Our Liver

Verse:
I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Jeremiah 33:8


Book:
"Me and My Amazing Body" by Joan Sweeney

In class we ...

• located the liver in our body - some students said they could feel it.
  
• discussed the many functions of the liver

to cleanse the blood*

makes bile which helps digest fatty foods

stores glycogen


• discussed ways of keeping the liver healthy by eating less fatty foods and restricting the intake of toxins and chemicals
  
• reviewed many of the systems we covered earlier in the semester
  

Vocubalary words:

• liver
• bile
• digestion
• cholesterol
• glycogen

Websites:
This website may be a useful to review some of the basics covered in class.

Our Digestive System- pt. 2

schematic from the web

schematic drawn by the students

Verse:
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Psalm 51:6

Book:
"What Happens to a Hamburger?" by Paul Showers

In class we learned that ...

• we don't have to get grossed out by our intestines
• our digestive system is pretty much one very large tube from our mouth down past our large intestine
  
• we have sphincters around the stomach to control flow
  
• the adult small intestine (SI) is about 2" in diameter and about 21' long
• the intestines have to be really smushed up in order to fit inside our body
  
• the fats and proteins in the chyme is further digested in the SI with the help of pancreas, liver and gall bladder
• vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats are absorbed extensively in the SI
• food can stay in the SI for more than 4h to help facilitate the absorption process
• the inner surface of the SI is lined with finger-like projections (microvilli) to enhance the absorption process
• the nutrients are absorbed from the SI by lymph and blood vessels that look like more chicken feet
• eventually the blood will carry these nutrients to areas in our body of need
  
• the large intestine is about 3-4" in diameter and about 5' in length
• extra nutrients and water is absorbed in the large intestine
• another word for "poop" is feces or stool

Vocabulary words:

• intestines
• absorption
• sphincters
• pancreas
• liver
• gall bladder
• chyme
• microvilli
• feces

Videos:
The server was too slow so we didn't watch these videos
Digestive System - Video 1
The Stages of Digestion - Video 2

Helpful Website:
Kidshealth

Activities to do at home:

To visually demonstrate how
1) the food is pushed through the intestines in a pulsatile motion
2) the nutrients and water are absorbed through the microvilli
3) undigested waste is noticeably less than the starting material

• Take some old porous nylon stockings and cut off one leg, leaving an opening at each end.
• Cook some instant oatmeal, about 2-3 cups and cool.
• Cover the area - things can get a bit messy.
• Pack the oatmeal into one end and gently squeeze the oatmeal from one end to the other end.
• The porous hose will allow nutrients to escape and by the time you've reached the other end, only noticeably smaller amount should be left to be dumped out.

Our Digestive System- pt. 1

Verse:
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
Proverbs 25:21


Book:
"What Happens to a Hamburger?" by Paul Showers


In class we...

• did a great job reviewing material we learned before spring break
• defined digestion to be the breakdown of food and conversion to energy
• identified two forms of breakdown: chemical and mechanical
• learned that saliva and digestive juices in the stomach help with the chemical breakdown of food
• learned that mechanical breakdown occurs when we chew food, when the esophagus squeezes the food down into the stomach, and when the stomach churns the food for hours
• better appreciated why our parents tell us to "chew your food well"
  
• in the stomach the food changes appearance and looks thick and soupy called chyme
  
• appreciated the fact that our epiglottis helps prevent food from going down our trachea
• reviewed that smooth muscles are involuntary muscles and are heavily involved in digestion
• we duplicated this part of the digestive process using a tightly sealed plastic bag, crackers, saliva, and vinegar and observed the changes in appearance of food 1) before breakdown, 2) after mechanical breakdown, 3) after chemical breakdown (Note to self: this experiment grossed out some students)
• we colored, cut, and pasted our paper stomachs on to our body
  

Vocabulary words:

• digestion
• saliva
• chemical breakdown
• mechanical breakdown
• epiglottis
• esophagus
• bolus
• chyme
• sphincter

Video:
We didn't watch any videos in class, but here are two that nicely reviews what we learned.
Stomach Digestion
Digestion