New
New
Year 6

How nutrients and water are transported within humans

I can describe how water and nutrients from food travel through the body.

New
New
Year 6

How nutrients and water are transported within humans

I can describe how water and nutrients from food travel through the body.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Nutrients have different purposes and come from different foods.
  2. A healthy diet is essential for maintaining the nutrients our body needs to function properly.
  3. During digestion, your small intestine absorbs the nutrients from your food and passes them into the bloodstream.
  4. Water and nutrients from food are transported in blood around the body to where they are needed.
  5. Models can be used to help us to learn about how science works.

Keywords

  • Nutrients - Nutrients are important substances that living things use to stay alive and healthy.

  • Digest - When we digest food it is broken down so that nutrients can be used by the body.

  • Intestine - The intestine is a long tube that is split into the small and large intestine, through which food travels from the stomach and out of the body while it is being digested.

  • Bloodstream - Bloodstream is the flow or movement of blood throughout the body.

  • Model - A model is used to describe something that can't be experienced directly.

Common misconception

Pupils may not know that we need to eat food to obtain essential nutrients to keep us healthy and alive.

Learning about different types of nutrients found in food, such as vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats will help children to remember previous learning; that we get nutrition from what we eat.

When using a model to represent water and nutrients from food being absorbed by the small intestine, use a large tray to collect substances 'passing through' objects such as sieves or tights. This lesson links to previous learning about the human digestive system.
Teacher tip

Equipment

See additional materials for further guidance.

Content guidance

  • Exploration of objects

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
The function of the is to pump blood around the body.
Correct Answer: heart
Q2.
The average heart is the size of a clenched human ...
Correct Answer: fist, hand
Q3.
The tubes carrying blood around the body are called blood ...
An image in a quiz
caps.
holes.
Correct answer: vessels.
valves.
Q4.
Veins are blood vessels that return blood low in back to the heart.
Correct answer: oxygen
carbon dioxide
muscle
plasma
Q5.
Blood that is low in oxygen is called blood.
Correct Answer: deoxygenated, de-oxygenated
Q6.
Match these parts of the human body to the statements.
Correct Answer:heart,is made of different chambers with a muscle wall

is made of different chambers with a muscle wall

Correct Answer:arteries,carry oxygenated blood from the heart around the body

carry oxygenated blood from the heart around the body

Correct Answer:veins,carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart

carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart

6 Questions

Q1.
What are nutrients?
Parts of food that help us to breathe.
Correct answer: Important substances that living things use to stay alive and healthy.
Correct answer: Components in food that are used by the body to function properly.
Natural things we find in our body used by the brain.
Q2.
The part of the digestive system that helps to transfer nutrients into the bloodstream is the small ...
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: intestine, intestine.
Q3.
Alex used a sieve to represent part of the digestive system. Alex has made a ...
An image in a quiz
diagram.
table.
chart.
Correct answer: model.
Q4.
Match these nutrients to the foods we find them in.
Correct Answer:fats,butter, oil, and nuts

butter, oil, and nuts

Correct Answer:carbohydrates,cereals, bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes

cereals, bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes

Correct Answer:proteins,fish, meat, and eggs

fish, meat, and eggs

Correct Answer:fibre,cereal, bread, beans, lentils, fruit, and vegetables

cereal, bread, beans, lentils, fruit, and vegetables

Correct Answer:vitamins,dairy, fruit, and vegetables

dairy, fruit, and vegetables

Q5.
Water and nutrients from food are transported in around the body to where they are needed.
Correct Answer: blood, Blood, bloodstream
Q6.
Place this process in order starting with 'Food enters the mouth and travels down the oesophagus.'
An image in a quiz
1 - Food enters the mouth and travels down the oesophagus.
2 - Food is broken down further in the stomach and passed to the small intestine.
3 - The small intestine transfers nutrients from food to the bloodstream.
4 - The blood travels through blood vessels so the body can use nutrients from food.
Q2 Macrovector/Shutterstock Q6 La Gorda/Shutterstock

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