The Digestive System

Yesterday, we learned about the digestive system from Mr. Tavener. To review what we learned from him, let's complete the following activities.

1.) Click this link and read the short article on the digestive system. After you have finished reading, take the short quiz at the end of the article. After you have taken the quiz, click the "Correct My Answers" button to test your knowledge.

2.) Click this link and first drag the organs to the correct place on the human body. After you have done this, click on the "Inside Story" button to learn more about each organ. Then click on the "Food Path" button and feed the person a couple of items, following them down the digestive path.

3.) For a fun activity, imagine a piece of raw, salted, fat pork being dangled into St. Martin's stomach. Write a brief description of what happens from the perspective of the piece of salted, fat, pork. Make sure to use the information and vocabulary from Mr. Tavener's discussion and your readings. Feel free to be creative and funny. Use dialog and descriptive language.

You can write your story in Word, but when you are finished, post it as a comment on this blog by clicking the "Comment" link below.

Our First Activity: Exploring Fort Mackinac

Welcome to the first online learning activity for the study of Dr. Beaumont.

In this activity, we are going to take a virtual tour through Fort Mackinac where Dr. Beaumont practiced medicine and the accident occurred.

How to Get There:

1.) First go to this website: http://kids.mackinacparks.com/

2.) Then click on the Virtual Mackinac link.

3.) A new page will load and then click on the red and blue box near the top right of the screen.

4.) After you have done this click on Fort Mackinac

Once You are There:

When you arrive at this page you will see a map of Fort of Mackinac with a variety of different green dots. These dots represent different building in Fort Mackinac.

Your mission is to identify the following:

1.) In which building did Dr. Beaumont live from 1820-1825?

2.) Which building was the warehouse for the fort's food supplies?

3.) Find the fort school house. Why do you think a school house was necessary in the fort?

4.) Where did the soldiers meet to for relaxing and having fun?

5.) What was the function of the parade ground?

Answer these questions by posting a comment.

Follow Up:

After you have completed the previous activity, click on this link and take the quiz.

Wilderness Life: Fur Trade and the Voyageurs

Alexis St. Martin, the man who was experimented on by Dr. Beaumont, was a voyageur.

What was a voyageur? How did he live?

To help us get answers for these questions, view these two short videos below. Though these videos are set in the West Coast of the United States, yet the life they portray is similar to that in every fort and for every voyageur.

Read the text from the link below. Use the reporters questions and fill in as much information as you can, assuming you are interviewing Alexis St. Martin about his job as a voyageur.

http://www.wildernessclassroom.com/www/schoolhouse/boreal_library/voyageurs/index.htm

If your individual assignment is to script an interview with a voyageur, use the information you learned in the previous article and in the videos to do so. Your interview should contain approximately five questions and at least three minutes long when performed. Make sure to refer to the Five W's chart before starting your interview.

If you have a different individual assignment, click on this link and to test your knowledge of the fur trade.

Dr. Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin

Dr. Beaumont is the central character in this story. In this activity we will get to know more about his life.

To learn more about Dr. Beaumont, click on this link.

Focus on Dr. Beaumont's early years, medical training, and military service.

If your individual assignment is to script an interview with Dr. Beaumont, use the information you learned in the previous article to do so. Your interview should contain approximately five questions and at least three minutes long when performed. Make sure to refer to the Five W's chart before starting your interview.


Now that we know more about Dr. Beaumont, let's learn how Alexis St. Martin comes into the story.

To learn more about how St. Martin and Dr. Beaumont's lives intersected, read the Traverse Magazine Article "Mackinac Island. June, 1882" and click on this link.

If your individual assignment is to write a news story about what happened to St. Martin, use the information you learned in the magazine article, lecture on the digestion process, and the link above to do so. Your story should have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Be sure to fill out and refer to the Five W's chart while writing your news story.