NUTRITION AND HEALTH AND SCHOOL GARDENING
OUTCOME: Students will acquire a practical knowledge of how healthy eating contributes to a healthy body and life style. They will learn to read nutritional labels on food items. They will use the Five Foods Pyramid to evaluate their own daily eating habits. Finally, students will plan, design and create a school garden to grow vegetables that will be harvested for eating and sale.
STANDARDS: Reading/Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools. Each lesson notes specific Language Arts' standards addressed. Lessons also integrate curriculum for Social Science, Health Science and Mathematics Frameworks for grades 9 - 10.
ASSESSMENTS: Academic and Life Skills Rubrics. Informal Assessments are: the mapping of the garden, measurements and plotting, and final product, the growth of plants and harvesting.
GOAL: To introduce students to the concept of lifelong healthy living through daily nutritional practices. Students will understand the concepts of nutrition, food labeling and advertising, digestion and the importance of fiber, and the five food groups. Students will learn how to evaluate their daily diet and eating practices. They will gain the knowledge to change their eating practice to initiate a healthy lifestyle.
CONDITIONS: A list of terms (vocabulary) for nutrition and gardening will be introduced, defined and practiced. The topics of nutrition, health and gardening will be presented as units. Each unit will include several individual lessons. The lessons will include class and group discussions, readings, research and student writings in journals.
MODIFICATIONS: For each lesson, teacher models specific activities, i.e. writing a journal, locating a WEB site. Scaffold concept and vocabulary development and introduce vocabulary games for key terms.
MATERIAL: Writing board, overhead projector, marking pens, colored pencils, masking tape, drawing paper, food pyramid poster, nutritional labels on overhead transparencies and class copies, poster of digestive system, food labels, food packages, fast food advertisements cut from teen magazines and newsprint, shortening, teaspoons, can of shortening, microwave, Styrofoam cups, seed packages, measuring tapes, rulers and gardening tools.
By Mary Leursen
OUTCOME: Students will understand the concept of nutrition, its vocabulary and how nutrition is connected to health.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:
1.) Activity: Teacher puts the word NUTRITION on the board. Teacher asks students to define nutrition. Teacher writes all answers on the board.
Activity: Teacher and class discuss the answers. Then, teacher asks class as a whole to write one definition. Students are learning to analyze information and come to conclusions. They practice defending their own definition and persuading peers to accept it.
Conclusion of Activity: Teacher prints with colored marker the final definition on large poster paper. Students copy definition in their notebook/journals.
2.) Activity: Teacher asks students to consider what Nutrition includes. Teacher divides class into small groups (3-4) and asks each group to come up with definitions of the following terms that are on large paper on the board: diet, calorie, energy, fat, protein, carbohydrate, fiber, meat, grain, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and digestion. Teacher encourages students to use all media to research their definitions: write, draw, download from a Web site, clip a picture from a magazine, research textbooks, interview other teachers etc. to complete all definitions. Prompts to students: How will you divide up the definitions list? Work in pairs, individual responsibility for how many items? Who will present the definitions to the class? How will you present the information? Writing on the board, handouts, posters, drawings, PowerPoint presentation?
Conclusion of the Activity: Students responsible for completing their group assignments for homework and preparing for presentation to class the following day.
3.)Activity: Teacher asks each group to present three definitions from the list. On completion of presentations, teacher prints definition in colored markers on large poster papers on classroom walls.
4.) Teacher uses Overhead Projector to present outline of the Unit on Nutrition:
· Classification of foods - fats, proteins, carbohydrates
· Benefits of healthy diet
· Food pyramid - key to nutritional balance
· Importance of fiber in the diet
· Fresh vegetables as source of healthy diet
CONDITIONS: This lesson requires two to three periods.
MATERIALS: Writing board, overhead projector, transparencies, colored marking pens, masking tape, magazines, computer, PowerPoint software, MSWord, large size drawing paper, poster paper.
MODIFICATIONS/ACCOMODATIONS: Offer students with poor motor skills opportunity to use computer for written work, choice of media to present definitions (vocabulary), peer coaching and group work.
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT: Definitions and research use Academic Rubric. Cooperation, Teamwork, Use of Resources and Completion use the Life Skills Rubric.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED: English/Language Arts: Reading 1.0, Vocabulary and Concept Development and Reading Comprehension 2.0 for grades 7 - 12.