School Teacher Resources

These links are to a variety of elementary and middle school-level lesson plans, classroom activities and on-line “interactives” related to nutrition and fitness. The Media Awareness Network’s lesson plans on the media and advertising are especially well done.

• The American Dietetic Association’s Step Up to Nutrition & Health (6 Lesson Plans on Food & Nutrition) 

• Media Awareness Network’s Getting Young People to Think Critically about the Media
  (4 Lesson Plans on Food Advertising & more)

• Delaware General Health District (2 - 4^th grade nutrition/fitness lessons) 

• Food Pyramid Resources—

• New USDA Government Pyramid (Student on-line food & activity tracker)

• Mediterranean, Latin, Asian & Vegetarian Pyramids

• Vegetarian Resource Group (About vegetarian lifestyles; annual student essay contest; articles—30-day menu plan, athletics & vegetarianism) 

• Take Charge of Your Health: A Teenager’s Guide to Better Health 

• Smart Mouth (fun teen food & nutrition on-line “interactives”)  

• Leafy Greens Council’s Leafy Green Lesson Plans (4-5 elementary lesson plans based on dinosaur-named vegetable characters; trading cards)

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The American Dietetic Association’s Step Up to Nutrition & Health
NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH® 2006

Teacher’s Guide & Classroom Activities

These 6 American Dietetic Association NNM classroom activities will help your students:

•     Understand that healthful eating includes delicious foods.

•     Build teamwork as they plan a variety of healthy meals and snacks using the new MyPyramid guide.

•     Work as teams as they research, develop and present a “favorite food campaign.”

•     Investigate new and exotic foods.

•     Research and report on credible nutrition information websites.

•     Understand the importance of eating breakfast every day that includes healthy food choices.

Also included is a link to free materials for the following classroom “games”---Jeopardy Game; Fill in the Blanks Game (a take-off on the old “Hangman”); “Test Your Memory” Game (based on the television show “Concentration”)

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Media Awareness Network’s

Getting Young People to Think Critically about the Media

NNM is a perfect time to get students thinking about the impact of food advertising on their food and nutrition choices.  The Media Awareness Network is a Canadian website (not-for-profit) that promotes critical thinking in young people about the media. Their Media and Internet Education Resources include teacher lesson plans, classroom activities and background articles.

To browse their entire education resource collection, or check out these individual lesson plans below, all appropriate for NNM:

 ·        Junk Food Jungle

This lesson familiarizes children in grades 4 to 6 with the nutritional value of foods advertised on television and in magazines.

 ·        Looking at Food Advertising

This lesson introduces upper elementary and middle school students to the ways in which advertising can affect their food choices. Working from television and magazine ads, students discuss the techniques used by advertisers to engage kids with products. In one activity, students make up their own original food “jingle.” For NNM consider having your students create a jingle for their favorite healthy foods.

 ·        Packaging Tricks

This lesson introduces students to the ways in which packaging is designed to attract kids, beginning with a discussion about packaging and how the design, promotions and product placement all contribute to make a product attractive to consumers. Then, in a series of individual and group activities, students compare similar food products based on packaging and on taste, and assess the nutritional value of the foods and beverages they enjoy. Classes can also participate in a field trip to a local grocery store to see how packaging and placement affect consumer choices. 

·      You've Gotta Have a Gimmick!: A Lesson in Junk Food Advertising

This comprehensive lesson teaches students about marketing techniques used in snack food ads. Multiple student handouts are used (My Food Commercial Log,  Food Advertising Strategies, etc.) as the students learn step by step about advertising strategies, to evaluate the ads of their favorite snack foods, and  in groups develop a product profile and their own group commercial script. If resources are available, each group can also videotape their product commercial.  For NNM, have your students select a healthy snack food to profile and use for their commercial.

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Delaware General Health District

Your health district website has posted two 4^th grade nutrition and fitness lesson plans and student handout created by the district’s public health dietitian.  Both lesson plans are adapted from research-based curricula shown to help students change their food and fitness choices.

 Food Pyramid Resources

1) New USDA Government Pyramid:

This government website offers MyPyramid Tracker, a web-based interactive section where students can enter (and save) their daily meal plan and physical activity. The Food Calories/Energy Balance feature of the Tracker helps them compare their diet and physical activity and the energy balance between them—reinforcing calories in = calories out for healthy weight balance. MyPyramid Tracker provides each user with detailed, personalized results which attract and help keep student attention. Each user can track their energy balance history and view it on the website for up to 1 year. As an online dietary and physical activity assessment tool, Tracker also provides information on diet quality, related nutrition messages, and links to nutrient and physical activity information.

2) Mediterranean, Latin, Asian & Vegetarian Pyramids:

The website of the Oldways not-for-profit organization is dedicated to researching and promoting traditional food patterns, sustainable agriculture, and healthy eating. NNM is the perfect time to teach students about healthy eating patterns from other cultures. 

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Vegetarian Resource Group

The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger. Their website contains a variety of resources that can be used to teach students about a vegetarian lifestyle. Website guides and articles include:

30-Day Menu Plan

Athletes and Vegetarianism

Handouts include:

Heart Healthy Diet: The Vegetarian Way

·        Annual VRG Essay Contest

The VRG holds an annual essay contest for kids to enter a 2 to 3 page essay on any aspect of vegetarianism. Have your students write those essays during NNM, ready for entry by May 1^st.   Entries must be postmarked by May 1^st for each current year. A $50 savings bond is awarded.

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Take Charge of Your Health: A Teenager’s Guide to Better Health

This Weight Control Information Network website of the National Institutes of Health, provides a free downloadable 10-page fitness guide for teens.

Smart Mouth

This website of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (the folks who analyze and publicize the calories and fat in fast food and restaurant foods) leads to a number of on-line “interactives” for teens—the “Bar Exam” analyzes popular energy bars; pop-up Snack-toids; “Choose Your Chews” fast food meal analyzer racks up fat grams on the “fat-o-meter” and calories on the “cal-o-meter” as students pick various food items and to add their list; the “Bite Back” or take action section allows students to see recent food and nutrition legislation around the country and voice their support.

 Leafy Greens Council’s

Leafy Green Lesson Plans 

This trade council, made up of growers, brokers and suppliers of leafy green vegetables, has produced teacher lesson plans for elementary students based on the “Cruciferous Crusaders” characters---Cabbageasuarus, Broccadactyl,  Lettuceratops, Kal-O-Don, and Spinachraptor.  Lesson plans have been adapted for language arts, math, social studies and science/health.