Healthy Food Choices

Learner Outcomes: Children will draw their favorite "noisy" vegetable and will be able to identify whether it grows above the ground or underground. This lesson addresses Illinois State Goals 4, 11, 26.

1. Read Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens (copyright 1995). This book about a clever rabbit teaches children that some vegetables we eat grow on the tops of plants while others grow on the bottoms. Ask children, "What other vegetables grow on the tops of plants?, On the bottoms?"

2. Invite children to conduct a "crunch test" to identify the noisiest and quietest vegetables. Before testing, ask children to predict the results. Celery, carrots, raw sweet potatoes, jicama, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, yellow squash, sweet peppers, radishes, mushrooms, cucumbers, lettuce and spinach are a few of the vegetables children can test. Ask children to vote on which vegetable has the loudest crunch, quietest crunch or no crunch at all.

3. Discuss each vegetable tested. Ask whether it grows on the top or the bottom of the plant. If students don't know, encourage exploration using resources available to them.

4. Have children draw their favorite "noisy" vegetable. Ask them to share their pictures and tell if their vegetable grows on the "top" or "bottom" of the plant.

Grades 1-2

Learner Outcomes: Students will be able to name one MyPyramid group that they need to eat more foods from and will be able to set goals to accomplish this objective. This lesson addresses Illinois State Goals 6, 10, 24, 26.

1. Have students draw all the meals and snacks they ate in one day.

2. Ask students to tally how many foods they ate from each MyPyramid food group.

3. Using a blank pyramid, have children record or draw each food they ate in a particular MyPyramid food group during one day.

4. Discuss the results. Did you eat enough grains? Did you eat too many foods in any group?

5. Ask children to set personal eating goals based on what they found out.

Grades 4-6

Learner Outcomes: Students will be able to calculate the fat content of their favorite fast food meal and identify two specific goals that will help them avoid eating too much fat in fast food meals. This lesson addresses Illinois State Goals 3, 6, 24.

1. Using nutrition information gathered from the various fast food restaurants in your town, have students calculate the fat content of their favorite fast food meal.

2. Ask students to divide the amount of fat in their meal by 4 to convert the grams of fat to teaspoons of fat. (There are 4 grams of fat in 1 teaspoon of fat.) Using a can of shortening, have students measure out the teaspoons of fat in their meals. Have students discuss and compare results. Which meals contained the least fat? The most? Why?

3. Divide students into groups and assign a different fast food restaurant to each group. Have each group write general guidelines for choosing low-fat meals at their restaurant. For instance, "Choose the smallest burger" or "Order pizza without meat toppings" would be acceptable guidelines.

4. Reassure students that they don't have to give up their favorite foods if they are high in fat. Instead, they could choose to eat the high-fat foods less often or balance them out with several low-fat food choices over the course of a week. Ask students to write two specific personal goals regarding fast-food choices employing one or both.