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Instructional Video5:03
Lesson Planet: Curated OER

How Sugar Affects the Brain

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Attention, sugar addicts! Here's why you can't quit the habit. Sweet taste receptors send a signal to the brain, which activates a reward system that responds by telling you to eat again. Over activating this reward system results in a...
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Instructional Video4:52
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Should We Eat Bugs?

For Students 5th - 10th Standards
Cricket cookies? Mealworm mac and cheese? Bugs are super nutritious! Why don't we eat them? Viewers discover the history of entomophagy, that is, the practice of eating insects and spiders, by viewing a fascinating video that explores...
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Instructional Video9:37
Lesson Planet: Curated OER

Nutrition and Digestion

For Teachers 7th - 12th
A very scientific explanation of food and digestion is portrayed by Paul Andersen using a Smart Board. The digestive process begins in the mouth and is shown as food moves through the body. Mechanical and chemical digestion are...
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Instructional Video9:55
Lesson Planet: Curated OER

Understanding Food - Nutrition - Part 1/2

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Natalie explains what exactly nutrients are. Here in part one she discusses building blocks such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and water. Each is thoroughly explained in a simple, but scientific way. Use in a biology or nutrition...
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Lesson Plan
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Diets and Influence on Food Choice

For Teachers 9th - 12th
From start to finish, this is a truly excellent lesson plan addressing the epidemic of diet-related disease in the United States. Learners begin with a reading excerpt of detailed information on trends in the American diet and the...
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Instructional Video10:12
Lesson Planet: Curated OER

TV 411 What's Cooking? Salt

For Students 5th - 12th
Here is a recipe for a practical cross-curricular lesson! Cover unit conversions and ratios for math, the periodic table of elements for science, the difference between sodium and salt and its relation to high blood pressure for...
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Lesson Planet Article
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Try These Egg-citing Activities to Celebrate Better Breakfast Month!

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Have some fun with eggs while learning the health benefits they provide.
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Lesson Planet Article
Lesson Planet: Curated OER

Nutrition and Physical Education Activities in the Classroom

For Teachers K - 6th
You can promote health and wellness using nutrition activities and lessons. With physical education activities and suggestions about snack times, you can help impvove the habits of the youngsters under your charge. 
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Lesson Plan
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Junk Food Jungle

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners become familiar with the nutritional value of foods advertised on television and in magazines. They discuss different types of foods and where snack food fits into a healthy diet. They categorize the foods they eat as healthy or...
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Lesson Plan
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Build a Burger

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Here is an outstanding lesson on food groups, nutrition, and diet. In it, learners focus on hamburgers! They take a close look at the products that go into making a hamburger, conduct taste tests on samples, discuss the nutritional value...
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Lesson Plan
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What's on My Plate?

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Kids work together in groups to discuss and understand the differences between a typical diet and a healthy one. They use the My Plate recommendations to compare what they eat with what they should be eating according to the MyPlate...
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Lesson Plan
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Consuming Healthy Snacks

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Get your class into great shape by introducing them to the benefits of eating healthy snacks and engaing in regular exercise. This set of activities comes with all the worksheets and handouts needed to complete several weeks of nutrition...
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Lesson Plan
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Health Database Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders demonstrate the ability to identify personal health needs. They classify foods from the school lunch menus into the correct food groups. A database file is created. They determine if the school lunch menu offers a balanced...
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Lesson Plan
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What Am I Missing?

For Teachers K - 8th
Discuss nutrition and identify components of a healthy diet, view a Food Guide Pyramid, and create a Personal Food Pyramid, listing all foods eaten in the past 24 hours. Compare food lists with the standard Food Guide and determine where...
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Lesson Plan
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Child Nutrition Unit

For Teachers 7th - 10th
How much fun can you have teaching adolescents about nutrition? Try taking them to work with preschoolers for an hour! This 4-day mini-unit about the importance of nutrition early in life culminates with a field trip. It was written for...
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Lesson Plan
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Data and Probability: What is the Best Snack?

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
In this math/nutrition lesson, the nutritional value of 3 snack foods is recorded on a data chart and represented on a bar graph. Students analyze and compare information, construct data charts and related bar graphs, and draw...
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Lesson Plan
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Healthy Snacks Project Lesson

For Teachers Pre-K - 5th
After learning why it is important to limit salt, fat, and sugar in their diets, divide your class into pairs or groups to complete this project. Each group will create two charts: unhealthy and healthy foods. They will cut out food...
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Lesson Plan
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Souper Art

For Teachers K - 6th
Turn your young artists into great marketing specialists with this fun lesson plan! They will turn ordinary soup cans into exciting choices for dinner by recreating the can label. This is a fantastic project to connect art, advertising,...
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Lesson Plan
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Lunch Food? Mmmm! Mmmm! Good!

For Teachers 7th - 12th
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,...
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Lesson Plan
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Nutrition Matters

For Teachers 5th
Investigate nutrition and the food pyramid. Fifth graders will use computer software to write a paragraph about nutrition. They will then diagram the food pyramid and gather and organize a collection of healthy recipes.
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Lesson Plan
Lesson Planet: Curated OER

Making Choices

For Teachers 4th - 9th Standards
When choosing what foods to eat, there are a lot of factors to consider. To help make the decision a little easier, young learners work in small groups developing short plays, stories, or advertisements that address the different issues...
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Activity
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My Menu Project

For Teachers 6th - 8th
If you don't mind using another teacher's website, this one has a simple project that would make a nice conclusion to your nutrition unit. Using a planning worksheet and peer review, nutrition nuts create a cafe menu using healthy foods....
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Activity
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Nutrition Research Project

For Teachers 6th - 8th
One fun way to conclude a nutrition unit is to assign a project. Individuals or pairs opt to film a video, or design a poster or brochure informing others about their choice of 11 suggested nutrition topics. You might not feel that the...
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Organizer
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Eating and Physical Activity Goal Sheet

For Teachers K - 9th
Encourage your youngsters to eat well and exercise and have them record their goals on this page. Learners note down their current eating and activity habits and then set appropriate goals for today, tomorrow, the next week, and the next...