Drew Health Ambassadors – Fall 2007
In collaboration with ENVS 408: Urban Asthma Epidemic
Grade Level: 3rd – 5th
Asthma Lesson Plan 2: Asthma Attacks
Aim: Educate students about the reality of asthma attacks, what happens during an attack, and what can be done to prevent them.
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn about the respiratory system.
- Students will learn how asthma patients can decide what and what not to do (i.e., sports)
- Students will learn about things they can do around the house to prevent attacks, including housecleaning techniques, using a humidifier, etc.
- Students will discuss the body’s reaction during an attack, including how it feels and what physically occurs.
- Students will be introduced to the inhaler, what it does, and how to use it.
Materials:
Healthy snack
Markers, crayons, colored pencils, colored paper
Folders
Storyboard – decorated with “team name”
Storyboard materials (pieces of colored paper, stickytack, white cards)
Handouts/worksheets – pictures/diagrams/books/posters to show respiratory system
GeorgetownUniversity Asthma program pictures
1. Introduction (5 minutes)
The large group will recap the first lesson.
- What did we learn?
- What happened in the video with Buster?
- What body parts does asthma affect?
- What did we add to the storyboard?
2. The Respiratory System (15 minutes)
Penn students, using pictures and diagrams, will discuss the respiratory system. This section should cover:
- The major components of the respiratory system
- The idea of lungs as balloons and airways as straws
- The way the respiratory system supports the body (spreading oxygen throughout)
Activity:
Penn students should hand out cups filled with water and straws for each elementary student. Each student should blow bubbles in the cup; Penn students should explain that this signifies that their breath is oxygen.
Penn students will also have made a prototype of the lung, using a straw and a balloon to show how the airways carry the air into the lungs. One student should demonstrate by blowing into the straw and inflating the balloon (as much as possible).
3. Homework Discussion (15 minutes)
Penn students will lead the class in discussing the items that they saw on the activity sheet. Elementary students will identify the pictures they saw (crayons, chalk, cars, stuffed animals, turtle, dog, bunny, fish).
One Penn student explains that factors which aggravate asthma are called triggers. Triggers can make it hard for asthma patients to breathe.
As a healthy person, can you think of things that make it hard for you to breathe? What about if you had asthma?
One Penn student will make a list on the blackboard/flipchart. Then give them the full list, if they aren’t able to come up with all of the triggers.
- Allergens (pollen, mold, some foods)
- Irritants such (tobacco smoke, strong odors, dust)
- Weather changes
- Viral or sinus infections
- Exercise (running, sports, etc.)
- Reflux disease (Stomach acid flowing back up the esophagus, or food pipe)
- Medications
- Emotional anxiety (getting really excited, crying)
4. Small Groups (10 minutes)
Group leaders will discuss the triggers with the students and answer any preliminary questions. They should explain to their group that it may seem like there are a lot of triggers that can lead to asthma attacks, but there are a lot of things that you can do to prevent an attack.
Leaders should go through each of the triggers, and ask for suggestions of how to deal with each. Build as big a list as possible, and then fill in the rest and explain as you go.
5. Activity (10 minutes)
Each small group should look at the before/after image of a room, taken from the Georgetown material. Penn students should work with the elementary students to find the differences between the two, and explain why the “after” image is more asthma-friendly.
6. Storyboard (3 minutes)
Each elementary student, before they go, will write down one thing they learned.
Take-aways
- Define asthma triggers
- Where you can find asthma triggers in the home
- How to prevent triggers from aggravating asthma
- What happens during an asthma attack
- What is an inhaler?
Homework #2:
Students should look for asthma agents in the home and/or neighborhood. Each student should come back with a list of 5 things they found over the course of the week.
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