5th Grade: Organ Systems - Advanced

Organ

A group of tissues that perform a specific function or group of functions. Examples: Heart, Lung, Stomach

Arteries

Arteries move blood that is rich in oxygen away from the heart. The pressure from the heart's pumping action keeps this blood moving in the right direction. Arteries are normally drawn red in diagrams.

Capillaries

Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that carry oxygen to tissues. They can only be seen under a microscope because they are about one-tenth the width of a human hair. Capillaries have thin walls that allow oxygen and nutrients from the blood to move through them to the tissues. Carbon dioxide and other wastes leave the body cells, cross through the capillary walls, and enter the blood for the trip back to the heart and lungs.

Mouth and Teeth

In the digestive system, the mouth and teeth change food into a soft, moist mass through the processes of chewing and adding saliva. This is the first step in the process of food digestion.

Large Intestine

Like the small intestine, the large intestine is tube-shaped and lined with muscle. The cells in the wall of the large intestine absorb water from the partially digested food. Also, bacteria in the large intestine help break down some of the remaining undigested materials. The material that cannot be digested moves out of the body as waste.

Organ System

Organ systems are groups of organs that work together to perform a specific task.

Sweat Glands

Sweat glands in the skin can remove excess water and salt from the body.

Bladder

The bladder then stores the urine until it can be excreted to the outside of the body

Urethra

The bladder then stores the urine until it can be excreted to the outside of the body through a small tube called the urethra.

Circulatory System

The circulatory system carries food, gases and wastes throughout the body in the blood. Made up of the heart, blood, and blood vessels. Types of blood vessels include arteries, capillaries, and veins.

Digestive System

The digestive system is responsible for getting food into the body, getting solid wastes out of the body, and breaking food down into usable parts. The organs in the digestive system include the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and liver.

Esophagus

The esophagus is a tube-shaped structure that has muscular rings around it. The esophagus transports food from the mouth to the stomach.

Heart

The heart is made up of four sections, or chambers. Two of them, the right atrium and the right ventricle, push blood returning from the body to the lungs. The other two, the left atrium and the left ventricle, get oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and send it back out to the body. The pulse you can feel in your wrist is the blood hitting the walls of the artery there with each pump of the heart.

Lungs

The human body creates carbon dioxide gas as a waste product during cellular respiration. The lungs remove this waste from the body when a person exhales.

Ureters

The kidneys filter blood and send wastes in the form of urine through muscular tubes known as ureters into the bladder.

Liver

The liver is the largest internal organ of the human body. It makes a chemical called bile, which helps to break down food, especially fats. The liver is located beside the stomach and is mostly on the right side of the body.

Muscular System

The muscular system is made up of stretchy tissue called muscles. Muscles connect to the skeletal system and help the body move.

Nervous System

The nervous system helps the body respond to signals and information from both inside and outside the body.

Reproductive System

The reproductive system allows an organism to produce offspring.

Respiratory System

The respiratory system allows the body to take in oxygen and excrete, or get rid of, waste gases.

Skeletal System

The skeletal system protects the body's organs, provides support for the body, and helps the muscular system move the body.

Small Intestine

The small intestine is a long tube-like organ that is lined with muscle and special cells. These cells absorb the nutrients from digested food into the blood. Muscles in the intestine wall help food to move through to the large intestine.

Stomach

The stomach is a muscular sac. It releases acid, which breaks down food into smaller parts. The stomach also mixes the food, which helps to break it down.

Urinary System

The urinary system removes waste products from the blood and excretes them in the form of urine. The urinary system is made up of the kidneys, ureter, urinary bladder, and urethra.

Veins

Veins are the larger blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart after its oxygen has been carried to body tissues. Veins are normally drawn blue in diagrams.

Excretory System

collects wastes from cells and empties the waste outside of the body. The human excretory system includes the lungs, sweat glands in the skin, and the urinary system.

Kidneys

kidneys filter blood