Date: July 13, 1996

Grade Level(s): 2, 3

Subject(s):

• Health/Nutrition

Prerequisites:

Students must know that food choices affect how they feel and how their bodies develop.
Students must be familiar with the Food Pyramid.

Objective:

Students will be able to list the better food choices for a healthy body. Students will then be able to make a menu for a fictitious restaurant that contains good food choices from each of the areas of the Food Pyramid.

Equipment/Materials:

Poster of the Food Pyramid, menus from local restaurants, folders, writing paper, markers, pencils.

Organization:

Students will be divided into groups of 3.

Procedure:

1. Students will be motivated by the teacher reading several menus from local restaurants. The teacher will begin asking the students whether those meals sounded healthy, why and why not?

2. Students will be divided into groups of 3.

3. Teacher will discuss with the students the food pyramid and each of its areas.

4. The teacher will discuss with class a few beginning suggestions of healthy foods they might want to see on a menu when they go out to eat.

5. Teacher will instruct students to come up with a creative name for their restaurant, design the cover of the menu, and to come up with at least two meals and/or desserts that include items from each of the groups on the Food Pyramid.

Variations:

Students could, as a class, make a new lunch menu for a week, and suggest it to the school Principal. The students could keep a journal of the foods that they eat each day for a week and write a short report on how healthy their choices were.

Teaching Tips:

Have literature that is related to healthy foods and healthy choices for the students to read.

Assessment:

Teacher will walk around room and observe each students contribution to the group, and look at each group's menu and pay attention to creativity, neatness, and how accurately each falls into the areas of the Food Pyramid.