EDUL 6020
Module 6 Group Activity for Group 1 Joanne Dickinson, Jennifer Armenia and Beth Carter
The following is an organization of the learning activities designed for Module 4.
Since these learning activities are designed for early
elementary students several changes have been made to the original presentation
to meet the parameters set by
Activity 1
Introduce making food choices by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. As the caterpillar eats a different food, stop reading and discuss what food the caterpillar just ate and discuss whether the students feel this is a healthy food or not. If the children feel the food is unhealthy discuss which food choice the caterpillar could have make to replace the unhealthy food.
Activity 2
Display a diagram of the Food Guide Pyramid. Explain the pyramid to the students, how to read it and what information is located on it. Discuss what a serving is and discuss serving size.
Have students make and label a Food Guide Pyramid to take home for reference. Suggest students place the project on the refrigerator door.
Activity 3
Day 1: Give students a food diary page. Have students write down everything they eat for one day. Help students remember what they ate for breakfast add to the diary page during the day then send it home with students to be returned the next day.
Day 2: Students will draw pictures of the food choices they ate the previous day and write down the number of servings they ate from each food group. Have students compare what they ate to the recommendations on the Food Guide Pyramid. Ask students whether they feel their food choices are healthy and if not what do they need to do to improve their choices.
Activity 4:
Have students work in pairs to plan a well-balanced meal. Students can use old magazines to cut out pictures of foods that would make a well-balanced meal and make a poster of their meal.
Activity 5
Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle again. Discuss the food choices made by the caterpillar. Have students work in groups to rewrite the book as “The Very Healthy Hungry Caterpillar”. Students will follow the story line of the book but will substitute healthy foods for the unhealthy choices the caterpillar originally made.
By arranging the activities in this order we have created a sequence that allows each successive activity to build on the preceding one. We have also integrated the classroom activities into the life choices of the children by having them compare what they are learning to what they actually do and given them opportunities to explore how and why good food choices are important.