Digestive System

Each student can research a part of the digestive system. Draw and give a simple description and then orally share with the rest of the class.

Write a story about a bite of food as it travels the digestive system. Include processes and possible “feelings” the food might have as it is chewed or squeezed through the various organs.

Divide the students into small groups and assign each group one section of the digestive system. Have students research that portion using resource books, the internet, and even their science or health text. Gather together and have each group stage an “act” of how their part of the whole contributes to the entire digestive process.

Give students a cracker and ask them to count how many times they chew to eat the entire cracker. You might want to put them into groups and have some child chew and the others do the counting.

Here is a calorie chart from the USDA. Create measurement problems using the given calorie chart.

Create life sized models of the organs of the digestive system in 3D using paper. Calculate the area of each and chart. You may want to create them from clay first, then tessellate the exteriors with geometric pieces of paper.

All organisms have body parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to take in food. Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive.

Animals have various body systems with specific functions for sustaining life: skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, muscular, digestive, etc. Examples of structures could include digestive organs such as the stomach.

The energy released from food was once energy from the sun that was captured by plants. Food provides animals with the materials they need for body repair and growth and the energy they need to maintain body warmth and for motion. Examples of models could include diagrams and flow charts.

Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to release energy. Emphasis is on describing that molecules are broken apart and put back together and that in this process, energy is released. Elements in the products are the same as the elements in the reactant.

In multicellular organisms, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems. These subsystems are groups of cells that work together to form tissues. Tissues form organs that are specialized for particular body functions. Examples could include the interaction of subsystems within a system and the normal functioning of those systems.