Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.1C Grade 2 CPI 2

 

Standard: 2.1 - Wellness

 

Strand: C - Nutrition

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 2 - The student will sort foods according to food groups and food sources..

 

Grade: 2

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        BUILDING THE PYRAMID - Brainstorm favorite foods and write on the board. Ask the students if all the favorites they have mentioned are healthy and good for them. Tell them that nutrition specialists have devised an easy way to decide if you are getting enough healthy food in your diet—they devised the Food Guide Pyramid. Display a large poster or model of the Food Guide Pyramid and introduce each of the areas. Then distribute pictures of various food products to each student (cardboard food pictures are available from the Dairy Council, or use pictures cut from magazines). In turn, each student states the name of his/her food item and attempts to place it in the appropriate area of the Pyramid. (Draw a Food Guide Pyramid on the chalkboard or have a second large poster available so students can attach their food pictures to the correct area.) As students become more familiar with the Food Guide Pyramid, they can indicate the correct number of servings. Correct any errors, summarize, and conclude by asking each student to appropriately color a black-line master of the Food Guide Pyramid and finish this statement: “I will build a strong body by...”

Variation: Hold a healthy snack day. Students identify the type of food and where it fits on the Food Guide Pyramid. Be sure to include new foods and ethnic and cultural items as part of the activity.

Variation: Divide the class into small groups. Each group assembles a food folder that contains pictures from magazines and newspapers representing foods in the various sections of the Food Guide Pyramid. Each group uses the pictures to design a Food Guide Pyramid collage or papier-mâché
model.

 

      Variation: Students record all food eaten for a five day period and then try to match the foods on their list with the recommendations on the Food Guide Pyramid.

Variation: Outline a large Food Guide Pyramid on the playground or gym floor. Announce the name of a food. Students move to the correct place on the pyramid and perform an exercise that represents the recommended number of servings for that food.