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.
Master Teachers: Patricia McFall and Linda Madison

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