Where the Blood Goes on Garden Workday

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Where the Blood Goes on Garden Workday

Use blood flow data to argue how body systems work together.

Part 1: The blood flow poster

Read the passage and the table, then answer the questions.

Cramps at the Compost Pile

1On the first Saturday of every month, the garden club at Westbrook Middle School holds a workday in the school garden and greenhouse. This spring the jobs were heavy: digging new beds, shoveling compost into wheelbarrows and hauling it up the path to the greenhouse. Rashid Bello, a nurse who volunteers with the club, runs a health table beside the tool shed. About twenty students and three parents came to help.

2At the last workday, sixth grader Lucía Hartmann ate a big lunch at noon and went straight back to digging. Within a few minutes she felt cramps in her stomach and had to sit down. A friend who had eaten only a small snack kept digging and felt fine. Mr. Bello said that this happens to many people who do hard work right after a large meal.

3Mr. Bello explained that the heart pumps blood through blood vessels to every organ. Blood carries oxygen from the lungs and nutrients from the small intestine to the body's cells, and it carries wastes away to be removed. When a person goes from resting to hard work, the heart pumps more blood each minute. At the same time, blood vessels leading to some organs widen while others narrow, so the blood is shared out in a new way. Signals from the brain, carried by nerves, help control both changes.

4To explain Lucía's cramps, Mr. Bello made the poster below. It shows typical values for a healthy teenager, in liters of blood per minute (L/min). He asked the club to compare the two columns.

Blood Flow to Body Parts (typical values for a healthy teenager)
Body part	At rest (L/min)	Hard digging (L/min)
Arm, leg and back muscles	1	9
Stomach and intestines	1.3	0.5
Kidneys	1.1	0.5
Brain	0.75	0.75
Skin	0.5	1.2
Heart muscle	0.35	0.55
Total pumped by the heart	5	12.5

1.

How many more liters of blood per minute reached the arm, leg and back muscles during hard digging than at rest? L/min

2.

During hard digging, the heart pumped how many times as much blood each minute as at rest? times

3.

During hard digging, what percent of the blood pumped by the heart went to the arm, leg and back muscles? %

4.

Which explanation of Lucía's cramps fits the table and paragraph 3 best?

A. Digging sent more blood to her stomach, which made it swell up with the big meal.B. Her stomach and intestines got much less blood while full of food that needed digesting.C. Her working muscles pulled the nutrients back out of her intestines and into her legs.D. Her lungs took in so much air that some of it was pushed down into her stomach.

5.

Blood flow to the brain stayed at 0.75 L/min while blood flow to other organs changed. Which is the best explanation?

A. Brain cells store a large supply of oxygen, so they need little blood while the body works.B. The brain is not part of any organ system, so it does not take part in hard work.C. Brain cells need a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients whether a person rests or works.D. The brain has no blood vessels that can widen or narrow, so its flow is fixed for life.

6.

Mr. Bello also counted Lucía's breaths: about 16 per minute at rest and about 40 per minute while digging. Which explanation links her breathing to the table?

A. Her lungs took in more oxygen, and the extra blood carried it to her working muscle cells.B. Her lungs sent oxygen straight to her muscles through the air, skipping the blood.C. Faster breathing cooled her stomach, so it needed less blood while she was digging.D. Faster breathing pushed extra blood into her muscles, which is why their flow rose.

7.

The kidneys clean the blood that flows through them and make urine from the wastes and extra water. Use the table to predict how Lucía's kidneys would most likely work during an hour of hard digging.

A. They would likely make less urine, since less blood passes through them.B. They would make the same amount, since kidneys are not linked to the blood.C. They would make more urine, since the heart pumps more blood in total.D. They would make urine much faster, since digging squeezes the kidneys.

Part 2: From cells to systems

Use the passage, the table and your answers above.

8.

Complete the description of Lucía's small intestine. Use words from the word bank. One word is not used.

Each in the lining of the small intestine takes in nutrients from digested food. Many of these work together as a lining . Layers of lining and muscle tissue make up the small intestine, which is an . The stomach, the small intestine and other organs together form the digestive .

9.

Circle each piece of evidence that the circulatory system changed its work to support the muscular system during digging.

10.

Mr. Bello is planning next month's workday. Which plan best fits the evidence for keeping stomach cramps away?

A. Drink cold water before lunch, so the stomach and intestines need less blood.B. Eat lunch while digging, so the food reaches the working muscles more quickly.C. Have everyone dig hard for an hour right after a big lunch, then rest for a while.D. Do the heavy digging in the morning, and do light jobs like sowing seeds after lunch.

11.

A club member says, "When you dig, only your muscles are working. The rest of your body just waits." Argue against this. Write a claim, give evidence from the table and the passage, and explain how at least three organ systems interact during hard digging.