Human Brain

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Human Brain
Inside your head is an organ that would need the space of a giant warehouse if machines were doing the same work. The warehouse would need room for thousands of drawers full of information. It would also need an area for a super fast computer and enough electricity to keep it running all day and all night. Robots would be placed in hundreds of rooms to do certain jobs. Some of the robots would do the same job over and over again without stopping. Other robots would wait for instructions from the computer. They would have to do their job very quickly. Pumping stations for uids and air would be scattered all over the building. Security would be very important. If the warehouse was damaged the business might not get started again correctly. Reactions to the things happening around the warehouse must be handled quickly by the security guards. A small chemical laboratory inside the building would send its products to every department and machine in the warehouse. Wow! That is an awful lot of machines just to do the same work that your brain does!
What do you know about your brain?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

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Human Brain
The human brain is an amazing thing. It is full grown in size and weight by the time you are 6 years old. The brain will continue to grow on the inside for the rest of your life if you give it constant attention. Each new piece of information or new experience will create a new space just for it like the drawers in the warehouse. There will be no new weight added, just growth of the tiny cells that store information. If the cells are not asked every now and then to show the information they die. Your brain weighs about 3 pounds right now. It was only about 1 pound when you were born. The brain is protected by the bones of your skull. The bones were soft when you were born and slowly grew with the brain. Now your skull is solid rm bone tissue. Just don't try to see how hard it really is. Read each sentence below. Fill in the missing words. 1. The brain is grown in size and weight by the time you are ________________________ years old. 2. Your brain weighs about ______________________________ pounds. 3. The brain is protected by the bones of your ________________________________. 4. Your brain was only about ________________________ pounds when you were born. 5. The bones were __________________________________ when you were born and slowly grew with the brain.

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Human Brain
There are three layers of bag-like tissue that exist between the inside of your skull and your brain. These are called the menginges membranes. The tough outer one is called the dura. It is designed to keep the skull from rubbing against the softer areas underneath. Under the dura is the membrane tissue called the arachnoid. The arachnoid holds in the uid that surrounds your brain and also ows inside your spinal column. The nal layer of membrane is stuffed full of blood vessels. It is called the pia. The blood carries oxygen to all parts of the brain. The pia ts all along the folds and ridges of the brain. Do not worry if you get a cut or bump on your head and it bleeds. Remember that the skin that covers your skull and gives you such an interesting face is also full of blood vessels. Those vessels are not the same ones that are feeding your brain the oxygen it needs. Your brain has billions of cells in it. These cells work like a computer to control everything your body does. They control the things you decide to do like throwing a ball or watching a movie. They also control the things you probably don't think about such as breathing and dreaming.
Read each word below. Write a denition for each.

1. membrane ______________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2. oxygen _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 3. vessels __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

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Human Brain
The brain is also the place where all your memories and skills are stored. It is the place that helps you write your name or maybe play the piano. When the brain nds the information for you it sends a message to the correct part of your body that needs to use it. The main mass of the brain is made up of gray matter and white matter. The gray matter is mostly made of a high number of nerve cells called neurons and the pathways they build to send messages. The messages are sent by tiny electrical pulses. All the nerve cells or neurons have bers reaching off of them to connect them to other neurons. The longest ber for each neuron is called an axon. Many axons are covered with a layer of fatty protein material that helps messages move faster. This material gives them a white color. The areas where most of the axons are covered by this material is called the white matter. The white covering is made by cells called glia. Glia means glue in Greek. The glia help hold all the cells and pathways together. They also work hard to surround and then get rid of any invading bacteria or infections.
Draw a picture of what you think the brain looks like.

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Human Brain
The brain looks almost like a football shaped head of cauliower when seen from the side. The stalk is called the brainstem. It leads to the spinal column. The brainstem carries the uid and messages that move between the brain and the spine. Right above the brainstem is a small oval shaped part of your brain called the cerebellum. It may be small but it is powerful. The cerebellum is in charge of the way your body moves. It helps you keep your balance and posture. It is responsible for the movement and getting your muscles to work together correctly. The biggest part of the brain is made up of the cerebrum. The cerebrum is divided into 4 main parts. The names are the same for the left side of the brain as the right side. The two sides are called your hemispheres. For some reason, the left hemisphere controls the right side of your body and the right hemisphere controls the left side.

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Human Brain
The frontal lobe (section) of the cerebrum is the part of your brain that helps you with thinking. It is where the jobs of guring things out and making decisions occurs. It also is the storage area for your emotions. The frontal lobe helps you decide when you want to be happy or sad, silly or serious. The frontal lobe is the largest section of the cerebrum. It starts above your eyes and goes all the way back to where most of you have a cowlick in your hair. The right and left hemispheres of the frontal lobe make up about one third of the entire brain size. The temporal lobe extends from each ear more than half the way around the back of your head. This is the area of your brain that stores the information about what you hear and smell. Your memory is also located in this area. Many people remember things and people by the way they smell. Maybe this shared lobe is the reason why. The parietal lobe is centered in the back of your head. If you place your open hand just under your cow lick you will cover most of it. This lobe is the storage area for your sense of touch. It is also where your language skills come from. These skills are your ability to speak and the way you speak. The occipital lobe takes care of your vision and reading ability. It is found in that knobby area just above your neck.

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Human Brain
There are also some important glands located in your brain. These glands are small organs that produce liquids to be used by parts of your body to do their jobs. We will just briey look at three of these glands. The thalamus gland is the center that controls pain and your senses. It helps you remain alert. The hypothalamus controls your body temperature and cycles. It lets you know when you are sleepy or wide awake. It is your internal clock. The hypothalamus also controls your moods. The feelings of hunger and thirst are also controlled by the secretions from this gland. The third major gland in the brain is the pituitary gland. It releases hormones into your blood stream when your internal clock tells it to. Hormones are what cause growth or maturing in your body. There are many other areas and parts of your brain. Each one has a job to do. Doctors have found that some things are stored or controlled by more than one area of the brain. This might be to protect you from total loss of a skill or function in case of illness or injury but they are not sure. A doctor that studies the nervous system is called a neurologist. The brain and spinal column are parts of the nervous system. Some doctors study the brain and others study the way your brain makes you act or feel. There are many different scientists that want to know what is going on in there.

Help the boy nd his way to the brain.

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Human Brain
Brain surgeons are called neurosurgeons. They have been able to nd out what some parts of your brain store and control. They have found this out when they operated on people's brains because the people are usually awake. The patient can talk to the surgeon and answer questions. It is not as horrible as it sounds. The brain has no pain centers. When you hurt a part of your body like stub your toe or scrape your knee the nerves of the toe or knee feel the pain. A pain message goes to the brain. The brain then sends a message telling you what to do (jump back, holler, grab your knee) or whatever. The brain never felt the pain because it can't. A different and less yucky way to nd out what parts of the brain do is by using special machines. The machines have long names so we will just use their initials. The MRI and the PET machines can take pictures of the brain while a person is doing something. The pictures will show which part is being used because of the electrical activity in the area. Remember messages in the brain are sent by tiny electric pulses. The doctors just follow the blinking lights. Many things can go wrong in a brain. Sometimes a child can be born with something different happening with their brain because of genetics. Genetics means the difference was passed to a child in the life pattern of DNA given by their mother or father.
Read each sentence below. Circle true or false.

1. Brain surgeons are called neurosurgeons. ! ! true false

2. The brain has pain centers. ! ! true false

3. Messages in the brain are sent by tiny electrical pulses. ! ! true false
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Human Brain
Babies also might have brain problems because something happened to them before they were born or at the time they were born. Sometimes the mother may have gotten some chemicals in her body that went to the baby. Many times we do not know all the chemicals that we eat or drink or breathe. Some diseases of the brain can also be caused by chemical invasion as we grow up. Sometimes it can happen to adults. Using alcohol, illegal drugs, or smoking have all been proven to hurt the brain as well as other parts of the body. Some people get damage to their brain from accidents. Wearing a seat belt in the car and a helmet on the bicycle or scooter will help keep your brain safer. Just like the rest of your amazing body the brain makes you who you are. It is very unlikely that you will have something go wrong with your brain. Even if you do, doctors are nding new ways every day to x or work around many of the problems.
Answer each question below. Write your answers on the lines below.

Why is you brain important? ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

Write something you have learned about the brain. __________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

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Human Brain
Spelling
Print the correct spelling word on the lind.

1.

brain brian braen

_______________________

2.

spnial spinal spinil

_______________________

3.

nevres nevers nerves

_______________________

4.

cushions cashions cushoins

_______________________

5.

inteligent intelligent entelligent

_______________________

6.

_______________________

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Human Brain
Word Unscramble
Unscramble each word. Print the word on the line.

1. munah

_______________

2. kniseriw

_______________

3. rniab

_______________

4. pnisla

_______________

5. vrense

_______________

6. sucshino

_______________

7.

_______________

8.
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_______________
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Human Brain
Find and circle these words. They run down, across, and diagonally.

Word Find

human functions

cerebrum sacs

spinal oxygen

nerves cerebellum

wrinkles stem

brain cushions

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Human Brain
Can you fit these words into the criss cross? Use a pencil so you can erase if you need to.

Criss Cross

head brain

nervous system! !

skull center !

spinal cord

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Human Brain
Answers
Page 10 - brain, spinal, nerves, cushions, intelligent Page 11 - human, wrinkles, brain, spinal, nerves, cushions Page 12 -

Page 13 -

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