USC1.2

Indicator:

USC1.2 a. Use common and accurate language to talk about the brain, heart, and lungs (e.g., heart beat, blood, oxygen, breath, thoughts).

Indicator:

USC1.2 b. Identify where the heart, brain, and lungs are located.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Read 'The Medicine Wheel' from 'The Sharing Circle: Stories about First Nations Culture, Nimibus Publishing 2003 (available at McNally Robinson).  In the story a boy visits a doctor who gives him a check-up.  After reading the story have children draw their brain, hearts and lungs on a blank body diagram.
• Talk about how your physical body only makes up ¼ of the medicine wheel and we still need to tend to our mental, spiritual and emotional health.

Indicator:

USC1.2 c. Recognize that the heart is a "pump" about the size of a clenched fist.

Indicator:

USC1.2 d. Feel and describe the sensation of one's heart beat (i.e., chest, neck, wrist) while standing still and after physical activity.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

Feel and describe the sensation of one's heart beat (i.e., chest, neck, wrist) while standing still and after physical activity.

• Read Fiddle Dancer, by Anne Patton and Wilfred Burton.  The book is available from The Gabriel Dumont Institute (www.gdins.org, www.metismuseum.ca)  "Nolin wrapped his arms around Moushoom's waist and held tight.  He could feel Moushoom's tapping feet, his panting breath, and his pounding heart"
• Listen to one or two of the songs on the CD.  Feel your heart beating  before and after doing the jigs.
• Read the Drum Calls Softly by David Bouchard and Shelley Willier.  It is a story about the round dance and the beat of the drum.
• Build a drum, drum to the beat of your heart.  See: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/settlement/kids/021013-1808-e.html
• Show video of drumming at a Pow Wow in Saskatchewan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Drq8IAOAzY

Indicator:

USC1.2 e. Establish that blood is pumped through the body by the heart.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Discuss that blood is pumped through the body by the heart.  Listen to a drum beat and feel it pump rhythm/music through your body.
• Read, The Song Within my Heart by David Bouchard.  You can find it on www.raincoast.com.  "The text has a rhythm that brings to mind the rhythmic chanting-the "HEY, hey, hey, Hi hey, hey, hey"-that accompanies the beating of the drum. The narrator recounts how his grandmother taught him to listen and meditate to the sound of the drum. The lesson: to listen to your own heart, to follow your own internal rhythm, is to be true to yourself. The final illustration of Maggie pressing her tiny grandchild to her cheek, entitled "Nokum's Tender Love", shows a woman whose hard life did little to dampen her love for and dedication to her family and community." (summary from amazon.ca)

Indicator:

USC1.2 f. Identify that people have two lungs.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Read Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Messages, by Chief Jake Swamp.  This book is available at McNally Robinson, Lee and Low Books.  The book talks about different things we are thankful for including clean air to breathe.  Lead to a discussion on how we breathe air.  Discuss how we are thankful for our healthy bodies.

Catholic Faith Permeation Resources:

Indicator:

USC1.2 g. Illustrate the sensation of lungs filling with air (i.e., hold rib cage and take deep breaths).

Indicator:

USC1.2 h. Describe the function of the lungs to breathe air/oxygen.

Indicator:

USC1.2 i. Determine that blood carries "food" and oxygen for the body.

Indicator:

USC1.2 j. Reflect on the connection between lungs and voice (i.e., breathe to make sounds, words, and songs - recognizing that many First Nations cultures have teachings about the "gift of breath").

Indicator:

USC1.2 k. Realize that the brain is the part of ourselves that helps us manage personal thoughts, feelings, and actions.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Show the medicine wheel.  Brainstorm things we could do to make our brain strong.  Talk about how the brain fits in two sections of the medicine wheel - physical and mental. 

Indicator:

USC1.2 l. Describe what happens if one or more of our brain, heart, and lungs is/are not healthy.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Discuss how (similarly to the balanced medicine wheel), the brain, heart and lungs work together.  When one is unhealthy, the others cannot function properly.