This book is about a new classmate, Grant, who has a food allergy, and how his new friends make him feel welcomed and safe during lunch time. The students come up with the idea of making a peanut free cafe, a safe space for Grant to eat with his friends, as long as they have peanut free lunches too. One friend, Simon, was a very picky eater and ate peanut butter everyday for lunch. He wanted to eat in the peanut free cafe too, but also didn’t want to give up his peanut butter sandwiches. When he saw he was missing out on movies, activities and snacks with his friends, he found a new lunch to bring, and left the peanut butter at home.
This book is cute! It has a good story line, and is well illustrated, I think students would stay interested in what happens, and learn about allergies as well. It has some good information about peanut allergies, and touches on the seriousness of an allergy.
Core Integration:
After reading the nonfiction book Let’s Talk About It, Peanut and other Food Allergies, and then The Peanut Free Cafe students will brainstorm and create a peanut and other allergen free menu with prices. Then, students will complete a math worksheet where they use addition and subtraction to solve word problems based on the allergy friendly menu. For example:
Simon ordered chili for $3 and Jared ordered pizza for $5. What is the total bill?
Abby ordered 3 hot-dogs, 7 strawberry shortcakes, and 2 juices. How many total things did she order?
Zoe ordered a berry parfait for $6. She paid with a $10 bill, how much change will she get back?
While reading the book, we would stop at this page and ask students to brainstorm
What foods could Grant’s classmates bring that are peanut-free?
Standards:
Wellness:
Access Valid Information: Identify where to locate trusted adults who can help promote health. H3.W5.1
Access Valid Information: Identify characteristics of valid health information and services. H3.W5.2
Safety:
First Aid: Understand differences between emergency and nonemergency situations. H1.Sa2.Ka
First Aid: Identify people to ask for help in emergency situations. H1.Sa2.1a
First Aid: Identify people who can help when someone is injured or suddenly ill. H1.Sa2.2b
Nutrition:
Food Groups and Nutrients: Match foods to food groups. H1.N1.1a
Disease Prevention: Understand that food choices can put individuals at risk for some health problems. H1.N5.2
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.A.1 “Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.”
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.C.8 “Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately. Example: If you have 2 dimes and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have?”
