your body
2. Where are you able to bend your skeleton?
A. In the middle of the bones
B. At the joints
C. Anywhere you want
Most sensitive areas tested
3. Where in your body would you find a ball and socket
joint?
Least sensitive areas tested
A. Skull
B. Hip
C. Ribs
D. Fingers
4. Which of the following in NOT a part of the
integumentary system:
What are the main functions of the skin?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
A. heart
B. hair
C. nails
D. glands
5. What is the most important function of the integumentary
system?
__________________________________________