Grade Level: Second

Title: The "Fab" Five Food Groups

Adapted from an Original Unit Written By: Rachel McClure, Nikki Tedder, Susie Wightman, and Katrina Stephens

RATIONALE:

Studying the five food groups is very important to young children, especially in their first years of school. They are becoming more independent and getting to make some of their own food choices (at home and at school). The NCSC of S recommends that second graders should know the five food groups and be able to classify foods into the groups. The students should know the values of foods, and be able to plan a balanced meal.

We plan to use hands-on activities, learning center activities, demonstrations, experiments, discovery lessons, and classroom discussions to help children accomplish these goals. We think the children will use their experiences and logic coming into these lessons. We will draw on their curiosity, problem-solving skills, and creativity in "teaching" this unit. We hope they will enjoy themselves and appreciate what they have learned.

Children learn the basics of eating at home. Through these lessons, we hope they reinforce what they already know and gain new, important information and attitudes to grow on. Hopefully, this unit will give them a healthy look at foods and eating.

GOALS:

Students will:

OBJECTIVES:

Students will:

1 - Identify the five food groups.

2 - Categorize foods into the five food groups.

5 - Evaluate their own meals and tell how to improve them.

ACTIVITIES/EVALUATIONS

Objective 1: Children will identify the five food groups

Activity: We will use a felt board and pictures of different foods in a class discussion about the five food groups. After teaching about each group and discussing examples of foods in each group, we will let each child pick a food, then decide to which food group it belongs. We will also discuss some tricky foods and their categorization.

Materials: A felt-covered board and pictures of different foods with Velcro on them.

Key Content: The five food groups and their daily serving recommendations:

Fats and Sweets - use sparingly

Objective 2: Children will categorize foods into the five food groups.

Activities: These activities will consist of learning/discovery centers for children to choose on their own. The children will be helping each other and discussing categories among themselves. During the games, if the child doesnít pick the right food group, the other children will tell him/her that choice was wrong and explain what the right choice would be. Children will also be observing others play these games correctly or making collages, etc. and will be learning through watching others.

Centers will include:

Objective 3: Students will discuss the main problems caused by the fats and sweets group.

Activity: In a short presentation, we will cover some facts and problems about the fats and sweets group. There are four mini-lessons for this objective (The ideas for these activities have been taken and/or adapted from Nutrition Smart!).

1 to pour the water into the beaker

1 to put / pour the item into the water

1 to stir up the mixture

Materials: 6 clear plastic beakers, 6 small pitchers of water, peanut butter, cooking oil, butter, coke, orange juice, vinegar, white board, markers

Activity Two: We will discuss the fact that too many fats in our diets can be very harmful to our health and can cause heart attacks, strokes, and other health problems. The students will each have a straw for this class activity. This straw is representative of our arteries which carry oxygen and blood through our bodies. We will do this along with the students. "Put your hand on one end of the straw and blow through it on the other end. Do you feel air coming through the straw? Now, put one of the straw on the paper towel and using the dropper, drop a drop of red water (blood) through the straw. Does it go through?" Now each student will be instructed to stick one end of their straw into the Crisco like the teacher does and repeat the previous steps. "Does air come through the straw now? Does the red water goes through? What happens? We will discuss the fact that these straws are like arteries which are supposed to carry oxygen and blood through our bodies. When we eat too many fats for many years, our arteries get clogged up and canít transport air and blood as easily as they used to. Sometimes they totally block the artery, like the Crisco did, and this causes a heart attack or stroke. (We want this to be a quick, easy lesson with factual, concrete information. We think this is important for students to know; but at this age, we donít want this to be worrisome. So, this lesson will be quick and easy.)

Materials: 25 straws, Crisco, water, red food coloring, dropper, 25 paper towels

Evaluation: We will listen to studentís discussions, questions, and comments to see if they can explain how too many fats can be harmful. They will write about the experience in their journals. We will check to see that they can discuss the main problems with fats. This activity is to give the students an introduction to this important health information and a concrete experience on which they may base future information acquisitions.

Activity Three: A local dentist will be invited to speak to the students to reinforce our key points about sweets and promote good dental care. Children will enjoy this and get to ask questions.

Evaluation: Students will write a letter to their parents (or whoever they wish) about the dentistís visit and how sweets can affect our teeth. An option could be to write a report and "teach" it to a younger child or a small group of younger children. We will evaluate products to see if students are able to give a rationale for limiting sweets consumption.

Activity Four: During the course of the day, students need to visit the measuring center which will be set up with a hands-on sweets activity. There will be "real" empty food boxes/packages which are labeled with the approximate teaspoons of sugar in a serving of that food. Students will be instructed to read the label and measure out the appropriate amount of sugar for that food {EX. Chocolate pudding pop - 2 1/2 teaspoons, a Coke - 9 1/2 teaspoons (Baggy and Woika, 1991)} This activity will allow students to actually see how much sugar is going into their bodies when they eat these particular foods and to be aware of whatís going into their bodies. Measuring, reading, and discussing are also important parts of this activity.

Students will list the foods they measured, the amount of sugar in them, and their own comments about their experience. We will check to see if they understood that the foods contained large amounts of sugar, and if they are aware of the contents of some of the foods that go into their bodies.

Objective 4: Children will plan a balanced meal.

Activity: After a discussion on what makes a meal "balanced", children will make their own balanced meals. Using paper plates and old magazines, children will cut and paste foods onto their plate. (We feel they will enjoy this and enjoy discussing their "meals" with others as well as creating them.) A large colored chart of the five food groups will be available for the students to refer to as well as individual copies of a food groups chart.

Materials: Paper plates, old magazines, scissors, Elmers glue (Also anything in the art centers will be available for them to use, such as yarn for spaghetti, etc.)

Key points: A "balanced" meal is one that includes foods from each food group or in relation to the whole dayís recommended servings For example: If you had 2 milks at breakfast and one for lunch, then at dinner you might want to consider eating fruit instead of ice cream for dessert. For a balanced meal you should use fats and sweets as sparingly as possible.

Evaluation: The teacher (and assistant) will circulate and ask questions about the meals. Are they balanced? How do you know? Afterwards, children will write in their daily journals telling what their meals consisted of and why they were "balanced". They could also write about other studentís meals and what they thought of them. Oral and written responses will be checked to be sure that the meals children plan are balanced.

Objective 5: Children will evaluate meals to decide whether they are balanced or not.

Activity: Children will keep a list of their meals for one day. Each child needs to write a report on whether the meals were balanced;what could be changed to make them balanced; and whether they are getting the right amounts of the five food groups. They can do this alone or discuss it with their neighbors.

Key Points: Same as in Objective 4: What constitutes a "balanced" meal .

Evaluation: Observation and the reports. We are checking to make sure the children are getting an adequate number of servings and a variety of foods. We want to be sure children are evaluating meals according to the criteria we taught.

CHILDRENíS REFERENCES:

Day, A. (1988). Frank and Ernest. New York: Scholastic Books.