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9th grade · Science · Unit 12 of 14

Systems in Animals & Plants

How body systems work together, and how plant systems transport, reproduce and respond.

What your child practices

Practices how animal systems interact for regulation (nervous and endocrine), nutrient absorption (digestive and circulatory), reproduction and defense (immune and skin), and how plant structures carry out transport (xylem and phloem), reproduction (flowers, pollination) and response (tropisms).

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: B.12(A); B.12(B) · interacting systems in animals and in plants

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The nervous and endocrine systems regulate the body. Insulin from the pancreas lowers blood sugar.
  2. Digestive and circulatory systems absorb and carry nutrients. Kidneys balance water and salts.
  3. Skin and the immune system (white blood cells, antibodies) defend the body. Plant xylem and phloem transport materials.

Example: White blood cells and antibodies are part of which system? They fight germs. Defense against germs is the immune system’s job. Answer: the immune system

Systems in Animals & Plants in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 12 of 14 in 9th grade Science, after Evidence & Mechanisms of Evolution and before Ecosystem Stability.

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

    Kidneys help keep homeostasis by…

    • absorbing nutrients
    • making antibodies
    • filtering blood and balancing water and salts
    • sensing light

  2. Question 2

    In flowering plants, pollen is made in the…

    • anther
    • stomata
    • root
    • ovary

  3. Question 3

    After a meal, insulin from the pancreas lowers blood sugar. This is an example of…

    • regulation by the endocrine system
    • muscle movement
    • gas exchange
    • immune defense

  4. Question 4

    Roots growing downward in response to gravity is…

    • photosynthesis
    • osmosis
    • gravitropism
    • phototropism

  5. Question 5

    The skin helps defend the body by…

    • digesting food
    • forming a barrier against pathogens
    • making insulin
    • pumping blood

  6. Question 6

    Which plant structures work together to move sugar made in leaves to growing fruit?

    • Leaves and phloem
    • Anthers and stigma
    • Roots and xylem only
    • Stomata and pollen

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