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Making
Healthy Food and Activity Choices
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Putting the Pyramid
Together
This lesson is designed to be used in an upper elementary
or middle school classroom and will require approximately 90 minutes to
complete. This lesson can be taught over a course of days, and does not
require that your classroom have Internet access.
Background
Every day, children make choices that affect their
health. One important choice students make on a daily basis concerns what
food to eat and drink. The Food Guide Pyramid, established by the USDA
in 1992, has become the standard by which nutrition education and food
choices are measured. By design, the pyramid balances consuming adequate
amounts of nutrients with a moderate intake of fat and calories.
In this lesson, the guidelines for making healthy
food choices are introduced, along with the Food Guide Pyramid. To learn
more about the pyramid, students present a report on their assigned food
group explaining the foods that make up each group within the pyramid,
the nutrients each food group provides, and the number of servings recommended
in each food group.
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Lesson at-a-Glance
- Students recognize the Food Guide Pyramid as
the standard by which to make healthy food choices
- Students classify foods into food groups
- Students identify the number of servings needed
daily from each food group
- Students identify the leader nutrients in each
food group, and what those nutrients do in the body
Materials
- Butcher paper
- Glue, scissors, crayons or markers
- Magazines with food pictures
- Template of the food guide pyramid.
Click here for an on-line pyramid to print out
- E-mail or regular mailing address of a family
or friend for each student
Advance Preparation
- Write the vocabulary words on the board
- Cut up 6 pieces of butcher paper large enough
for each group of students to draw their own food guide pyramid on.
- Optional -- Students can cut out food pictures
at home and bring them to class for this lesson.
- If you have access to the internet in your
classroom or the school library:
Turn on the computer and printer. If you do not have the "Shockwave"
software on your computer, you will need to download it prior to the
lesson. You can do this for free directly from our site on the
Food Pyramid Game page. It will take approximately 15 minutes.
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Vocabulary
- B vitamins -
the leader nutrients from Breads and Grains that help our bodies
use the energy in the foods we eat.
- Calcium -
the leader nutrient from Milk and Milk Products that builds
strong bones and teeth.
- Food Guide Pyramid
- a system for choosing foods that show how much we
need to eat from each food group to get the nutrients we need each day.
- Leader Nutrient
- the main or most important nutrient we get from a
particular food group.
- Nutrients -
what we get from food to help our bodies grow strong and stay
healthy.
- Protein -
the leader nutrient from Meats, Beans and Nuts that builds strong
muscles.
- Vitamin A -
the leader nutrient from Vegetables that gives us healthy skin
and good eyesight.
- Vitamin C -
the leader nutrient from Fruits that helps our bodies heal and
grow new cells.
- Serving -
the amount of food we count on to provide us with a specific
amount of its leader nutrient.
Procedures
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1. |
Divide Your Class Into Six Groups
- Assign each group a food group (i.e., Breads
and Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, Milk and Milk Products, Meats/Beans
and Nuts, Extras)
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Complete the Food Pyramid Game
(Optional - Internet Access Needed)
- Ask each group to complete the
Food Pyramid Game . Students will have the opportunity to
put a pyramid together, match foods to the appropriate food group,
determine the number of servings needed for each food group, and
learn about the leader nutrient each food group provides. Ask
them to complete the questions listed under procedure 4 below.
- While the student groups are waiting to
use the computer, they can proceed to procedure 3 below and draw
their pyramid.
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Compile a Food Guide Pyramid
(No Internet Access Needed)
- Print out the template of the food guide
pyramid for you and/or your students' reference.
- Pass out the butcher paper (one per group)
- Ask each group to draw the food guide
pyramid on their piece of butcher paper and label each section.
Students may choose to color code each section.
- For each assigned food group, ask students
to cut out, write and/or draw the pictures of the foods represented
by their food group. Have students place the servings they need
each day from all of the food groups. The recommended number
of servings for each group are as follows: Breads & Grains
=7-11, Fruits=2-4, Vegetables = 3-5, Milk & Milk Products=4,
Meat/Beans and Nuts=2. (Note: Elementary teachers may want to
use the lower number of recommended foods and middle school
teachers use the higher number of servings.)
- Foods in the food groups provide us with
the nutrients we need to be healthy. Each food group gives us
specific "leader" nutrients that are important to
our health in different ways. From the vocabulary, explain which
leader nutrient corresponds to each food group and what it does
for their body. Have students include their assigned food groups
key nutrient on the butcher paper.
- Have students present their food group
to their peers utilizing the pyramid they have created.
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Facilitate
a Discussion
- Discuss the Food Guide Pyramid as a class
using the following questions. Encourage students to answer for
the food groups not assigned to them.
- What do you think the # (i.e., 7-11 in
Breads and Grains) in each food group means?
- Why do you think the food groups are
shown in a pyramid?
- How many of your students think they
fill up their food pyramid each day? Do we have to fill our
pyramids every day?
- What leader nutrient does the Fruit group
provide? (You can ask this for each food group.) Why do you
need each nutrient?
- What would happen if we never had any
servings of vegetables?
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Send
a Letter
- Have students e-mail or write their family,
friend or you -- the teacher -- about the food guide pyramid and
the foods they choose each day to fill up their pyramid. Have
them include any improvements they are willing to make to fill
up their pyramid by completing the following sentence: "I
will trade _______ for _______ at _______." (eg. "I
will trade milk for soda at
lunch. ")
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Curriculum Connections
for this Lesson
Math
- Design a lunch menu within a specified budget,
using foods from the food groups.
- Create word problems using nutrients and food
groups.
Science
- Research the nutrients in their favorite food.
What is the leader nutrient in their favorite food? What other nutrients
does this food provide? Is it available year round? Students can compare
the nutrient content in their favorite food versus their friend's favorite
food. Specific information on nutrients can be found at the
Dole 5 A Day site and the
American Dietetic Association site. You can also find nutrient information
in the book Food Values of Portions Commonly Used, Bowes and
Church, 16th edition, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1994.
Art / Music
- Start a food pyramid bulletin board
- Design food group songs or nutrient ads
Language Arts
Connect to literacy using this teacher recommended
supplemental reading list: (Recommended for upper elementary students.)
- The Greatest Table by Michael
J. Rosen
- The Harvest Birds by Blanca
Lopez De Mariscal
- Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto
- The Vegetable Show by Laurie
Krasny Brown
- The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons
Culminating Activity
-- Project Café
- Your class can work together to create a café!
Students can determine the name, design the menu (ensuring that consumers
fill up their pyramid), design the artwork, determine the price of the
entrees, and even develop the recipes. (Recipes can be found in Meals
Matter). When all of the work is complete, students can invite their
parents to the café for breakfast or lunch.
Please
contact DCC , with your comments regarding this lesson and/or ideas
for other Internet-based nutrition lessons. If you and your students enjoyed
this lesson, review our upper elementary program Nutrition
Pathfinders or our middle school program
Exercise Your Options. You may be able to receive an entire nutrition
education unit for FREE!
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Dear Educator:
Through Exercise Your Options your students
have analyzed their food and activity choices and made general
plans for improvement. This lesson has students evaluate their
calcium intake and bone-strengthening physical activity and make
plans for improvement. Adolescence is the CRITICAL time for building
a foundation of healthy bone, known as peak bone mass. We are
pleased to provide you with this instructional package highlighting
the importance of building bone during adolescence. |
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To print each of the following documents,
click on the link. When document opens, click anywhere inside the document
frame, then click the print button on the browser.
For the Teacher
For the Students
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