Kassidy Lederer and Kaylee Lamb
Nutrition: Food Groups
2nd Grade
I included a youtube video of a reading of the book, “Gregory, the Terrible Eater,” which is a story about a goat who doesn’t like the regular goat’s diet. I think that this would be a good story to use because it keeps the students engaged and interested because it is a little silly. It allows the students to follow along and point out which foods are actually healthy for us. It mentions all of the food groups and different foods within it, as well as about balancing some of the balance between what you want and what you need.
I found a blog of another teacher who discussed some of the activities that they did in their class that seemed interesting. They didn’t use another core subject, but I still thought it was interesting enough to be mentioned. The first day, they sorted different cards with different foods on it into categories of “Healthy” and “Unhealthy” groups. The next day, they used the same food cards that they had to make the food groups and create a food pyramid. I thought that this was a great way to ease into the idea of food groups.
I couldn’t find any worksheets that integrated this into a core subject, so I came up with a little idea of my own. A core subject that I think this could be integrated into is writing. I think that students could be given the assignment of writing a letter to Gregory. The assignment could be to write a letter to him about why he needs to eat what is part of his diet. They could talk about eating what they need instead of what they want. Another writing idea may be writing about what Gregory learned at the end of the story about balancing his meals and making sure he eats what he needs as well as what he wants. This may also reflect what the students themselves learned.
HBOs:
- Eat a variety of foods within each food group every day
- Eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables every day
- Choose to eat whole grain products and fat-free or low-fat milk or equivalent milk products regularly
- Limit foods and beverages high in added sugars, solid fat, and sodium
- Prepare foods in a healthful way
NHES Standards:
- HE1.2.1 Explain the importance of trying new foods.
- HE1.2.2 Explain the importance of choosing healthy foods and beverages
- He1.2.3 Identify a variety of healthy snacks.
- HE1.2.5 Describe the types of foods and beverages that should be limited
- HE1.2.9 Identify healthy eating patterns that provide energy and help the body grow and develop
- HE2.2.4 Describe positive influences on personal food choices and other eating practices and behaviors.
- HE7.2.2: Demonstrate healthy eating practices
- HE7.2.3: Make a commitment to practice healthy eating behaviors.
- HE8.2.2: Demonstrate how to encourage peers to make healthy food and beverage choices.
Writing Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
- I chose this standard for if they are writing what they think Gregory learned and how he did with balancing his meals
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
- I chose this standard for if they are writing about what we need to eat vs. what we want to eat.
The nonfiction book I chose is called Let’s Make a Food Pyramid by Baby Professor and was published in 2015. This is a short book about the basics of the food groups and the importance of specific foods within those food groups. This is a really great book for the second grade and helps young students understand the importance of why it is important to eat each of these foods per day. It breaks down each food section and takes good foods that children could be interested in and saying how they are a good option to choose. This can be integrated with math and science, specifically food science (nutrition). I think this could be very well integrated with the sciences and looking at how a person’s body reacts to certain foods and the importance of each food group.
At the beginning of the book, the author gives a good definition of the importance of and what a food pyramid is: “a food pyramid is a pyramid-shaped diagram representing the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day” (p.4). This gives students a brief explanation of what the food pyramid does before giving more detail through the rest of the book. And if I were to integrate this into a science lesson, I would use a blank food pyramid sheet and, in each section, I would have the student give one food item and the importance of that food for your body.
HBOs:
- Eat a variety of foods within each food group every day
- Eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables every day
- Choose to eat whole grain products and fat-free or low-fat milk or equivalent milk products regularly
- Limit foods and beverages high in added sugars, solid fat, and sodium
- Prepare foods in a healthful way
NHES Standards:
- HE1.2.1 Explain the importance of trying new foods.
- HE1.2.2 Explain the importance of choosing healthy foods and beverages
- He1.2.3 Identify a variety of healthy snacks.
- HE1.2.5 Describe the types of foods and beverages that should be limited
- HE1.2.9 Identify healthy eating patterns that provide energy and help the body grow and develop
- HE2.2.4 Describe positive influences on personal food choices and other eating practices and behaviors.
- HE7.2.2: Demonstrate healthy eating practices
- HE7.2.3: Make a commitment to practice healthy eating behaviors.
- HE8.2.2: Demonstrate how to encourage peers to make healthy food and beverage choices.
Science Standards:
| ·2-LS4-1. | Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. |