Healthy Eating Anywhere

Lesson 6 of 6 30 minutes Curriculum expectations: C2.1, C3.1, 1.3, 1.5 Topics: Healthy Living

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere

Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to: ●



identify the factors that influence their ability to make healthy food choices in different settings and situations apply communication and creative thinking skills to planning a healthy eating campaign to promote healthy food and beverage choices in a given setting.

Facility

Classroom, Computer lab, Throughout school

Equipment List

Chart paper and markers Poster board Magazines and/or grocery store flyers (to cut up) 20 – 30 scissors (1 for each student) Glue Computers (if available)

Teacher Resource 5: Making Connections Rubric

Student Resource 9: Promoting Healthier Eating Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere | Healthy Eating Anywhere | Page 1 of 6

Healthy Eating Anywhere

Lesson 6 of 6 30 minutes Curriculum expectations: C2.1, C3.1, 1.3, 1.5 Topics: Healthy Living

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere

Minds On

Share and clarify the lesson Learning Goals in a large-group discussion. Invite students to record responses to the following prompts. Teacher prompt: “If you are going to a lesson or a practice after school, what could you bring as a snack that would be healthy and give you the energy you need? What factors have an impact on your choice?” Student response: “If I planned ahead I could bring a healthy snack like yogourt or a piece of cheese and fruit or cut-up vegetables. If I buy a snack I think I need to think about the healthiest choice available. Factors that affect my choices include how much time I have, what is convenient, how much foods cost, what I like and dislike and what allergies I have.” Teacher prompt: “What kinds of things might you consider before inviting a friend to your home for a meal or a sleepover?” Student response: “I would ask if my friend has any food allergies or cannot eat certain foods for religious or cultural reasons and make sure my parents know about these.”

A&E - Minds On

Teacher observation with verbal feedback of students’ ability to apply critical thinking skills when identifying ways of promoting healthier food choices in different settings

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere | Healthy Eating Anywhere | Page 2 of 6

Healthy Eating Anywhere

Lesson 6 of 6 30 minutes Curriculum expectations: C2.1, C3.1, 1.3, 1.5 Topics: Healthy Living

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere

Action

Introduce the culminating task using the following prompt. Teacher prompt: “We know that school is an important setting where we eat and make food selections every day. Let’s look at what we could do to help us make healthier food choices at school. Today, we’re going to develop a program to promote healthy food choices in the school. As a class, we will come up with a healthy eating goal for the whole school, and then working in small groups you will develop one activity that will help meet the goal. Each group’s activity will be combined into a program to promote healthy food choices in the school.” ●

● ●



Brainstorm with students ideas of activities to promote healthier food choices. You may want to write student responses on chart paper or on the board (e.g., healthy lunch challenge, healthy snack week, newsletter inserts, posting healthy eating information on bulletin boards, healthy eating poster contest). Divide students into groups of 4 – 5. Distribute Student Resource 9: Promoting Healthier Eating. Each group creates a school-wide healthy eating goal and then selects a promotion activity based on an item from the brainstormed list or on their own ideas. Each student completes Student Resource 9: Promoting Healthier Eating with information on the group’s activity. Share the Success Criteria from Teacher Resource 5: Making Connections Rubric so students are aware of what is expected of them. Answer any questions students may have.

A&E - Action

Teacher observation with verbal feedback of students’ ability to formulate a goal and develop an activity related to promoting healthy food choices at school Teacher observation of students’ demonstrated knowledge and ability to apply health knowledge and make connections using Teacher Resource 5: Making Connections Rubric

Consolidation

Have students present their healthy eating goal and promotion activities to the class (or, to accommodate various types of learners, in front of the teacher only). Ask class members to share ideas of what they enjoyed about each group’s promotion ideas. Review the lesson Learning Goals with students. Have students self-assess their ability to apply the lesson Learning Goals using the Thumbs-Up Strategy (see Appendix). Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere | Healthy Eating Anywhere | Page 3 of 6

Healthy Eating Anywhere

Lesson 6 of 6 30 minutes Curriculum expectations: C2.1, C3.1, 1.3, 1.5 Topics: Healthy Living

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere

A&E - Consolidation

Teacher observation of students’ ability to self-assess their knowledge and understanding of the Learning Goals during Thumbs-Up self-assessment (see Appendix) Teacher observation with feedback of students’ demonstrated ability to apply critical and creative thinking and make connections to how factors in the world around them affect their own and others’ health and well-being using Teacher Resource 5: Making Connections Rubric

Ideas for Extension

Create information sheets for students to take home to explain any activities that require parental involvement and support (e.g., a healthy lunch challenge or healthy snack week).

Next Steps

Students create a plan to implement their healthy eating campaign in the school. The plan should include timelines for the various activities, people to involve and further development of the activities.

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere | Healthy Eating Anywhere | Page 4 of 6

Healthy Eating Anywhere

Lesson 6 of 6 30 minutes Curriculum expectations: C2.1, C3.1, 1.3, 1.5 Topics: Healthy Living

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere

Notes to Teacher

Tips for Making your School Healthy Eating Campaign a Success Your students are more likely to choose healthy eating behaviours if they hear the same healthy eating messages over and over. To help make your campaign a success, follow these suggestions: ● ● ●

Meet with your public health representative to learn about what you’ll need to develop a campaign. Involve the principal and other teachers early on; their involvement and enthusiasm are keys to success. Set a timetable with tasks that fit with your school’s needs. ●







The longer you run a campaign or the more frequently you run it the more support you will build over time. Make it an annual event that runs automatically at the same time each year (note that March is Nutrition Month in Ontario). Share the workload: aim to have a number of people take on small chunks of the work rather than expecting a couple of people to organize and run all the activities.

If your school has a snack, breakfast or lunch program, work with the coordinator(s) to send consistent healthy eating messages. Link your campaign to the Ministry of Education’s Healthy School Recognition Program.

Key messages to keep in mind include the following: ● ● ●

A healthy lunch includes at least three of the four food groups in Canada’s Food Guide. A healthy snack should include at least two of the four food groups. Children need a minimum of 20 minutes to eat their lunch.

For additional information, see Lesson 5 Notes to Teacher.

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere | Healthy Eating Anywhere | Page 5 of 6

Healthy Eating Anywhere

Lesson 6 of 6 30 minutes Curriculum expectations: C2.1, C3.1, 1.3, 1.5 Topics: Healthy Living

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere

Additional Resources

Canada’s Food Guide: http://www.healthcanada.gc.ca/foodguide Site offers a downloadable PDF of Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide and a number of related the following resources: Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide - A Resource for Educators and Communicators Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide - Food Guide for First Nations, Inuit and Métis My Food Guide Interactive tool to create personalized guide or Take the Guided Tour Dietitians of Canada: http://www.dietitians.ca/ Website contains information on various food and nutrition topics and links to various resources. EatRight Ontario: http://www.eatrightontario.ca/ Registered Dietitians provide visitors to EatRight Ontario with feature articles on food and nutrition, meal planning advice, healthy eating tips and recipes. Also contains Ask-a-dietitian service. Ministry of Education: http:// www.ontario.ca/healthyschools Information and resources related to the Ministry of Education’s Healthy Schools initiatives, including the School Food and Beverage Policy. Nutrition Tools for Schools© A Toolkit for Ontario Health Units to Support Elementary Schools in Creating a Healthy School Nutrition Environment includes tools and resources to guide schools through activities and campaigns that support healthy eating

Grade 4 | Making Healthy Food Choices Anywhere | Healthy Eating Anywhere | Page 6 of 6