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Gregory, The Terrible Eater Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan #: AELP-NUT0002
Author: Margaret Sornenson
School or Affiliation: Holy Rosary School, ID
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center’s Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops. Date: May 1994


Grade Level(s): 3, 4

Subject(s):

  • Health/Nutrition

Overview:

This is an evaluation project for a Science or Health unit on the basic food groups. Students review good nutrition and food sources for proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.

Purpose:

The purpose of this activity is for the students to review and demonstrate their understanding of the need for balanced meals and an understanding of the food sources for proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins.

Objectives:

  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of the five basic food groups.
  • Students will construct a balanced menu.
  • Students will use food advertisements to determine the best buys for their menu selections.
  • Students will present their menu orally to the class and be able to defend their selections.
  • Students will construct a graph to illustrate the total cost differences in their menus.
  • Materialss:

    • Newspaper food advertisements
    • Graph paper
    • Children’s book Gregory, The Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat

    Activities and Procedures:

  • Have students save food ads from local papers for a month prior to this assignment.
  • Read the book Gregory, The Terrible Eater, by Mitchell Sharmat and then discuss with the class if Gregory had gotten some good advice for his eating habits? Ask the students if their parents have ever tried this approach to entice them to eat foods that they dislike?
  • Review the five food groups and sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
  • Divided the class into groups of three or four students each.
  • Assign the groups the projects of planning a three meal a day menu for five days.
  • Use the newspaper food ads to figure the cost of their menus. Stress that economy is important.
  • Each group presents their menu to the class, and must be able to defend their selections.
  • Record the total cost of each menu, and have each group construct a bar or line graph to show the differences in the menu costs.