Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Munching on Mixtures

Length of sessions:

Six 30 minute sessions
One 45 minute session

Introduction Activity (30 minute session)
Introduce the five food groups using the Food Power Tower Have students draw, color, and cut out from magazines their favorite food. Place on the "Food Power Tower." (During students' free time, they can draw a new food to add to the Tower.) Pizza and other combination foods can be divided into ingredients or placed outside the tower and lines drawn or yarn attached connecting the foods to the appropriate groups. In their journals, have the students write what they ate for breakfast, lunch or dinner and list the menu items in the correct food group.

Optional
Have the students record the menus they ate during a couple of days and list the food into the correct food groups. Prepare class or individual graphs of the different food groups.

Activity 1(30 minute session)
Read Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judy Barrett. Discuss if the students would like to live in Chewandswallow. What foods would they miss eating? What foods did they like in Chewandswallow? Teacher records on butcher paper. Group the foods listed into the five food groups and add to the "Food Power Tower". Teacher records on butcher paper.

Activity 2(30 minute session)
Review the importance of eating good food and a balanced diet for people. Read Grasshopper On the Road by Arnold Lobel. Let the students respond to the story. Then ask: What do we already know about grasshoppers? What do we think grasshoppers eat? Teacher records on butcher paper. Allow time for teams to explore books about grasshoppers and plants to find answers. Teach about the quality of different leaves and plants and that a mixed diet is important for some grasshoppers (older leaves have more fiber, young leaves more protein, leaves in sunny places more sugar). Compare that to quality of different foods in human diet (sandwich with meat versus one with meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato).

Activity 3(30 minute session)
Regroup and brainstorm from the groups' findings. Shall we experiment to see if the grasshoppers will eat anything or choose what's good for them? Help the students come up with an experiment. (See Activity 3 as a suggestion and guidance for developing the students' ideas). Teacher records on butcher paper.
(45 minute sessionÐongoing for as long as necessary with students observing and recording grasshopper growth and amount of food eaten.) In teams, have the students collect three different kinds of food for the grasshoppers for the experiment. (Students can place damp leaves in a plastic bag to keep them fresh.) In three of the experiment containers, place one different kind of food in each. Set-up one container with the same three foods used in the other containers. Have the students predict what they think will happen when the grasshoppers are in the container and record in their journals. Add the grasshoppers to the containers. (If the grasshopper does not eat what it is given, try a different plant.) Record observations in journals and on a class graph. Have the students compare their observations with their predictions and draw conclusions. Discuss: What foods did the grasshoppers like? Did they eat more than one kind of food? Can you tell how much food they ate?

Activity 4(30 minute session)
Review what the students learned about observing the grasshoppers. Read Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. Discuss and record what foods Frances' family had for their meals and group into the five food groups. Compare with what Frances ate. Why was Frances getting tired all the time? Are your grasshoppers sluggish too? Do you think they need different food than you provided?
Ask the students if they would like to plan a class picnic (inside or outside) where the students will bring the ingredients and make sandwiches for lunch. Brainstorm what the students would like to eat on sandwiches. Teacher records on butcher paper.

Optional
Have students write down specific step-by-step how-to directions to make peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Have the ingredients and utensils ready. Read the directions aloud and follow them exactly as written (i.e. if opening the package is not written, don't do it). This demonstrates how important details are in writing directions. Sandwich can be divided by food groups.

Closure Activity(30 minute session)
Have students inventory foods brought for lunch. Chart these by food groups or graph and check if this is a balanced diet. In groups or as a class, make sandwiches and enjoy!

Lesson Intro Set-up Lesson Plans Additions
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