Grade Levels: 6-8

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Circulatory System Lesson Plan

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Circulatory System, and supports the standard of using evidence to argue how animals have internal structures that support survival. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students: 

  • How does blood travel around your body? 
  • Why does blood need to circulate through the body? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read the description on the Circulatory System topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
  • Have students read one of the three Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Circulatory System Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: EXTEND and DEEPEN

Students express what they learned about the circulatory system while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.  

  • Make-a-Movie: Imagine you are a red blood cell. Create a video diary answering this question: What happens on your journey to deliver oxygen to the brain?
  • Make-a-Map: Compare and contrast coronary circulation, pulmonary circulation, and systemic circulation. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a museum with artifacts representing each component of the cardiovascular system’s role in circulation. 
  • Primary Source Activity: Analyze an illustration of the circulatory system and cite evidence to answer accompanying questions.

More to Explore

Guts and Bolts: Learn about the interplay of human body systems in this interactive game.

Body Systems Unit: Continue to build understanding around survival-supporting structures by exploring more BrainPOP body systems topics. 

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments