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9th grade · Science · Unit 3 of 14

Microbes & the Immune System

Germs, vaccines and pandemics

What your child practices

What makes something alive, helpful and harmful micro-organisms, how the immune system defends the body, how vaccines and antibiotics work, and the impact of epidemics and pandemics.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: B.5(D) · how viruses and bacteria spread and cause disease, and how the body defends itself

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. All living things grow, use energy, reproduce and respond. Viruses can only reproduce inside a living cell.
  2. Some microbes help us (making yogurt, breaking down waste); others cause disease.
  3. The immune system makes antibodies. Vaccines train it ahead of time; antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses.

Example: Will an antibiotic cure a cold caused by a virus? Antibiotics work on bacteria. A virus is not a bacterium. Answer: no

Microbes & the Immune System in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 3 of 14 in 9th grade Science, after Reproduction and before Infectious Disease.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is the body's first line of defense against germs?

    • skin and mucus
    • vaccines
    • fever
    • antibodies

  2. Question 2

    Living or non-living? Sort each item.

    Sort into: 🌱 Living · 🪨 Non-living

    • 🌲a cedar tree
    • 🔥a flame
    • ☁️a cloud
    • 🍞bread mold
    • 🌊a river
    • ⭐a sea star
    • 🥛bacteria in yogurt
    • 🪨a rock

  3. Question 3

    Why does washing your hands with soap help prevent illness?

    • It makes germs stronger
    • It removes and breaks up germs so they are not spread
    • It adds good bacteria
    • It stops you from touching things

  4. Question 4

    What is herd immunity?

    • When a vaccine is stored
    • When animals get sick
    • When only one person is immune
    • When enough people in a community are immune that diseases spread poorly

  5. Question 5

    What do white blood cells do?

    • Break food apart
    • Find and destroy germs
    • Carry oxygen
    • Make sugar

  6. Question 6

    The Black Death in the 1300s and the 1918 influenza are examples of…

    • antibiotics
    • vaccines
    • plate tectonics
    • pandemics that had huge impacts on societies

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