What’s For Lunch? Digestion as a Process By: Megan Gardner

Time to Eat  Digestion begins in the mouth  Bite your food  Chew food with your teeth  Saliva enters the mouth from the glands in your mouth  Swallow

Time to slide  Food slides down the esophagus  Muscles help push the food down the esophagus (wave-like motion called peristalsis)  Mucus lines the esophagus to help the food slide

Mush and Mash  Food enters the stomach  Digestive juices (acid) mixes with the food.  Stomach muscles mash and churn the food.  Food becomes a thick, soupy, liquid (chyme)

Small (but longer) Intestine  Where most digestion takes place  Villi absorb nutrients and bring them to the bloodstream.  Nutrients go to the rest of the body through the bloodstream.

Large (but shorter) Intestine  Any undigested material enters the large intestine (colon).  Stays in here for hours  Takes absorbs any left over water or salt  Food is then eliminated through the anus.

Fun Facts  Carbohydrates are broken down by the saliva  Food stay in your stomach for 2-6 hours.  Gravity helps push the food down.

Comprehension Questions  Where does digestion begin?  Where does your food go after you swallow?  What mixes with the food in the stomach?  Where does most digestion take place?  What happens to the food once it leaves the large intestine?

Works Cited  California Department of Education Fifth grade science standards  BBC staying_digestion.shtml Picture of a person eating (the beginning of digestion)  NIDDK digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ ddiseases/pubs/gas/ Picture of Digestive System  JPButler Picture of an elephant mouth  Web MD my.webmd.com/hw/health_ guide_atoz/hw asp Picture of the esophagus  Libero digilander.libero.it/ BodyMindCare/kapil/image Picture of a stomach  UCLAN scenario1GITlecture.htm Diagram of the small intestine  Sutter Health cancer.sutterhealth.org/ health/healthinfo/ind... Picture of the large intestine