|
|
Nutrition
~ Lesson Ideas
Here
are some lesson ideas to support your creativity as a
teacher. You, of course, know your own class's learning
styles, needs and interests better than anyone, so please
use what is helpful and modify or disregard the rest.
Depending on your teaching style and your students' pace
of learning, each lesson step could last one or several
days. In "Download Options" you can
find a downloadable version of this unit and sample student
handouts.
Part I: Introduction to Food Groups
As
written, this unit is designed to integrate your Hidden
Villa experiences into the study of nutrition after the
field trip.
However, with a few little changes, this unit could also work
as a part of a longer introduction to making Eco-Healthy lunches
in preparation for the field trip. Many of the lessons in this
unit incorporate Shared Reading (SR) and Reciprocal Teaching
(RT) techniques. Possible texts for all of these activities
can be found under
"Download Options." However, as books on nutrition
for kids are fairly easy to come by, you may prefer to find your
own. For
more information about how to implement the teaching strategies
of Shared Reading and Reciprocal Teaching go to "Best Practices"
unit found in the introduction to this section on HV Classroom
Curriculum. (Focus on reading comprehension
standards.)
|
Model: Brainstorm
all the different foods students think could be produced
at Hidden Villa. These could be the actual item (an apple)
or what the raw ingredients
could
be turned into (ie: bacon, cheese, bread). Record these ideas. Support: Using
small strips of stiff paper (cut-up index cards), students
work in pairs or small groups to write the name of the
food with a little drawing on the front side. On the back
side, students list any information that they know about
this food. Some things students might think about are:
what it is made from, where they saw it at Hidden Villa,
what
natural
resources
are needed
to
produce
it and what nutritional value it might have. Students should
complete as many cards as possible depending on their level.
Share: In a circle, have each
student share one of the foods they came up with and some
of the information they know about
this food. Students will have to pay close attention to what
their classmates say so as not to repeat foods. Record
your students' ideas on larger slips of paper. |
|
Orientation: Each
group will be working together to sort their HV food
cards in their own way. Most students should be familiar
with the concept of sorting based on different characteristics.
However, you may still want to review the concept of
a "free-sort." Model: Start
by sorting together as a class. Say, "For our first
sort, I would like for you to divide your cards into
those that you can eat right from the farm and those
that need to be prepared." Circulate
to support partners that may need help. Then ask, "Does
anybody else have an idea for how we could sort our cards?" Listen
to a few ideas and choose one that seems simple. Have
your class sort their cards again in this new way. Brainstorm: Think-Pair-Share:
Have students think of other characteristics they could
use to sort their cards with their partners and share
these ideas with the class. Remind students that some
sorts might have more than just two groups (ie: sorting
by color). List their ideas on the board. Support: Each
pair chooses a way to sort their HV food cards
into different groups
based on a certain characteristic (a new idea or an idea
from the class list on the board). When they have physically
sorted their cards, they should
write
their
groups
down in their notebooks and come up with a short summary
that explains their groupings. Then encourage your students
to follow the same steps to sort their food cards again
in a different way. Share: As
time allows, have different students explain how they
sorted their HV food cards.
After each presentation, if you want, invite a few volunteers
to sort the class HV food cards on the board (or rug)
using the categories the previous group just explained. |
|
Before: Draw
a large representation of the food pyramid on chart paper.
There are several different pyramids in use - use the one you think will be most helpful to your students. (See Download
Options.) Orientation: Explain
that nutritionists classify
foods
according
to their
nutritional
value for our
bodies.
They
have designed many ways to help us understand the nutritional
value of what we eat and
how
much
of each
type
of food we
should
eat. Introduce the nutritional pyramid to your students.
Support: Using their photocopies of the food pyramid (see Download Options) students
work together as a group to place each of their HV food cards.
In their
notebooks they should
write down these groupings and include a justification for
their decisions. Share: Using
the teacher set of HV food cards, guide a class discussion
to decide where each food item should
go on the pyramid. When the class is more or less in agreement,
invite a student to tape this card to the pyramid in the
chosen place (note that at this point this doesn't have
to be the "correct"
answer). |
|
Orientation: To
understand the nutritional value of each type of food,
we need to understand the components that make
up the foods we eat. There are three different components
of food that give us energy: carbohydrates, proteins and
fats. There are also other components that do not give us energy but are important to maintaining health, such as fiber, minerals and vitamins. Understanding these will
help us look back and decide if we put the foods in the correct
place on the food pyramid. Model: Teach
or review the steps for reciprocal teaching as you start
the food pyramid shared
reading (dowload options). Support: In
groups, students take turns in the "teacher" role
as they guide their group through the reciprocal teaching
steps for each passage about
calories (download options). This is a good place to start
as many students (and adults) are confused about what a calorie
is, even though it is referred to frequently in the media.
Share: Guide a class discussion
about the information they learned, as well as a reflection
about each group's process
with the RT steps. |
|
I
recommend spending the time to have your
students all read about each of the different
food components. This gives all students a chance to really
learn about the food they eat while also giving a wonderful
opportunity to practice important reading skills through
the RT steps. However, if you are pressed for time, instead
of
guiding the class as a whole in reading about a new component
each day, you could assign groups different components to
work on and have them present what they learned to the class
at the end of the period. |
|
For each day that you guide your class in learning about
the components of food, I recommend the following lesson
structure: Shared Reading: As
you continue to work with the shared reading about the food
pyramid, continually model
the RT steps, gradually turning over the teacher responsibilities
to student volunteers. At the end of each passage, model
how to think through choosing 3-5 most important content
words to highlight. Reciprocal Teaching: In pairs or small
groups students follow the RT steps. During the step of "summarize"
students will talk together to choose the 3-5 most important
content words to express the information of each passage.
They should highlight these on their page or write them down
on a separate piece of paper. Share: Ask students to share
one of the words they highlighted in the reading and to justify
why they chose it. Synthesize: As students shaire their words, list them on the board or chart paper. Explain that they are going to use these words to help them remember the most important information they learned from the reading. Model how to reread the list, think about the meaning of the text, and use as many of the "important words" in a brief summary. Keep these summaries
posted as a synthesis of the information your class has learned
for future reference. |
|
Either as a class discussions after the last day of reading or as a lesson unto itself, guide your students to look back at the food pyramid. "Do you still think we put all of thie Hidden Villa food cards in the correct place on the food pyramid? Using what we know now about the components of food we eat, let's see if we can understand why nutritionists have designed the food pyramid this way. Why do you think Whole Grains forms the base of the pyramid?" Guide a discussion
as you work your way up the pyramid. After supporting your
students in thinking about the first pyramid level, you could
have students think through the rest of the pyramid in groups,
or continue as a class. At the end, you could have students
write down these new discoveries in their notebooks or administer
a nutrition quiz. |
Extension
(Food Additives)
|
Talk with your students about the role of additives in
our food. Compare together the ingredients of different foods
that contain and do not contain additives (see download options).
Guide a class discussion about which one they think is healthier.
Are the additives recognizable ingredients? You may want
to share some information about the alarming research coming
out that links many of these synthetic perservatives and
colorings to hyperactive activity in children. |
Part II - Nutrition Labels
If
you have not yet taught the short lessson on Eco-Healthy
Lunches, be sure to do so before proceeding. In this part
of the unit students use what they learned about
the components of food to understand nutrition labels. They then
use this information to compare the nutritional value of a variety
of favorite snack foods. This series of lessons focuses on math
standards as students take surveys, make bar graphs and write
mathematical comparisons of different snack foods. Lessons 6-8
require an understanding of equivalent fractions or ratios and
can be used to support 4th and 5th grade math standards in these
areas. For younger students you may want to modify or skip these
lessons. As a part of this series of lessons or as a conclusion
I HIGHLY recommend that you guide your students through
the internet site: www.coolfoodplanet.org, which offers
a fun, kid-friendly review of these nutrition basics and
is "published" in a variety of languages. (Focus
on Math standards)
Step
#1
(Favorite
Snacks)
|
Orientation: Tell
students that they will focus their study on
kids' favorite snacks. Groups: The class produces a list of at least 15 specific foods they think are the favorite snacks of the kids at their school. Students write the name of each food along with a little sketch on one side of a card and write a quick list of information they already know about this food on the other side. Share: Have each
student share one of the foods they came up with and
some of the information they know about this
food. Students will have to pay close attention to what their
classmates say so as not to repeat foods. Record their ideas
on a class set of cards. |
|
Orientation: Before
students begin this lesson's activity, review with
them the characteristics of an Eco-Healthy Lunch.
Groups: Students talk together
to sort their snack-food cards into the categories: could and could
not be part of an Eco-Healthy
Lunch. Remind students that they need to discuss each decision
together to make sure that they are clear about their reasoning.
When they are done, they should record their sort in their
notebook and include a justification for at least 2 snacks
in each group. Share: Ask for two volunteers (or assign students who would benefit from an occupation) to represent the two different categories. Hold up each snack-food card from the class set and ask students in which category it belongs. Take a quick poll and ask for 1 or 2 students to justify the decision. Hand the card to the student representing that category and, at the end, have each student read the stack of card s/he is holding. Individual: Students
could then be asked to write a reflection about the class
discussion.
What category did their favorite foods end up in? What do
they think about that? |
|
Orientation: From
your list of favorite snacks, guide the class in choosing
at least 6 snacks they think
are the most popular among the students at your school.
Introduce or review how to take a survey and use a
tally
table. Go over pertinent procedures, such as not asking the
same person twice or influencing their decision. Model how
to approach someone with their survey and have partners practice
together. Activity: Ask your
colleagues if you can send pairs of students into their classrooms
5 minutes before recess
or lunch to take a class survey OR equip your students with
class lists and give them the task of hunting down as many survey respondents as possible. (This avoids the problem
of double counting and has the added benefit of keeping students
positively engaged during their free time. Most students
are excited by the activity and do not complain about the
use of their time.) |
|
Orientation: Create a big tally table where all students
can enter their survey data. Review how to use a tally
table to create a bar graph. Model: Demonstrate the first
steps in making a bar table as you think about what scale
to use on the y-axis, where to draw in the axes and how
to draw the bar for the first snack. Supported
or Individual: Students copy the first modeled steps as they create their
own bar graph. Then they use the rest of the information
in the class tally table to finish their bar graph. Share: Invite students to help you complete the large class copy
of the graph. Model: Introduce or review how to use the bar
graph to make mathematical comparisons. Support: As a class, write
a few comparisons as examples. Individual: Students write their own comparisons. Older students can
also write a summary of their procedures and a reflection
about what their bar graphs shows. |
Step
#5
(Nutrition
Label)
|
You
Will Need: Collect or ask students
to bring in the packaging for the most popular snacks selected by the class. (Go to Download
Options to find the Hot Cheetos nutrition label.) Orientation: Photocopy
the nutritional label of one of the snacks onto an
overhead transparency. Guide students
in "reading" the label and using their background
knowledge to figure out what it means. E.g. "Our snack, Hot Cheetos, contains 9 grams of fat in each
serving. Hot Cheetos has 37 different ingredients. I only
recognize 5 of those ingredients." Groups: Assign
a different snack to each group and have them write sentences
that explain
the information on their label. You could use a worksheet
or sentence stems. Share: Each
group should show their snack to the class and explain what
they found out about its nutritional value. Following
the group presentations, guide a class discussion about their
discoveries. |
Challenge Lesson
Step
#6
(Standard
Serving Size and Equivalent Fractions)
|
Orientation: Review
the discussion from step#5. Point out that there
is a big reason why we cannot really compare
the nutritional content of these snacks from the information
they shared in the previous lesson. Invite them to consider
why. Guide a discussion about serving size. Since the serving
sizes are different, the nutritional information cannot really
be compared. Model: Review how
to find equivalent fractions (see student worksheet). Explain
that the information on a nutritional label
is like a fraction or ratio. I.e. "It is saying that there are
5gs of protein in a serving size of 45g, which can be written
5/45g. If we want to find out how many grams of protein there
would be in a serving size of 100g, we can use equivalent
fractions to help us." With these large numbers your class
will probably need to use calculators. Support: Students
use a clear and simple worksheet (download options) to convert
all of the information on the
nutrition label of their assigned snack to amounts per 100grams.
Share: Create a large tally table
so that groups can come up and fill in the information for
their snack. When they
are done, they can write a summary of procedures and a reflection
on their findings in their notebooks. |
Step
#7
(Nutrition
Graphs)
|
Orientation: Point
out that it is hard to really compare the nutritional
value of all these snacks by just looking
at the chart, which has so many numbers. Review, again,
how to make a bar graph. Focus on how to choose a scale for the y-axis, as some groups may need to use a scale of 0.5 grams while others need increments of 50 milligrams. Groups: Each group
is assigned a different component of the nutritional information
and instructed to make a comparison bar graph between the various snacks.
(Graph possibilities: total calories, total fat, sodium,
dietary fiber, sugar, protein, number of ingredients - for
a real stretch you could also include converting the % of
the essential vitamins and minerals). Assign each snack a particular color and establish the placement order of the snacks across the x-axis.
This will help students to visually understand the completed graphs.
|
|
Orientation: Explain
that each group will be presenting their graph.
They will need to include:
- A
review of the nutritional value of their food component
(refer to the texts they read together during RT
for assistance).
- At
least 3 mathematical comparisons using the information
on their graph.
- Their
recommendation to other kids based on their findings.
Groups: Students
work together to figure out the information needed
for their presentations
and then to practice what
each will say. Share: Each
group gives its presentation. Guide a class discussion
about what
they learned and questions
they still have. |
Example |
Here is an example of what the group assigned to the food
component "fat" might say in their presentation:
- Fat is an important component of our food. Each gram
of fat gives us 9 calories of energy, making it the most
energy-packed component of our food. Our bodies use fats
in many ways. They are an important part of cell walls
and make the nerves in our brain work. Fat also protects important organs from injury. However, eating too much fat can
cause serious damage to our health. Gaining too much
weight can make our heart work too hard and bad fats
can clog-up our blood veins.
- From our graph you can see that Hot Cheetos has the
most fat of all the snacks with a total of 35 grams in a 100-gram serving size. Hot Cheetos has twice
as much fat as graham crackers. Both pretzels and whole
wheat crackers have the same amount of fat- 2 grams in
a 100-gram serving size.
- From
our graph it is obvious to use that we should not
be eating Hot Cheetos. Instead, we would recommend
that kids eat snacks lower in fat, like fresh fruit,
pretzels or graham crackers.
|
Part III: Health Risks
By now students should have a firm grasp of the nutritional basics.
They are now ready to explore what health risks can
arise as a consequence of not following the recommendations of
the food pyramid. There are three topics I would particularly
recommend for study: diabetes, heart disease (related to being
overweight), effects on school success. There are many different
possibilities of how to approach these issues with your students.
Here are a few ideas. I'm sure you will come up with many more
that are tailored to your own students' needs.
- Guide your students in a Shared Reading and Reciprocal Teaching
texts about these topics. Articles at the elementary school level
abound on the internet. You may also be able to find appropriate
texts in your school library or local health provider's office.
- Arrange for a presentation by a local health provider, such
as the school nurse, the community outreach department
of a local health organization, or a parent who is a doctor
or nurse.
- Carefully
choose a few scenes from the educational version of the
documentary "Supersize
Me" and lead class discussions
and journal reflections about the information presented.
- Have
your students ask their parents about different health
risks.
- Many
studies have linked synthetic preservatives and colorings
in processed food to allergies that produce hyperactive
behavior. Have
your students look through the labels on their favorite
snack foods for these dangerous additives. Guide a class
discussion on their findings.
Part
IV: Why Do We Eat This Junk, Anyway?
At
this point, students should be wondering why so many people
eat so much food that puts their health at risk. Of course, there
are a lot of factors that influence the people's food choices,
but the media has a HUGE influence, particularly on a population
that is watching increasing amounts of television and surfing
the internet for extended periods of time. Again, there are so
many different directions you could go with this subject of media
literacy.
- Guide your students
through the
most excellent internet site for kids about this subject
developed
by PBS Kids, called "Don't
Buy It!" (www.pbskids.org/dontbuyit/). Using this site could become a several-day series of lessons, particularly if you have access
to
a computer
lab.
- Discuss
how big companiespay tons of advertising money to convince consumers to buy their products.
It is important to know how to “read” and understand
these ads. Model “reading” a TV ad. Ask questions
such as, "What does skateboarding
have to do with yogurt? Who paid for this ad? How much does
it cost?
How
healthy is it?"
Talk about how ads always have a "hidden message" that
often has little to do with the product. Have students try
to analyze other TV ads using these questions.
- Bring in ads for the favorite snack food previously studied
(sometimes these ads are right on the packaging!) and model
how to "read" the advertisement's words, pictures and colors
to figure out what the "hidden message" is.
- Again, the educational version of the documentary "SuperSize
Me" does a great job of addressing the issue of advertising.
Have your students watch and discuss selected scenes.
Part V: Action
Ideally, at this point students want to do something with
all that they have learned about nutrition. Ask your kids for
ideas - you might be surprised by what they come up with. Here are
a few suggestions:
- Plan an Eco-Healthy Lunch for another field trip or for a special
school day.
- Using
all of the techniques students learned about media literacy,
have them design their own advertisements for healthy
snacks to put up around the school.
- Write
and produce a nutrition "public announcement" for
the other kids at their school that can be read over
the PA system
or turned into a mini-video.
- Have a taste-testing session to compare the taste of whole
grain products and refined grain products (brown rice vs. white
rice, whole wheat bread vs. wonderbread etc) in the hopes to
retrain students' taste buds.
- Use an interesting recipe for a week's Shared Reading and
then take over the staff room to actually make the healthy
meal or snack. Send the recipe home in case students want to
teach their parents.
- Lobby the school district to include healthier options in
the school lunch.
- Organize a field trip to the local farmer's market.
|
