BOTTOMS UP?
Grades K - 3

Have you ever wondered where that bowl of Cheerios you ate for breakfast ever ends up? Through the use of video technology and a literature connection written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, we can travel on the greatest field trip of all. The students will gain an understanding of our truly amazing digestive system and the magic that our human body provides to change food into fuel. The students should feel like authentic participants in our great adventure and understand the principles of digestion. This lesson may require two days. The students feel more comfortable when a literature connection is viewed to completion because they really want to see how the book ends.

"THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS #102: Lunch"

Students will be able to:

• follow the path food takes through the Digestive System
• identify parts and functions of the Digestive System
• identify various stages that food travels through the Digestive System
• simulate stomach operation by constructing stomach from rubber glove
• "Construct A Gut" to reinforce exact location of food

for Pre-Viewing Activities:

• stethoscope per pair of students (borrow from nurse)
• 1 cup for drinking water

for Stomach Activity:

• 1 latex-rubber glove per student
• 1 slice of bread - rye - seeded
• water
• 1 small container - plastic cup

for Body -- "Construct A Gut":

• worksheet per student - Construct A Gut - note the number of copies of each organ that is necessary to create a child-sized digestive tract.
• 1 pair of scissors
• Tan Kraft rolls or bulletin board, rolled paper, - four feet
• Crayons or magic markers, 1 per child red and blue
• 1 plastic bag for "Construct A Gut" intestine

• digestion
• esophagus
• small and large intestine

Have the students drink one cup of water. Have the partners listen to the throat and above the heart to hear fluid travel to the stomach with the stethoscope. Have them identify which direction the fluid is traveling.

To give the students a specific responsibility while viewing, they should be identifying the parts of the digestive system. The students should be responsible for understanding the function of the digestive system organs. They should also be responsible for predicting where the food is now, where it's going next and what it looks like at any given stage.

START the video at the beginning of "Magic School Bus for Lunch" logo.

PAUSE the video when Wanda says, "It's only a ride." Ask the students what the poster represents. "Can anyone identify the parts?" These questions should provoke any prior knowledge.
RESUME the video to when Ms. Frizzle comes in with a rope.
PAUSE when she says, "Our next field trip." Facilitate discussion by asking the students to make a prediction as to where Ms. Frizzle will take the class. " Where do you think the trip will start?"

RESUME the video.
PAUSE the video when the girl says, "At my old school we turn back in this kind of weather." Ask the students where they think the bus is located in the digestive system. The students are to pinpoint the exact location of the bus. Ask the students, "Where are they? What would you call these food crushers?"

RESUME the video.
PAUSE the video when Ms. Frizzle says, "I call it Action Arnold, the best ride in the world." Ask the students to predict where they are going next. What direction could they be headed, up or down? What part of the body are they headed for? What is the esophagus?

RESUME the video.
PAUSE the video when boy says, "here at United Digestion." Have the students look at diagram. Have them identify the parts that the video characters went through and the function of each? RESUME the video. After the stomach activity below, you might want to break and continue the next lesson.


Stomach Activity
The students will take a rubber glove and mix bread and water. Put bread and water into the glove. Mush gently until food mixes with water into a semiliquid state. The students will then pierce one finger of the glove and squeeze the liquid from glove into the small container cup. The students should observe a change in the bread and water. They will note that seeds in the rye bread have not dissolved but remained in same state. This will validate that some waste remains in a solid form.

RESUME the video.
PAUSE when girl says, "What's that?" Ask the students, "Can you guess what that's called? What would be it's function? Where does it go?"

RESUME the video.
PAUSE the video when the girl says, "Where are we?" Ask the students to look at location. Ask, "What looks different from the place they came from? What might be the function?"

RESUME the video.
PAUSE the video when the girl says, "Here at United Disgestion, what we digest, we deliver." Ask the students, "Where are we in the system? Identify parts. Why are there no particles of food anymore?"

RESUME the video.
PAUSE the video when Ms. Frizzle says, "That's the large intestine for you. Ask the students what the function of the large intestine is. What does it remove?

RESUME the video.

PAUSE the video when the girl says, "According to my research, the waste goes...." Ask the students to predict where the waste products go. Will it be pleasant? What direction does the digestion push the food? Up or down?

RESUME the video.

PAUSE the video when Wanda says, "Just do what I say, just drink the seltzer now...." Ask the students what will happen. What are the kids in the bus trying to make Arnold do?

RESUME the video.

The students should be able to construct a model of the digestive system and put appropriate parts into appropriate places. The students should partner up and use Tan Kraft paper to make outline, the students should lie on the paper one at a time. The partner should make an outline of the body on the floor using a magic marker or crayon. They should then use the worksheet "Construct A Gut." Have students cut out and color the organs and place in the appropriate location on the body form. Tape together intestines, roll the small and the large ones into a plastic bag. Attach to the homemade body. Bodies can be hung in classroom, halls, or distributed to other classrooms in the building for information.

Visit a farm to discuss comparisons of different digestive systems, for example, humans and cows. (ruminant systems)

Visit the local children's museums or science museums like the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey to explore Human Body Exhibit.

Invite a Nurse or Dietition to speak about diet and different dietary lifestyles.

Language Arts:
Partners can write narratives about the digestive system to be shared with other grades if the teachers wish a presentation. The students can tour the school with Tan Kraft body buddy and narrative.

Read The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen.

Mathematics:
Measure the length of the small intestines and the large intestines after the students cut them out and before they put them in a bag. Measure by inches and centimeters.

Science:
Windows On Science - Data Optical Corp. Life Science, Volume II, Warren, New Jersey can be accessed or photographs and video shorts. The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Creative Technology, 1993.

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Master Teachers: Patricia McFall and Linda Madison