Download The Large Intestine Questions

Name
Date
Monday, March 28
The Large Intestine
By Jennifer Kenny
Digestion starts in the mouth. It then continues through the esophagus, stomach, and small
intestine. Anything that hasn't already been sent to the cells in our body heads to the large
intestine through the valve called the ileocaecal sphincter.
The large intestine is a tube of muscles and tissue that is around five feet long in adults. It
is shorter than the small intestine but also wider. The large intestine has two main parts: the
colon and the rectum.
Parts of food that can't be used go to the large intestine. Fiber from fruits, vegetables, and
grains can't be digested. Bacteria further break down any undigested food that gets there.
They then make several vitamins, including vitamin K, which the body needs for clotting.
The large intestine removes water, vitamins, and minerals from this undigested food and
fiber. Did you know that the large intestine could absorb about 1.6 gallons of water a day?
The water and mineral salts pass through intestinal walls where blood capillaries carry them away to be used by
your body.
When water is removed, the waste becomes more solid. It becomes the brown waste material called feces. The
muscles in the large intestine move the waste along to the rectum, or end of the intestine. The rectum is about 6 to
8 inches long. The feces stay there until you go to the toilet, and they leave the body through the anus.
Sometimes things go wrong in the large intestine. Diarrhea can occur when your large intestine is irritated or
inflamed. Then the feces are loose and watery because food residues have moved through the large intestine too
quickly for it to absorb the excess water. The opposite condition, of course, is constipation. This happens when the
food residues moved too slowly, and too much water has been absorbed. The feces become hard and dry, and it
may be difficult to go to the bathroom.
You eat, you drink, and your body digests the food. Blood carries the tiny bits of food to every part of your body.
The parts of food your body cannot use are stored in the large intestine. You get rid of the wastes when you use the
toilet.
The Large Intestine
Questions
1. Parts of food that can't be used go to the ______ .
A. large intestine
B. mouth
C. small intestine
2. The large intestine is a tube of muscles and tissue that is around ______ feet long in adults.
A. 1
B. 5
C. 10
3. Fiber from fruit can be digested.
A. FALSE
B. TRUE
Name
Date
Monday, March 28
4. ______breaks down any undigested food that gets to the large intestine.
A. Water
B. Salts
C. Bacteria
5. The two main parts of the large intestine are the ______.
A. colon and rectum
B. colon and small intestine
C. colon and ileocaecal sphincter
6. The waste material in the large intestine is called______
A. anus
B. bacteria
C. feces
Name something that could go wrong in the large intestine. Explain what it is.
Name
Date
Tuesday, March 29
The Scoop on Poop
By Joyce Furstenau
From the moment that first bite of juicy hamburger touches your tongue, your body begins breaking it down
into smaller and smaller pieces so it can provide your body with energy. Once your body has used up every last
bit of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, what's left over is dumped. Your body gets rid of these wastes in the form of
FECES (fee-sees), commonly called poop. And, yes, everyone poops.
Your body's digestive system is an amazing machine that is fueled by food. It actually starts when you get the
first whiff of that burger sizzling on the grill. YUM! That's when saliva begins to form in your mouth. The saliva
helps you to break down the food when you chew, making it easier to swallow. Once you swallow, that bite of
burger is propelled by muscles in your ESOPHAGUS (eh-saf-a-gus) into your stomach. The process takes about
ten seconds.
It stays in your stomach for several hours where it is attacked by stomach acids. The acids break it down into
a soupy liquid. It is now ready to do its work. A muscle called a SPHINCTER ( sfink-ter) opens up, and the
mushed up food goes into the small intestine.
The small intestine begins its task of taking the "soup" and then absorbing all the nutrients. It sends all these
useful nutrients into your bloodstream. This provides the fuel for your body. What's left behind goes into the large
intestine, which is also called the COLON (coe-lin). From there, the leftovers move into the last sixteen inches of
the colon, called the RECTUM (rek-tum). That waste comes out your ANUS (a-nuss) when you go to the
bathroom in the form of feces, stool, bowl movement, number two, doo-doo, or poop.
What is poop made of? Mostly water that wasn't absorbed, dead intestinal cells, and fiber from food that
wasn't digested, along with bacteria. It's the bacteria that gives poop its stink. In fact, about one fourth of most
poo-poo is bacteria. EWW! No wonder it stinks!
Why is poop brown? Well, it isn't always brown, but it is most of the time. The color comes from the
combination of a liquid made by your liver called BILE and an orange-yellow substance called BILIRUBIN ( bill
-uh-roob-in). When iron combines with the bilirubin it turns poop brown.
Sometimes your digestive tract doesn't work right. This can cause you to do the "Green-Apple-Quick-Step"
and you get DIARRHEA (die-uh-ree-uh). In other words, you've got the trots and your poop is very watery.
YUCK! The opposite problem can occur if you don't drink enough water or don't get enough fiber in your diet.
This condition is called CONSTIPATION (con-sti-pa-shun). That's when your poop is stuck. Drinking water or
exercise can help constipation. Most of the time, these problems can be treated by changing your diet or taking
over the counter medications. Both of these conditions can become serious, however, and you may need to
consult a doctor.
In any case, pooping is a very important bodily function, without which we could not live. Since there is so
much bacteria in poop, don't forget to wash your hands after using the toilet so you won't spread germs. That's
pretty much the scoop on poop. PHEW!
Name
Date
Tuesday, March 29
The Scoop on Poop
Questions
1. Your digestive system starts working when?
A. after you take your first bite
B. when you can smell your food
C. when you start chewing your food
D. after you swallow your food
2. Once you swallow, your food is sent to your stomach by what organ?
3. What muscle controls the opening from your stomach to your small intestine?
4. What is the job of your small intestine?
A. send messages to your stomach that it is empty
B. send messages when it is time to use the bathroom
C. send nutrients into your bloodstream
D. send messages to your brain that you are full
5. The last sixteen inches of your colon is called what?
A. anus
B. sphincter
C. large intestine
D. rectum
6. When iron combines with bilirubin what happens to your poop?
Name
Date
Wednesday, March 30
The Stomach
By Jennifer Kenny
Can you place your hand on your stomach? If you placed it on your belly button, you will
want to move your hand higher. The stomach is actually at the top of your abdomen.
Think of your stomach as a bag made of muscles. It is shaped like a j. An adult's stomach
is about ten inches long. Like a bag, the stomach can only hold so much. An adult's
stomach can hold around 2.5 pints of food.
As you know, digestion begins in the mouth. A round lump called a food bolus is sent
from the mouth down the esophagus into the stomach. The stomach has three areas. The
fundus is the upper part. The body is the middle part. The pylorus is the lower part. The
stomach also has layers similar to the esophagus (serosa, muscles, sub mucosa, and
mucosa).
The mucosa contains glands that produce gastric juices. These juices are made of powerful acids and enzymes.
The gastric juices contain hydrochloric acid that is strong enough to burn a hole in your carpet!
Now, by the time food has reached the stomach, it has already been broken down into fat, protein, starch, and
sugar molecules. The stomach muscles contract and relax about three times a minute. This churns the food, thereby
mixing it with the powerful digestive juices. This process turns food into a liquid called chyme.
During this process, the starches and sugars stay in the stomach for one to two hours. Proteins remain for three to
five hours. Fats stay even longer.
During the whole process, the lining of the stomach is protected by mucus so the gastric juices, which are so
powerful, don't hurt the stomach itself. Even so, the lining cells wear out, and new ones constantly have to be
produced. Incredibly, the whole stomach lining is replaced every three days!
Now, despite these amazing tidbits, you might be wondering what happens to the chyme. The chyme moves
through the pyloric sphincter into the small intestine. The pyloric sphincter is a ring of muscle that is usually shut
tight so that the contents of the stomach can't leave before they are ready. When the contents are ready, though,
contractions push some contents out and into the small intestine.
When the stomach is finally empty, it tells the brain. Then you'll start to feel hungry. Did you ever hear your
stomach growl? Well, that's the churning of these incredible stomach muscles, getting ready to work even before
you've eaten!
The Stomach
Questions
1. Which best describes the location of the stomach in the human body?
A. bottom of the abdomen
B. top of the abdomen
C. near your belly button
Name
Date
Wednesday, March 30
2. The shape of the stomach most resembles the letter ______.
A. j
B. p
C. x
3. An adult's stomach can hold around ______ pints of food.
A. 250
B. two and one-half
C. 25
4. Pick the correct order of stops along the digestive tract.
A. mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine
B. small intestine, mouth, esophagus, stomach
C. mouth, small intestine, esophagus, stomach
D. small intestine, stomach, esophagus, mouth
5. Food leaves the stomach in a liquid form called ______.
A. hydrochloric acid
B. mucus
C. chyme
6. Which usually stays the longest in the stomach?
A. fats
B. starches and sugars
C. proteins
7. The whole stomach lining is replaced every ______ days.
A. 3
B. 6
C. 9
8. The reading passage ends by telling you about something your stomach does. What does it tell you about?
A. food entering the stomach
B. stomach growls and churns
C. stomach lining replaces itself
Name
Date
Thursday, March 31
The Intestines
By Brandi Waters
During digestion, your mouth and stomach do most of the work to get your food
ready for your body to use. Their job is to break food down into tiny pieces. In the
stomach, food is mixed with digestive juices to form a thick liquid called chyme.
The food must be mixed well. Your stomach can sense when the chyme is ready to
leave the stomach. Then it is ready to move on to the small intestine.
The job of the small intestine is to remove nutrients from the chyme. Nutrients are
all of the good things that your body needs. Protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins,
and minerals are all nutrients. The nutrients move from your small intestine to your
blood. It carries the nutrients to all the parts of your body. The inside of your small
intestine is covered with millions of villi. Villi are like fingers that stick out from
the surface of the small intestine. These villi are how your small intestine pulls
nutrients out of the chyme. They form grooves and crevices for chyme to flow
into. This makes the surface area of the small intestine much larger than it looks.
That means that the small intestine can pull out many more nutrients than it could
with a smooth surface.
By the time that the chyme makes it all the way through your small intestine, almost all the nutrients have been
removed. They are carried by your blood to the parts of your body that need them the most. What is left moves on
to you large intestine, or colon. It is mostly water and pieces of undigested food. Water is an important part of
blood. It is also a part of every cell in your body. The job of the large intestine is to remove water from what
remains of the food that you eat. What is left after the large intestine has done its job is waste material that cannot
be used by your body. Digestion is complete. Your body has taken everything that it can use from the food that you
have eaten.
The Intestines
Questions
1. In the ______ food is broken down and mixed with digestive juices to form a liquid called chyme.
A. the stomach
B. the small intestine
C. the large intestine
D. the liver
2. Nutrients are removed from chyme in the ______.
A. large intestine
B. vitamins
C. blood
D. small intestine
3. The job of the large intestine is to remove ______ from what is left of the food that we eat.
A. nutrients
B. water
C. vitamins
D. digestive juices
Name
Date
Thursday, March 31
4. What is a nutrient?
5. When is digestion complete?
Explain what the villi in the small intestine do. How do villi help the small intestine work well? Draw a picture
of what you think the villi might look like under a microscope.
Name
Date
Friday, April 1
Break It Down: Digestion
By Brandi Waters
Caption: A. mouth B. esophagus C. stomach D. small intestine E. large
intestine
The foods that you eat must be broken down before your body can use them. Your
body does this through a process called digestion. Digestion begins as soon as you put a
bite of food in your mouth. You use your teeth to break your food into tiny pieces.
Saliva, or spit, in your mouth mixes with the food as you chew. The saliva helps to
break down food even more. Next, you swallow your food and it moves down a long
tube called the esophagus and into your stomach.
Your stomach makes more digestive juices that help to break down food. Food from
your esophagus mixes with the juices in your stomach. After the food is broken down,
it is pushed out of the stomach and into the small intestine and then into the large
intestine.
The job of the intestines is to absorb water and nutrients from the food that you eat.
Water and nutrients move through the walls of the intestine and into your blood. Your
blood carries them to every part of your body. Your body cannot use everything from the food that you eat.
Some things cannot be digested. The water and nutrients are removed from the food and what is left is your
body's trash. This trash, called feces (or poop), moves all the way through your intestines. When it reaches the
end, your body has absorbed all of the nutrients it can from the feces. Your body is finished with it. Your body
tells you to go to the bathroom. This is how your body gets rid of its trash.
Break It Down: Digestion
Questions
1. What is digestion?
2. Your ______ connects your mouth to your stomach.
A. small intestine
B. digestion
C. feces
D. esophagus
3. ______ is a digestive juice made by your mouth.
Name
Date
Friday, April 1
4. The job of the ______ is to absorb water and nutrients from the food that you eat.
A. stomach
B. mouth
C. intestines
D. esophagus
5. Your body's trash is called ______.
A. feces
B. blood
C. nutrients
D. spit
In one paragraph, summarize how the digestive system works.