Lesson Plans and Worksheets
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- 11-24-11
Nutrition Lesson Plans
Find teacher approved Nutrition lesson plan ideas and activities
Students examine the nutritional value of soda. For this nutrition lesson, students read the labels of soda bottles and record the amount of sugar in the soft drink. Students brainstorm other drinks that are healthier for them.
Students discuss nutrition and compare nutritional values of a snack product claiming health benefits with a candy product.
Students examine their own diets, and then redesign the USDA's Food Pyramid to reflect nutrition experts' latest advice. They read and discuss The Color of Nutrition: Fruits and Vegetables, which is an article imbedded in this plan.
Students discuss nutrition and identify components of healthy diet, view Food Guide Pyramid and create Personal Food Pyramid listing all foods eaten in past 24 hours, compare their pyramids with standard Food Guide, and determine where dietary changes need to be made. Students then read and discuss scenarios on "What Am I Missing?" cards, and diagnose hypothetical cases of malnutrition.
Examine how nutrition plays an important role in our lives by conducting online research and developing lunch menus that satisfy nutritional requirements set up by the United States Department of Agriculture. Students download recipes, create ethnic variations on the food pyramid, and use Excel to convert recipes. In addition, they create a cost sheet for feeding different amounts of students.
Students discuss how nutrition and exercise impact overall health. They use the MyPyramid.gov Web site to get personal food recommendations based on age, gender, and level of physical activity. In addition, they track what they eat and how much exercise they get for a one week period.
Students analyze and compare information, construct data charts and related bar graphs, and draw conclusions based on their results. In this math/nutrition lesson, the nutritional value of 3 snack foods is recorded on a data chart and represented on a bar graph. Information from the data is used to draw conclusions about the "best" snack.
Young scholars gain an enhanced understanding of the relationship between proper nutrition and good health. Through use of video, hands-on activities and interaction, students measure energy in food, and recognize sources of vitamins and minerals.
Students understand the value of the food pyramid in making good food choices. In this nutrition lesson, students experimented with rats eating junk food and healthy food. Students observed the results. Students completed a snack worksheet. Students participated in a healthy food challenge.
Students explore calcium. In this nutrition instructional activity, students choose calcium rich foods from a list and work with a group to combine foods to equal a total of 1300 mg of calcium, the RDA for a 4th grader. This information is added to a bone graph. Students "build" strong bones by bundling drinking straws equaling 100 mg of calcium each. Students bend their bundled straws to get an idea of how bone strength relates to eating calcium-rich foods.
