Eat This Not That

Eat This Not That

LaShaunda Lally and Ashley Angelo


2nd – 3rd

30 minutes a day for one week

The students will present an “Eat this not that”. They will present the information how they wish (poster board, book, power point, word document etc). They will divide the information up between “bad” or “unhealthy” foods and “healthy” foods. Students will use the internet to determine fat content of all their favorite foods, especially fast food restaurants that I’m sure many children are familiar with. They will then do the same with the healthy foods. Books will also be provided for information. (What Food is This? by Rosmarie Hausherr, The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy) Things to look for will be calories, fat content and sodium. This project will follow a study of the food groups and food pyramid. They will be expected to compare the different foods and discuss what they learned about some. Before the project begins, each child will write down a goal they would like to accomplish. Some common ones would be: to learn more about how to eat healthy, find out how many calories they eat in a day, to become more comfortable speaking in front of the class, work on neatness.

1.1 Students begin to find answers to their questions about the world by using measurements, estimation, and observation as well as working with materials. They communicate with others through numbers, words, and drawings.

1.5 Students apply mathematics in scientific contexts. They begin to use numbers for computing, estimating, naming, measuring and communicating specific information. They make picture graphs and recognize patterns.

2.1.12 Represent, compare, and interpret data using tables, tally charts, and bar graphs.

1.7 Students listen critically and respond appropriately to oral communications. They speak in a manner that guides the listener to understand important ideas by using proper phrasing, pitch, and modulation. (raising and lowering voice) Students deliver brief oral presentations about familiar experiences or interests that are organized around a coherent thesis statement (a statement of topic). Students use the same Standard English conventions for oral speech that they use in their writing.


1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes
using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and
media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. process data and report results.

Formative: As a formative assessment, while they are presenting, we as teachers will take notes regarding what they have learned about foods and health. We will take a few moments to speak with each child after they have talked about their project to see if they think they met their goal and how did they meet it? If not, what could they have done differently?

Summative: We, as teachers, will grade each project whether it be poster board, word document, power point etc. based on a grading rubric that we will develop ourselves.
Curricular Knowledge or Skills: The students will have a lot of prior knowledge of food in general. We would have already discussed different types of foods that one could eat. A way to assess prior knowledge would be to assign a food group to each child. Then, that child would need to bring in a picture of a food that is in that food group. For example, a child assigned grains, could bring in a cereal box, rice box, or a picture of bread. We will also do a KWL chart.

Technology Knowledge: Since hypothetically, this lesson plan is designed for children in my classroom, I would already know where each child stands with their knowledge of technology. If I wasn’t sure, I would go to the computer lab teacher (a class that each child attends once a week) and see what her/his opinion in on each student. Hopefully, they she/he would be able to tell me about each child’s knowledge of technology.

Internet Resources: www.nutritiondata.com, www.nal.usda.gov, http://www.totlol.com/watch/u6Gb5vO246g/To-The-Garden/0/
Also fast food websites of their choice.


Hardware: Computers with internet access

Software: Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint
Prior to beginning unit: Students will have had experience with the food pyramid and food groups. We would have immersed them in the topic of healthy eating.

Day 1:

Students prior knowledge will be assessed using a KWL chart that will be big enough for the entire class to see. I will take volunteers to put the information on the dry erase board.

We will read The Race Against Junk Food by Anthony Buonno, to get the children thinking about healthy eating. Everyone at this time will think about the goal they would like to set for themselves. IE: Start eating healthier, make my project super neat.etc.

The students will be divided into three groups. One group will go to the computers to start researching the foods that they eat most often, their favorite foods, etc. The second group will go to a table filled with books about foods and eating healthy. The third group will talk amongst each other about the foods they like to eat and whether or not they think it is healthy or not. Each group will take their own notes and write down key words that they will use in their project. After about 10 – 15 minutes, the groups will rotate. Each child will get a chance at each group.

Day 2:
Watch the nutrition video for kids at the following website as an introduction to the day.
http://www.totlol.com/watch/u6Gb5vO246g/To-The-Garden/0/
This day will be devoted to organizing the information that they have gathered. Also, if more research needs to be done, day two will be used for that as well. I will use the overhead to give an example of good organization. The overhead will be divided up between foods that are good for me, and foods that are bad for me. Each column will show facts about each category. Of course this is only an example and is there only for the children who may need extra help with organizational skills.

Day 3:

Read What Food is This? by Rosmarie Hausherr
The children will have decided how they would like to present the information they have gathered. Some may wish to do so by power point. In this case, I will be there to help them with this. Others will use the poster boards, construction paper and marker provided. There will also be a printer hooked up for those that need to print out pictures to glue to their poster board. On the back of the board, or the last slide of their power point will be their goal. The goal comes in later in the week. They will get started doing the creative part of the assignment. If working on a power point presentation, the child will be able to take it home using a floppy disk and work on it there. It would also be nice if parents were willing to help as well. The children will also be able to take pictures at home of certain foods if they wish to put onto their poster boards.

Day 4:

Read, The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl.

I’m assuming it will take more than one period to get poster boards ready for presentation or a power point complete. Day four will be used to continue working on the assignment. Hopefully, I would be able to bring other teachers into the room for additional supervision and technology assistance.

Day 5:

Day five will be devoted to presentations. Each child will address the goal that they set for themselves for the assignment and tell whether or not they think they met the goal. We would also talk about what they learned about nutritional foods and if anything surprised them. There is no required time for presentations; each child will share whatever they wish to share. We would then make another KWL chart and compare the one from day one. Ideally, the “K” column would be much larger than the one before and many of their questions would be answered with their research.

Differentiated Instruction

In order to ensure that all of our students needs are being reached, there are several educational websites that have resources for finding activities for ESL students. Another way to reach out to ESL students is to use the translation tool found on goole.com. Although words can be lost in translation, taking a webpage from English to Spanish is a wonderful way to reach ESL students and their parents. Along with the translation tool to translate web pages, I could also use this tool for translating emails or worksheet that I have created.
When students finish early, they can take their project and use the computer to enhance their information. If this is completed, we will pair these students up with a student that is struggling on the computer and have them help guide them. This will allow for a student to take the leadership role and support their classmates. As several students finish, they can form a group and share their presentation with each other. They will share ideas on the information and brainstorm on how to improve the presentation.
There are several ways to differentiate your teaching when there are special needs students in your class. The first and easiest way to provide extra support for those students, who need it, is to pair them up with a partner. Depending on the disability of the child, pairing the students up will provide assistance to the students who need extra help. There are things you can do to your classroom to help with special needs. For an example, you can change the settings on a mouse to make it more or less sensitive to meet the needs of the student. Another way to help students is allow them to use the computer to type instead of writing. This will help those students who have trouble writing. Digital text can be searched, rearranged, and read aloud by a computer.