By: Rex Barron
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers; 1st Impression edition
Publish Date: June 17, 2004
Type: Fiction Literature
Forth Grade
What is This Book About:
This book is a fictional story about the food on the food pyramid. All of the foods work together to hold up the pyramid, and they all live in peace. One day, King Candy Bar and his friends take over the pyramid and kick some of the other foods off. The weight of the junk food is too much for the pyramid to handle, and it collapses. Then, the foods all work together to rebuild the pyramid back to the way it was. In the end, the foods decide that it is okay for some of the sweets to return, but only enough to balance out the pyramid.
This book would be a great resource for the classroom because the main theme is about eating a healthy and balanced diet. It is okay to eat a small amount of sweets, but it should be just enough to balance out your diet. This book is also a great resource because it explains the benefits of each food group. It explains how grains provide lasting energy, fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins, meats and dairy help kids’ muscles and bones.
HBOs:
- HBO 1. Eat the appropriate number of servings from each food group every day.
- HBO 2. Eat a variety of foods within each food group every day.
- HBO 13. Support others to eat healthy.
KSEs:
- HE1.5.1 Name the food groups and a variety of nutritious food choices for each group (HBO 1 and 2).
- HE1.5.4 Explain the importance of eating a variety of foods from all the food groups (HBO 1, 2 and 13).
CCSS:
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.8
Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources. - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.9
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.9
Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Excerpt:
“In the end, they decided that some sweets could return- but only enough to balance the pyramid top.”
“The pyramid was now strong and happy again. And when we eat from this great plan, we can be strong and happy, too.”
Lesson:
This book can be used in conjunction with the online Myplate game to teach the students about the old and new food group models. To start the lesson, the teacher would read the Showdown at the Food Pyramid book to the class, and talk about how the food pyramid used to be used. This would be the history portion of the lesson. Next, the teacher would have the students play the online Myplate game, and talk about how Myplate is the new model for which foods should be on our plate. Next, the teacher would incorporate writing by having the students create a Venn Diagram and compare and contrast the two models for food groups. Finally, the class would come together and discuss their findings.