• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (The digestive system; Human organ systems and how they work together). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which organ system is this: bones, joints and muscles? (respiratory system / nervous system / skeletal and muscular systems / excretory (urinary) system) → skeletal and muscular systemsPrompt: Think about the main job: transport, gas exchange, digestion, control, movement or removing waste.
2. What is the main job of the large intestine? (to absorb water / to chew food / to make saliva / to pump blood) → to absorb waterPrompt: What is left after the nutrients are taken out?
3. Where are most nutrients absorbed into the blood? (the stomach / the mouth / the large intestine / the small intestine) → the small intestinePrompt: It is a very long, folded tube.

• Ask everyone to find their pulse, then jump for 30 seconds and find it again.
• Share the objective: Trace a meal through the digestive system. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: What pushes food along the oesophagus (esophagus), even if you are upside down?
• Step 1: Peristalsis is muscle squeezing that moves food along the gut.
• Step 2: So the answer is: waves of muscle contraction (peristalsis)
• Answer: waves of muscle contraction (peristalsis)
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. What pushes food along the oesophagus (esophagus), even if you are upside down? (waves of muscle contraction (peristalsis) / air pressure / gravity only / the heart) → waves of muscle contraction (peristalsis)Prompt: The walls of the tube squeeze.
2. Food has just left the large intestine. Where does it go next? (small intestine / anus / mouth / oesophagus (esophagus)) → anusPrompt: Digestion and absorption happen before water is removed.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Where is most water absorbed back into the body? (mouth / liver / large intestine / stomach) → large intestinePrompt: It is the part just before the waste leaves.
2. Food has just left the small intestine. Where does it go next? (anus / oesophagus (esophagus) / large intestine / mouth) → large intestinePrompt: Digestion and absorption happen before water is removed.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-7.