Introduction to Nutrition: Teaching Students Healthy Eating Habits

1
Introduction to Nutrition Teaching Students
Healthy Eating Habits

• Stefanie Pagano-Kor and Conor Quinn
• Education 200
• Curriculum Project
• December 2005
• Trinity College

2
Overall Goal

• We want first graders to understand the
  importance of making good nutritional decisions
  and realize how healthy eating habits impact
  their everyday lives.

3
Objectives

• Students will identify foods as healthy vs.
  unhealthy and will classify foods in terms of
  their nutritional value.
• Students will predict the nutritional value of
  foods consumed at home.
• Students will recognize different food groups
  from the food pyramid and foods that fit into
  each group.
• Students will apply basic knowledge of greater
  than and less than to numerically compare
  nutritional information.
• Students will create their own definitions of
  healthy eating habits.
• Students will assess their own nutritional habits.

4
Justification

• State Recognized Curriculum Standards
• Meets the Connecticut State Department of
  Educations Content Standards established for
  grades K-2 emphasizing a healthy and active life.
  
• Students will establish and maintain healthy
  eating patterns.
• Childhood Obesity
• According to the American Obesity Association,
  approximately 30.3 of children ages 6-11 are
  overweight and 15.3 are obese.
• "Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the
  United States, especially in children and
  adolescents. Those statistics are even more
  alarming among Latin populations."
• Personal Placement in Hartford School System
• Our observations of a first grade snack time
  evidenced that children are making unhealthy
  eating choices.

5
Weekly Planner
As a continuation to the unit, students will
take a field trip to a local grocery store to
choose a healthy snack.
6
Nutrition Diary

• Throughout the week students will be keeping a
  picture diary of foods they consume during
  snack-time. They will write a short sentence
  reflecting on why they ate what they did.

I ate a Snickers because it tastes good.
I ate cookies because they are sweet.
7
Nutrition Diary

• On the final day of the unit, students will
  review their diary entries and will count up how
  many snacks they consumed from each food group.
  They will then place check marks in a blank food
  pyramid to show how often they ate a snack from a
  specific food group.

8

• Students will then share their personal food
  group tallies with the class and will add their
  own results to the class food pyramid to show
  the class collective nutritional habits.

Meat Beans Milk Oils Fruits Vegetables Grains
9
Nutrition Diary

• As a culmination of the unit, there will be a
  class discussion in which students reflect upon
  and assess their personal and collective eating
  habits.
• What do your results tell you about your eating
  habits?
• Are you eating healthy foods?
• How can you improve your nutritional habits?

10
Evaluation

• Nutrition Diary
• Daily entries, categorization, reflection
• Nutrition Chart Activities
• Estimating, Greater Than/Less Than
• Food Pyramid Construction
• Posters Defining Healthy