NATURAL SCIENCE UNIT 4

Traditional English Cake from

Carmona (Seville)

INDEX
1. Nutrition
2. Digestion
3. Respiration

by
Rafael
Rodríguez
Pérez
NUTRITION I. Digestion and respiration 23
 NATURAL SCIENCE UNIT 4

1. NUTRITION

 Jigsaw technique. These four systems work together for nutrition to occur. Why are
each of them important? Make groups of experts to talk about one of the four
systems.

 How are they related to each other? In groups, write your answer in a piece of
paper and put it in a box. Your teacher must keep it until the end of the NEXT unit.

 Work in groups. Read about the group of nutrients that food contains and make
some cards of each of them.
- Carbohydrates. If you eat them, they will provide a fast supply of energy.
o Examples: pulses, potatoes, cereals (rice, bread, pasta…), etc.
- Fats. If you consume them, they will provide a slower supply of energy.
o Examples: oils, butter...
- Proteins. If you eat them, they will provide you with building materials for
growth and to repair your body.
o Examples: milk, meat, fish, eggs, pulses...
- Vitamins and minerals. They are necessary. If you take them, your body will
function properly.
o Examples: fruit, vegetable and dairy products.
- Water. If you drink water, it will transport other nutrients and waste around
your body.

 Play in groups. Listen to the function of a group of nutrients and lift one card from
that group.
- If you take this, it will provide a slower supply of energy.
- If you take this, your body will function properly.
- If you take it, it will transport other nutrients and waste around your body.
- If you eat that, it will provide a fast supply of energy.
- If you eat this, it will provide you with building materials to grow and repair
your body.

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 NATURAL SCIENCE UNIT 4

 Compare 2 or 3 labels from similar products, for example, 2 types of yogurts, 3 types
of juices, etc. Say what nutrients they have and explain which one is better for your
health.

 Individual activity. There are four processes involved in nutrition. Read about them,
match and make a diagram.
PROCESSES OF NUTRITION

 Incomplete dictation. Close your booklet, write and complete.

- Nutrition is a combination of processes that supply our body with the building
materials and energy that we need to live. These processes are _____________,
_____________, _____________ and _____________.

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 NATURAL SCIENCE UNIT 4

2. DIGESTION

 Teamwork. Make a poster of the

digestive system with flaps in one of
the halves of a sheet of cardboard.

 Work in pairs. Use the poster to play

a guessing game.
- What’s this part?
- Can you name the parts of
the digestive system in
order?

 1-2-group technique. Read, think and write the stages of digestion in order.
a. Later, the chyme travels to the small intestine. The intestinal juices combine
with bile, produced in the liver, and pancreatic juice, produced in the
pancreas. The chyme transforms into a milky liquid called ‘chyle’.
b. Then, the bolus reaches the stomach, which produces gastric juices. If the
bolus is broken down by the gastric juices, it will form a thick mixture called
‘chyme’.
c. In the mouth, out teeth break down food and it mixes with saliva produced
by the salivary glands. If food is mixed with saliva, it will be called ‘bolus’.
d. Feces leave the body through the anus.
e. In the large intestine, water is absorbed and the indigested food turns into
solid feces.
f. If we swallow the bolus, it will go into the pharynx and down the esophagus.

 Read, watch the videos and talk about the digestion process.
Nutrients are absorbed into the blood in the small intestine. The inside of the
small intestine is covered with tiny, finger-like projections, called ‘villi’, which help to
absorb the nutrients.

NUTRITION I. Digestion and respiration 26

 NATURAL SCIENCE UNIT 4

https://www
.youtube.co
m/watch?v=
qyWcQiXLw
Do
https://www.
youtube.com/
watch?v=On
oq1Ok7_KM

How food is absorbed Structure of villi

into a human body

 Whole class experience. Read, do and learn.

Let’s see what happens to food during digestion.
1st – Prepare some materials: biscuits (and/or bananas), water, orange juice, milk, a
freezer bag, a stocking and a plastic bottle with a hole.
2nd – Use your hands to smash the biscuits and/or bananas. Imagine you are
chewing the food. Add some water as saliva.
3rd – Put the ‘bolus’ in the bag. Add water and orange juice (gastric juices). Squish
the food so it makes a paste (chyme).
4th – Cut one of the corners of the freezer bag and pass the chyme into the stocking
(small intestine). Add some milk (intestinal juices, pancreatic juice and bile) and pass
the chyle all the way down the stocking into the plastic bottle (large intestine).
5th – Squeeze the feces out of the bottle.

 Cooperative activity in groups. Remember the experience and complete this

diagram. One member of the group will write the first answer and the next one will
explain why it is correct or not and give more information.

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3. RESPIRATION

 Read, learn and answer.

THE HEIMLICH MANOEUVRE
It’s a typical day in the school. Children are eating their morning snacks in the
playground. Suddenly, Pepillo stops running and reaches his neck. He can’t breathe!
If he doesn’t breathe, he will have a problem. He is choking on a piece of banana,
and the piece is blocking the airway to his lungs.
If someone helps Pepillo, there won’t be any problem. And that one is Mr Ralph!
He knows how to apply the Heimlich manoeuvre! It consists of three steps:
1. Stand behind the person who is choking and wrap your arms around his/her
abdomen.
2. Place your fist on his/her abdomen between the belly button and the rib
cage, and hold your fist with your other hand.
3. Pull your fist rapidly inward and upward. Repeat this step until the piece of
banana is expelled.
a. Why can the Heimlich manoeuvre save Pepillo’s life?
b. What do you have to do when someone is choking?
c. Explain the Heimlich manoeuvre in your own words.
d. Have you ever choked on a piece of food? How did you get it out?
e. Do you know any other first aid procedures?

 TPR. Follow your teacher’s instructions.

1. We are going to get carbon dioxide (CO2) from our body.
2. If we breathe in, we will take oxygen, which is good for our
bodies. Let’s do it!
3. If we breathe out, we will expel carbon dioxide, which is not
very good for our bodies.
4. Breathe in… Breathe out…
5. Oxygen in… Carbon dioxide out…

 Numbered heads together strategy. Answer or complete.

a. Why do we need to breathe?
b. If we breathe in, we will take…
c. If we breathe out, we will expel…
d. Is carbon dioxide (CO2) hotter or cooler than oxygen?

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 Teamwork. Use
the other half of
the cardboard to
make a poster of
the respiratory
system with flaps.

 Work in pairs. Play

with the poster.
- What’s this part?
- Can you name the parts of the respiratory system in order?
- How many lungs do we have?
- How many bronchi do we have?
- Which comes first, the pharynx or the larynx?
- Which are bigger, bronchioles or alveoli?

 Imagine you are a doctor. Write an email with some advice to Mr González. Use the
first conditional, linkers and some advice from the list.

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 Individual activity. Read and write oxygen or carbon dioxide.

The alveoli are surrounded by very

little blood vessels. Both the alveoli and
the blood vessels have very thin walls.
This allows oxygen (O2) and carbon
dioxide (CO2) to pass between the
lungs and the blood.

If we breathe in, the O2 in the air will

pass from the alveoli to the blood.

The CO2 produced by all the body

cells passes into the alveoli.

 Work in pairs. Complete the unit diagram.

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