Teaching a nutrition class for elementary students...any advice?

[JoeySon]

So I'm volunteering some of my time to a local elementary school to teach a nutrition class twice a month. The students are k-5. I need to develop my own lesson plan and each session should be about 45 mins to an hour.

Difficulties I see are developing a lesson plan that gets the kids to think but not go over their head. Also, don't want to go super super basic and bore the fifth graders to death but I can't go too complicated and lose the younger kids. I have a lot of freedom with this so I'm trying to get creative. Class size is roughly a dozen kids.

My first lesson plan I was thinking of showing the kids how to avoid processed foods and make good food choices (exm. choosing an apple over an apple pop tart/pastry)

Has anybody ever done anything like this? If you're a parent what would you like your young ones to learn? Any advice appreciated

[hossjob]

This is awesome. This is my 10th year of teaching health and phys ed. My first year I did Kindergarten PE, Sophomore PE, and a liftime fitness class called Just Fit with the Home Ec teacher. Next 2 years K-4 PE. Next 6 years High School Health and PE. Thisyear I was bumped b/c of budget cuts to K-5 PE. Best advice is keep it simple. Find a way to relate the material to each grade level. Hands on activities, stories, authentic activities (such as your example of choosing) are great. This would be overwhelming to me b/c of cutting the info down to their levels. I have a hard time doing that with a whole unit on nutrition with high school let alone elementary kids.

You probably can't do this, but I play a tag game in PE where I choose 3 students to be superhero villains. Donut Man, Ice Cream Girl, and Pie Guy. I give Donut man a ring toss ring, Ice Cream Girl a ball Scoop, and Pie Guy a frisbee. If a student is tapped by them they have to come to me and give me an example of a healthy food they could eat instead. They love it. If I think of anything more Classroom oriented I'll let you know.

[JoeySon]

Bump

[ZiR RED]

I saw this on my colleagues door the other day:

"Food that can go bad is good for you, food that cannot go bad is not good for you"

Probably the easiest way to get across the point of eating fresh, non-processed foods.

[67nova]

Kinda sick but to the point which the sickness part they might like is tell them that proceesed food is like eating food thats already been chewed.EWW!!

[OnionKnight]

i brought this topic up to a nutrition teacher at my college i took a few semester back. she said to tell them to "eat the rainbow, or eat lots of colors." point being is that theyll eat a lot of variety and get a more balanced diet from the ruits and vegetables. as long as you dont hand them a bag of candy at the same time lol

[ZiR RED]

i brought this topic up to a nutrition teacher at my college i took a few semester back. she said to tell them to "eat the rainbow, or eat lots of colors." point being is that theyll eat a lot of variety and get a more balanced diet from the ruits and vegetables. as long as you dont hand them a bag of candy at the same time lol

Yeah, next thing you know they will all be eating Skittles to taste the rainbow.

[fightbackhxc]

Might be good to touch on alkaline vs acidic environment by relating it to something they would understand

[ZiR RED]

Might be good to touch on alkaline vs acidic environment by relating it to something they would understand

I think they'd look at you like you had 5 heads if you tried that.

The egg in the vineagar is always a good example. Put an uncooked egg in it for a day or two and the shell will desolve. Can relate that to what happens to the teeth and bones.

[JoeySon]

I think they'd look at you like you had 5 heads if you tried that.

The egg in the vineagar is always a good example. Put an uncooked egg in it for a day or two and the shell will desolve. Can relate that to what happens to the teeth and bones.

Yea I fear that would blow way over their heads lol

The egg trick would be difficult as I see them only once a month

[ZiR RED]

Yea I fear that would blow way over their heads lol

The egg trick would be difficult as I see them only once a month

Just toss it in a few days before hand and explain what happens.

[hossjob]

Some great examples! You can find good resources for the "Color" example. I had a color coded poster I used for a few years. That is a great tool if you can find/create one. The vinegar/egg thing is AWESOME! Great examples for you to use with the kids. Also I always used the example Red gave about if food can go bad it's not good for you. I also always had the Jack Lalane quote on my board "If man made it, don't eat it." I do try to relate things to the average family though. I try to relate things like, if you have junk food or a bad meal every now and then it's not going to hurt you, just like if you constatnly ate candy, pizza, and donuts eating broccoli 1 time a week won't make you healthy.
Another thing you can do is find those pictures of processed foods before they are created. The example of what "chicken nuggets" look like (Mechanically separated chicken) is pretty good. If you haven't seen it it's GROSS.

[EBF Inc]

Yeah, next thing you know they will all be eating Skittles to taste the rainbow.

See that banned skittles commercial with the guy and the girl? It's on you tube. After he's Done with her he makes her taste the rainbow.

Back to threads

Maybe have them talk about favorite sports a d find foods that those athletes like

It's hard for children you do t want to pick out the heavy ones or the vertically challenged one but everything can be related to the children's every day activity.

They like to run an want to be faster. Better at video games whatever it is there's a food out there to help. The problem is children k-2 are ridiculously picky about trying foods

[machorox123]

See that banned skittles commercial with the guy and the girl? It's on you tube. After he's Done with her he makes her taste the rainbow.

Back to threads

Maybe have them talk about favorite sports a d find foods that those athletes like

It's hard for children you do t want to pick out the heavy ones or the vertically challenged one but everything can be related to the children's every day activity.

They like to run an want to be faster. Better at video games whatever it is there's a food out there to help. The problem is children k-2 are ridiculously picky about trying foods

Tatse my sweetness!! That shlt is hilarious bro

[DitDit]

hfhf

[Spaniard]

So I'm volunteering some of my time to a local elementary school to teach a nutrition class twice a month. The students are k-5. I need to develop my own lesson plan and each session should be about 45 mins to an hour.

Difficulties I see are developing a lesson plan that gets the kids to think but not go over their head. Also, don't want to go super super basic and bore the fifth graders to death but I can't go too complicated and lose the younger kids. I have a lot of freedom with this so I'm trying to get creative. Class size is roughly a dozen kids.

My first lesson plan I was thinking of showing the kids how to avoid processed foods and make good food choices (exm. choosing an apple over an apple pop tart/pastry)

Has anybody ever done anything like this? If you're a parent what would you like your young ones to learn? Any advice appreciated

I actually had to do a project and develop a presentation for this exact thing. I'll see if I can track it down and email it to you.

One way I've noticed that kids will relate is if you get pictures of really sick kids or nasty pictures of what processed foods will do to you etc... And then when you show then they're all like "Eeeeeew!!!!" And then you're all like "yea, so quit eating fat people food!!!" Lol!

In all seriousness though I'll look for it. In the mean time don't forget to use generational material to your advantage. Memes, YouTube videos, stuff that's gone viral to begin the presentation etc. That will help engage them prior to you beginning the presentation

- Valdez