Health: The Digestive System
How your body breaks down food and uses nutrients
Health: The Digestive System
How your body breaks down food and uses nutrients
Health - Grade 4-5
- 1
List the main path food follows through the digestive system, starting at the mouth and ending when waste leaves the body.
Think about the order from top to bottom in your body.
Food travels from the mouth to the esophagus, then to the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus. - 2
What job do your teeth and tongue do at the beginning of digestion?
The teeth break food into smaller pieces, and the tongue helps mix food with saliva and move it for swallowing. - 3
Explain why saliva is important for digestion.
Saliva is the liquid in your mouth.
Saliva moistens food so it is easier to swallow, and it begins breaking down some starches in food. - 4
The esophagus is a tube between the mouth and the stomach. What is its main job?
The esophagus moves swallowed food from the mouth down to the stomach. - 5
What happens to food in the stomach?
The stomach acts a little like a mixer.
In the stomach, food is mixed and churned with digestive juices that help break it down into a soft mixture. - 6
Circle the correct organ: Most nutrients from digested food are absorbed in the stomach, small intestine, or esophagus. Explain your choice.
Most nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine because its walls take nutrients into the blood to be carried around the body. - 7
The small intestine has tiny finger-like parts called villi. How do villi help the body?
Villi make more surface area for absorbing nutrients.
Villi help absorb nutrients from digested food and pass them into the blood. - 8
What is the main job of the large intestine?
The large intestine absorbs water from leftover food material and helps form solid waste. - 9
Choose the best word to complete the sentence: Fiber helps move food through the digestive system and can help prevent _____.
Constipation means having trouble passing solid waste.
Fiber helps move food through the digestive system and can help prevent constipation. - 10
Name two foods that are good sources of fiber.
Two foods that are good sources of fiber are apples and beans. Other correct examples include whole-grain bread, carrots, peas, berries, and oatmeal. - 11
Why is drinking water helpful for digestion?
Water helps things move smoothly through the body.
Drinking water helps soften food and waste, supports the movement of food through the digestive system, and helps the body absorb nutrients. - 12
A student eats lunch very quickly without chewing much. Explain one way this could affect digestion.
Eating quickly without chewing much can make digestion harder because the stomach has to break down larger pieces of food. - 13
What does it mean for food to be digested?
Digestion changes food into useful parts for the body.
Digested means that food is broken down into smaller parts that the body can absorb and use for energy, growth, and repair. - 14
Match each part to its job: mouth, stomach, small intestine, large intestine. Jobs: absorbs nutrients, absorbs water, chews and mixes food with saliva, churns food with digestive juices.
The mouth chews and mixes food with saliva. The stomach churns food with digestive juices. The small intestine absorbs nutrients. The large intestine absorbs water. - 15
Write one healthy habit that can help your digestive system, and explain why it helps.
You can write about fiber, water, exercise, or chewing food well.
One healthy habit is eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains because they provide fiber that helps food and waste move through the digestive system.