NATURAL SCIENCE TERM 1:

ALL ABOUT VITAL FUNCTIONS

First test
VITAL FUNCTIONS
All living things perform three vital functions: nutrition, interaction and reproduction.
Vital functions are necessary for staying alive.
-Nutrition gives us the energy we need for living.
-In interaction we get information from the world. Then, we respond to it.
-Reproduction is the process of having children.
WHAT IS NUTRITION?
Nutrition is the process of obtaining energy. Our body gets this energy from food. It also
gets energy from the air we breathe. Four systems participate in nutrition:
-The respiratory system gets oxygen from the air.
-The digestive system transforms food into nutrients.
-The circulatory system transports nutrients and oxygen.
-The excretory system eliminates waste.
THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
The digestive system gets nutrients from food. We need nutrients for growth and for
staying alive.
In the mouth, the teeth chew the food. The food goes down the esophagus. Then, it arrives
at the stomach. The intestines absorb the nutrients.
THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
Air contains oxygen. Oxygen is essential for our body. We breathe in air by the nose
and mouth. The air goes down the trachea. The lungs get the oxygen we need for staying
alive.
THE CIRCULATORY AND EXCRETORY SYSTEMS
The circulatory system carries nutrients and oxygen in the blood. The blood goes to all
parts of our body. It keeps our body working. The heart pumps the blood in the veins.
The veins are in every part of the body.
Blood also contains waste products. Waste products can harm us. The excretory system
eliminates them. The kidneys clean the blood and eliminate waste as urine and sweat.
Second test
WE RESPOND TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Interaction is obtaining information from the environment and responding to it. In the
interaction the senses and the musculoskeletal system take place.
The five senses give us information about the world. They alert us to danger, too. The
five senses are sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
-Sight: we see with our eyes.
-Smell: we smell with our nose.
-Hearing: we hear with our ears.
-Taste: we taste with our tongue.
-Touch: we touch with our skin.
The musculoskeletal system is formed by muscles and bones.
-The muscles are soft and flexible. Tendons connect muscles to bones. Biceps, pectorals,
calf and abdominals are muscles.
-Bones are hard and rigid. All the bones together form the skeleton. Skull, humerus,
backbone, tibia, femur and ribs are bones.
-Joints connect two or more bones. Joints let us bend our body. Neck, shoulder, elbow,
knee, ankle and wrist are joints.
To protect our bodies we can use helmets, elbow pads and knee pads.

STAGES OF LIFE
Humans can make new human being similar to them. We call this reproduction.
Humans are viviparous: babies grow inside the mother’s womb for nine months. We
call this the gestation period.
We are born and grow. Our body changes in our different life stages.
Baby: 0-1; child:1-12; teenager: 13-19; adult: 20-65; elderly person: +65