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Name: Brittany McIntosh

Class: ELED 3221


Learning the Importance of Each Food Group!
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Central Focus/Big Idea: Nutrition
Subject of this lesson: The Five Food Groups
Grade Level: 4th
NC Essential Standard(s): 4.L.2 Understand food and the benefits of vitamins, minerals and
exercise. 4.L.2.2 Explain the role of vitamins, minerals and exercise in maintaining a healthy
body.
Next Generation Science Standard(s): There is not a Standard that goes along with
Nutrition
21st Century Skills: Information Literacy- Outcome for 4th grade: Students are able to locate
reliable scientific information in reputable print and electronic resources. I chose this 21st century
skill because my lesson calls for students to research information in the text provided. If lap tops
where available I would let the students research using specific URLs.
Collaboration- Outcome for 4th grade: Students work collaboratively with others, both in small
and large groups, in their science classroom. I chose this 21st century because in the lesson I am
expecting students to work in groups to research and answer questions about their assigned food
group. They must work together to get the worksheet finished and present their findings to the
class.
Academic Language Demand
Language Function: I choose describe because I am asking students to describe different
aspects of the food group they are assigned. Describing what they learn to the class will
help them retain the information they learn.
Analyze
Interpret

Argue
Predict

Categorize
Question

Compare/contrast
Retell

Describe
Summarize

Explain

Scientific Vocabulary: Serving, Grains, Dairy, Vegetables, Fruit, Protein, Whole Grains.

Instructional Objective: Students will be able to name and describe the Five Food Groups and
what their benefits are. Students will meet the objective if they answer the 5 worksheet questions
correctly and present their findings to the class. Students must also draw all the food groups and
remember the recommended serving for each on the My Plate coloring sheet assessment.

Prior Knowledge (student): Students will know what a vegetable, fruit, and dairy are. They will
know you need all the food groups to have a healthy body. Students will also know how to read
informational text and find answers to questions within it.
Content Knowledge (teacher): The teacher needs to know the Five Food Groups and the
answers to the worksheet questions. Need to know that foods from all 5 Food Groups give your
body the vitamins, energy and minerals that it needs to be its best. Also the foods that fit into the
Food Groups are all the time foods and sweets are not included because they are only
sometimes foods.
Needs to read book: it will help with an overview of the Food Groups, My Plate, Serving
Suggestions and what each food group does for our bodies.
Five Food Groups: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein and Dairy
Suggested Servings for the students age groups:
Fruits: 1.5 cups
Vegetables: 2.5 cups for boys/ 2 cups for girls
Protein: 5 ounces
Dairy: 3 cups
Grains: 5 ounces for girls/ 6 ounces for boys

Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group): For students who are ELL
I will tell them what the Food Groups are called in their language to get them comfortable and
interested in the lesson. As for students with physical disabilities I will make sure they can get to
the materials easily and they are able to present from a place they are most comfortable. For
students with ADHD they will thrive in the group setting. I will monitor them to make sure they
are staying on task, but I will allow them to do their work standing, sitting or however they are
the most focused.
Materials and Technology requirements:
Book The Food Parade: Healthy Eating with Nutritious Food Groups by, Christy Ottaviano
Informational text about Each Food Group from: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Need 4 copies of each food group: Grains, Fruit, Dairy, Protein and Vegetables.
5 Worksheets/ One for each group
40 copies of My Plate Coloring Sheet
Cutouts of Food: 5 packets (one for each table)- Inside will be 4 grape cutouts, 4 green beans, 4
kiwi, 4 bananas, 4 eggs, 4 steak, 4 yogurt straws, 4 mashed potatoes, 4 carrots, 4 whole wheat
bread, 4 rice, 4 cereal, 4 strawberries, 4 milk, 4 cheese slices, 4 asparagus, 4 apples, and 4 cakes.
White Board and Markers
Total Estimated Time: 55 minutes- The time slotted for Science lessons during the school day.
Source of lesson: My ideas; My worksheet; Coloring page and Informational text from the My
Plate Website: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

Safety considerations: This particular lesson is fairly safe. I will make sure no one gets out of
hand and the groups stay on topic. We are not using any unsafe materials for this science lesson.
Content and Strategies (Procedure)
Engage: Show students the book The Food Parade: Healthy Eating with Nutritious Food
Groups by, Christy Ottaviano. Ask students, What do you think we are going to learn about
today? What do you predict this book will teach us? Read the book to students and let them ask
questions during the reading. The mayor of Food Town will introduce the food groups in the
book during a town parade. In the back of the book there is an overview of the portions and My
Plate illustration. Show students the My Plate so they can see it in more than one source.
Reading the book will introduce students to the subject and get them thinking about the food
groups, servings and how our bodies benefit from each of them.
Explore: Give students a blank My Plate and each group a packet of cutout foods. Instruct
students to construct a healthy plate that has all Five Food Groups. Walk around the room and
see what the students are doing and if they are making a balanced meal on their plate. Ask
students, Why do you think that is a balanced meal? How would the My Plate chart help you
make a healthy plate? Why did you choose the foods on your plate?
Explanation: Draw the My Plate diagram on the white board. Ask students to tell you where to
put the different Food Groups. Tell students there are five Food Groups: Grains, Protein, Fruits
and Vegetables. Do not tell students the recommended serving amounts because they will learn
that when they do their group work. Ask students to share the plates they made at their desk.
After a student shares their plate ask the class if they agree it is a healthy plate. If not explain
why and what they are missing or what they have too much of on the plate. If it is a healthy plate
ask students, How you know that is a healthy plate? Do you have all the food groups
present? Tell students, foods from all 5 Food Groups give your body the vitamins, energy and
minerals that it needs to be its best. Also the foods that fit into the Food Groups are all the time
foods and sweets are not included because they are only sometimes foods.
Elaborate: Put students into 5 groups of 4 and assign a Food Group to each group. Give the
groups a folder with the four copies of informational text with their Food Group in it. There will
also be a worksheet with 5 questions referring to the text in each folder. Tell students, Read the
text and find the answers on the worksheet to learn about your food group. After you learn all
about your Food Group you are going to present what you have learned to the class as a group.
Dont forget to include your favorite food in the food group to share with the class.
Walk around the classroom and make sure students are all engaged in the activity. Ask students,
What have you found about your food group that is interesting? Continue to monitor the
students progress while they read and discuss answers in a group.

Once every group is finished have each group come to the front of the room and present their
research. Let students know you will be making photo copies of each worksheet so they can
paste the notes into their Science Notebooks.
Evaluate: Summative: I will evaluate students understanding by how they do on the
presentation and if they got all five questions answered correctly. Students must get all five
questions answered and presented to reach the objective.
If there is extra time at the end of the class I will have students fill in the My Plate diagram
without my paper cut outs. Students will draw their own food on the coloring sheet so I can
elaborate their individual understanding of the objective future.
Formative: The questions and observations of student work I will do during the lesson will be the
formative assessment.
Evaluate: I will evaluate students progress by how they do on the presentation and if they get
all the information filled out on the worksheet they have met the objective. I will give all
students a copy of each groups information so they can past it into their notebook. I will also
give them a worksheet to draw each food group on and their idea of a yummy meal they would
like to eat. Each food group will be counted 2 points so if you get 8 points you have met the
objective with an 80%.
To be completed after the lesson is taught as appropriate
Assessment Results of all objectives/skills: Each group did a wonderful job on their
presentations and their worksheets. They all met the objective and finished the worksheets
correctly and shared their information with the class. I ended up running out of time to give the
students the second part of the assessment and the teacher said they had enough homework for
the weekend so I was not able to complete the second part of the assessment. Next time I would
break the lesson into two class periods so we would have more time.

Reflection on lesson:
The Science Lesson I taught was about nutrition and the five food groups. I started out by
asking students questions about what they thought was healthy and what they like to eat. I read
them the book, The Food Parade: Healthy Eating with Nutritious Food Groups by, Christy
Ottaviano. The book helped me introduce the topic and get the kids thinking about healthy foods
and how much of each we should eat each day.
Next I had them put together healthy plates with the worksheets and cut outs and we
discussed who what was right and what wasnt. Students had a chance to explain why they
thought each food should be on their plate to make it healthy. I asked questions to get them
thinking and to find out what they really knew about the five food groups and what is actually
healthy.
After we learned about the five food groups some I divided the students into groups and
they each had a food group to research and answer questions about. The students got really
involved in finding the information in the packets I printed out for them. In another classroom
setting I would have let the students get on the website and research in a free manner. But this
class had gotten in trouble with the laptops previously and the teacher said they could not behave
on them yet. They presented their findings to the class in a group presentation when they were
finished. I evaluated students when I went around the room and listened to their conversations
and watched them record information in their groups. When they presented I paid attention to if
they presented all of the information.

The next plan for the lesson was to give all students a worksheet where they would write
the five food groups and make their own plate of what they would like to eat. I ended up running
out of time for that part so I had to improvise. Instead I drew a large plate on the white board and
asked them to help me fill it in with the five food groups. Next I had students give me examples
of each food group that they would want to eat. I basically tried to improvise and do the
worksheet I wanted them to do on the board and as a group instead so there was a closure to the
lesson. Overall the lesson was successful and I felt confident during and after it.

The students found out about the five food groups during this experience. They were
surprised that sweets was not a food group some of them where positive that I was
wrong! They wanted sweets to be a food group but in the new My Plate it is not
included at all.

The students in each group worked together pretty good. I had one problem where the
group was not on task because two of the girls where doing all the work. I had to explain
to the students that they all had to participate or they would have to do it on their own.
They did not like that idea so they shaped up really quick.

The activity was not open-ended enough but with this group of students I really needed it
to be structured. I was not allowed a whole bunch of time to work with by the time the
class got back from specials I only had about 45 minutes to teach the lesson. In a different
situation I would have given the students more freedom but in this instance I did what
was needed to keep classroom management.

The students extended the investigation by asking questions about why certain foods
where not in the food groups. They were very worried about sweets. They also wanted to
know more about potatoes and corn and what group they fit into. I thought that would be
a good Segway into teaching about starches and sugars in another lesson.

Students connected this experience to their daily lives by coming up with ideas of what
healthy food they would like if they could make their own meal. They also shared their
favorite food from the food group they researched during their presentation.

The only learning differences in this class where the two students diagnosed with ADHD.
I was able to accommodate for them by letting them stand while they did the group
project. I just checked on them frequently and reminded them what they were working on
if they seemed off topic. If I had had an ELL student I planned on asking them how to say

some of the foods groups in their language and sharing what types of food if they were
different that they liked with the class.

I did not use technology effectively because the students where on lap top restriction. I
had to improvise and print out the articles from the specific website instead of letting
students go online and research for themselves. I also used the white board instead of the
smart board because it was easier for me. The teachers had been having problems with
the smart boards in the classrooms something with the connection and I did not want to
chance it. In another situation I would have let students use laptops or iPads to research
the food groups if they would handle the responsibility.

Overall I think the students learned a lot about the five food groups. I had them learn
about the serving size for their particular age group to make the information more
personal to them. They liked learning about food and what it does for your body and I
think they developed an appreciation for the vitamins and minerals in each type of food. I
hope they will take the information they learned home with them and share it with their
parents and siblings.

The biggest thing I remember about this science activity was how excited the students
where to learn about something new. I thought food groups would be interesting but they
were extra excited to learn. Some of it may have been that I was a new teacher and they
were interested to see what I had in store for them. If I had more class periods I would
bring in healthy foods and let them eat them too because I think that would make the
lesson more interesting and help them remember the information.

I would do this lesson again but I would plan for more time to finish the whole lesson. I
would spend more time talking about the book because the students where very interested
in it and I had to keep moving. I would bring in healthy foods to let students try if they
did not have allergies in the classroom. And next time I would let them research on their
own and I would give them three websites to find information on.

As a learner myself I learned a lot about the different food groups. I did not know the
recommended servings where different for boys and girls even though it made since once
I learned it. I also learned that vitamin C helps repair body tissues, cuts and wounds. I
learned that beans and peas are a source of protein and classified as a vegetable too! As a
teacher I learned about classroom management. When the students got carried away in
their groups and they did not listen to instruction I had to use the teachers tactic. I had to
say/very loudly, Class, Class, Class and the students respond with Yes, Yes, Yes? I
was glad I had observed the teacher do this because I am not sure they would have paid
any attention to me if I had said anything else they were so far into their loud
conversations. Throughout this experience I learned that I could teach science but that I
would like to do an experiment in lessons better than just teaching. In the small amount
of time I had for this project I couldnt do an experiment, the five Es and the Common
Core Standard the teacher wanted me to do. I found teaching comes naturally to me and I
really enjoy it and cant wait to get to my student teaching semester and my job after that!

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