6th grade · Science · Unit 1 of 6
Body Systems
Nerves, hormones, kidneys and more
What your child practices
How the nervous and endocrine (hormone) systems send messages, how the excretory system removes waste, and the basic organs of the reproductive system, all at a simple organ-and-job level.
Alaska content standards learning standard: MS-LS1-3 · body systems made of interacting groups of cells
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- The nervous system (brain, spinal cord, nerves) sends fast electrical messages.
- The endocrine system sends slower messages with hormones. The pituitary is the “master gland”.
- The excretory system removes waste: kidneys filter blood into urine, and lungs breathe out carbon dioxide.
- In the reproductive system, a baby develops in the uterus.
Example: Which organs filter wastes out of your blood? Filtering blood is part of the excretory system. The kidneys filter blood and make urine. Answer: the kidneys
Body Systems in Alaska
In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 1 of 6 in 6th grade Science, before Our Senses.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Using the table, which kind of message controls slow changes like growing taller over many years?
Two ways the body sends messages Feature Nerve signals Hormones Travel through nerves the blood Speed a fraction of a second seconds to hours Effect lasts a short time minutes to years - nerve signals
- neither one
- hormones
hormones
Hint: Look at the Effect lasts row. Which message's effects can last for years?
Question 2
What are hormones?
🧪- chemical messengers carried in the blood
- tiny bones inside the ear
- cells that fight germs
- electrical signals that travel along nerves
chemical messengers carried in the blood
Hint: Glands in the endocrine system release hormones into the blood, which carries them all over the body.
Question 3
Which organ stores urine until you go to the washroom?
- the stomach
- the bladder
- the ureter
- the kidney
the bladder
Hint: This stretchy organ fills up like a balloon and then empties.
Question 4
Your heart pounds before a big race. Which hormone from the adrenal glands causes this?
🏃- melatonin
- insulin
- adrenaline
- growth hormone
adrenaline
Hint: This hormone gets your body ready for action: a faster heartbeat and quicker breathing.
Question 5
How do your lungs help remove waste?
🫁- They release hormones
- They make urine
- They breathe out carbon dioxide
- They store food
They breathe out carbon dioxide
Hint: Your cells make carbon dioxide as waste. Your blood carries it to your lungs, and you breathe it out.
Question 6
Put the path of liquid waste (urine) through the excretory system in order.
- Kidneys filter wastes out of the blood
- The bladder stores urine
- Urine leaves the body through the urethra
- Ureters carry urine down from the kidneys
Kidneys filter wastes out of the blood → Ureters carry urine down from the kidneys → The bladder stores urine → Urine leaves the body through the urethra
Hint: The kidneys clean the blood first. Tubes called ureters lead to the bladder, which stores urine until it leaves through the urethra.