Bringing Health and Nutrition into the Classroom
Posted on May 5, 2009 by Big Universe in Uncategorized.
Focus: Health and Nutrition
Grade Span: K-5
Online Books: Milk and Cheese, Fruit, Vegetables, Bread and Cereal (Weekly Reader Corporation)
Why These Books?: By reading these books that outline healthy eating guidelines, children will become more aware of what kinds of foods are good for their bodies. This could turn into a health unit, lasting approximately 1-2 weeks.
How Can I Use This in my Classroom?:
Begin by surveying students about what they ate yesterday for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. Discuss student answers and the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods. (Extension: Compile results to show students graphs of what percentage of food was healthy and unhealthy.)
Introduce students to the food pyramid by showing visual examples of the food pyramid. It would also be helpful to bring actual examples of food for each category (bread, oranges, apples, pasta, sandwich meat, etc.).
After you have discussed healthy and unhealthy foods and the food pyramid, choose one focus book to read each day. The four books Milk and Cheese, Fruit, Vegetables, and Bread and Cereal all discuss the importance of each food group and how to incorporate the foods into your daily diet. After you read each book, complete a circle map detailing all the important facts and ideas from the book. Keep the circle maps for each book up in your classroom throughout the entire unit, so students are reminded of each food group.
After reading each book and charting important facts you can:
- Ask students to create a persuasive essay about why we should all eat healthy.
- Have students create a menu for each day of the week including healthy options.
- Lower grades- have students draw a menu for each day of the week including healthy food options.
- Have a healthy food party! You and the students bring healthy food options and have a picnic. Play any types of organized games to promote physical education.
[...] and tips in “Breakfast Benefits” on the FamilyEducation.com website or read the suggestions in “Bringing Health and Nutrition into the Classroom” and “Rise, Shine and [...]