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E Ating The Alphabet: L Esson Plan

This lesson plan promotes nutrition education, physical activity, and literacy for young children. The plan involves reading the book "Eating the Alphabet" and discussing fruits and vegetables from A to Z. Children hold toy fruits and vegetables during the story and identify the letter, name, color, and taste of different fruits and vegetables. The plan includes optional extension activities like a surprise bag game and fruit/vegetable tasting. Parents participate through a discussion on serving sizes and tips for getting children to eat fruits and vegetables. The goal is to teach children about healthy eating and the importance of fruits and vegetables.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

49 views14 pages

E Ating The Alphabet: L Esson Plan

Uploaded by

Roman

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Eating the Alphabet

Lesson Plan
Goal
To promote nutrition education, physical activity, and literacy
with young children.

Objectives for Children

• Children will name one fruit or one vegetable and say
what color it is.
• The children will name their favorite fruit or vegetable.

Objectives for Parents

• The parents will state how many servings of fruit and vegetables a preschool child needs
each day.
• The parents will state the preschool children’s serving size for the Fruit Group and the

B
Vegetable Group.

AC
Procedure
1. Wear your Give Me 5 A Day! apron, if you have one. Invite children into the circle
by giving them each a fruit or vegetable plush toy to hold during story time. Tell them after
the story is read that the fruits and vegetables will be tired and will need to go back in the
basket for a nap.

2. Have children sit “criss-cross applesauce” in a circle with the teacher. Go around the
cir cle and ask each child to name the fruit or vegetable he or she is holding. Teacher then
says, “Watch while I am reading and see if you can find your fruit or vegetable
in our story.”

3. The teacher shows the children the cover of the book and says, “What do you think this
book is about? Yes, our ABCs.”

4. The teacher says to the children, “Today we are going to talk about fruits and vegetables.
Did you know that there are fruits and vegetables for each letter of the alphabet? We are
going to say the alphabet and name fruits and vegetables at the same time. We will also
look at the color of the fruit and vegetable. Fruits and vegetables keep us healthy. We feel
better when we eat fruits and vegetables. They give us energy to run and play.”

5. The teacher reads the title of the book, Eating the Alphabet, and the author, Lois Ehlert.

6. The teacher begins reading the story using lots of expression. The teacher reads the first
page and then on the second page the teacher says: “A is for apricot, asparagus and apple.”
The teacher points to each of these as she speaks.

7. The teacher then recognizes the child holding the apple by saying, “Who is holding the
apple? Hold it up. A is for apple”.

8. The teacher then says, “What does an apple taste like? Is it crunchy? What does it smell
like? What does it feel like?”

9. The teacher then points to the apple and asks the children the color of the apple?

10. When the teacher comes to the “B” page the teacher says, “B is for blueberry, beans, and
broccoli.” Then the teacher points to banana and asks the children if they know the name of
it.

11. The teacher then recognizes the child holding the banana by saying, “Who is holding the
banana? Hold it up. B is for banana.”
12. The teacher then says, “What does a banana taste like? What does it feel like? What
does it smell like?”

13. The teacher then says, “What color is the banana?”

14. The teacher then continues on with the alphabet but gauges how the children are
doing. If the children are beginning to get restless, end the story. The most
important thing to do is to make sure each child gets to hold up his fruit or
vegetable. Note: Children this age will not know if you read the whole alphabet
or in the correct order.

15. The teacher then says, “What are the names of some of the fruits and vegetables that we
just read about?” After a child names one, ask them the letter it begins with and the
color it is. Ask them to name some fruits and vegetables that they eat at home.

16. The teacher collects the toy fruits and vegetables. Remind the children the fruits and
vegetables are tired and need to go into the basket to take a nap.

Exploring Activity
The teacher then brings out a basket of felt fruits and vegetables. The teacher holds one up at a
time and asks the children to name it. The teacher then asks the children the letter it begins with
and the color of the fruit or vegetable. The fruit or vegetable is then placed on the felt board.

The teacher says, “What is your favorite fruit or vegetable?”

The teacher then says, “That is great that you are eating fruits and vegetables because they
help to keep you healthy and give you energy to run and play”.

The teacher gives each child a color sheet of fruits and vegetables (Attachment 1).
Share Time with Parents
Share time is when you share nutrition information from the story with the parents
while the children are working on their craft project. Keep the tone conversational.
The nutritionist should be listening more and the parents should be doing most of the talking.
For more information on facilitated dialogues, go to:
www.nal.usda.gov/wicworks/Sharing_Center/statedev-nutritioneducation.html

Try leading out with a question such as: “Where do you shop for your fruits and vegetables?”
Some points to add as they come up naturally in the discussion are:

• Share with parents that we all need to eat at least 2 servings of fruit a day and 3 servings of
vegetables a day to equal 5 a day.
• Show them what a serving size of a fruit and vegetable looks like for a preschooler by using
the food models.
• Be sure to show the serving size for juice and tell them that most pediatricians recommend
only 6 ounces of juice a day for a preschooler.
• Share some ideas on how to help children eat more fruits and vegetables.
• Ask them if they have any good tips on helping their child eat fruits and vegetables.
• Eat a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables throughout the week.
Remind parents that the most important thing they can do to help their children learn to read
is to read to them.
Ask parents to complete the goal setting question (Attachment 3).
Give each parent a copy of the Nutrition Tips for Parents.

k
Parents can help their child with the craft. This also reinforces the nutrition message for the

i
parent. At the end of the discussion, ask parents to name one idea shared today they are going
to try at home.

hJ
Extending and Reinforcing Activities (Optional))

Surprise Bag

• The teacher puts toy fruits and vegetables (or fresh fruit & vegetables) into a bag.
Have one child at a time reach into the bag and feel one fruit or vegetable without looking.

• The teacher then says, “Guess which fruit or vegetable you are touching?”

• The teacher says again, “We need to eat fruit and vegetables every day so we can run and
play”.

Munch Time

• Bring a few fruits or vegetables that are washed and cut and have a taste test. This could be
as simple as apple wedges. Be sure to give children a hand wipe before they eat.

• The teacher then says, “How does the fruit or vegetable taste? Is it sweet? Is it crunchy? Is
it juicy?”

• The teacher also asks about the color of the fruits and vegetables and tells the children we
need to eat fruits and vegetables every day for energy so we can run and play.

Rainbow Streamer

• See directions for craft (Attachment 2 ). After the streamers are made, play a song from the
Give Me Five A Day! CD with the children. Have children dance and move to the music
using their rainbow streamer.

m
L No P
Materials Needed for Lesson Plan)
• Eating the Alphabet book by Lois Ehlert www.amazon.com

• Give Me 5 A Day! Apron (optional) [email protected]

• Give Me Five A Day! CD www.doh.state.fl.us/family/wic/index.html

• Fruit and vegetable plush toys: Fruit Seedies and Veggie Friend Seedies by Gazelle ~$2.30
each from Neat Solutions 1.888.577.6328 or www.neatsolutions.com

• Felt fruits and vegetables and felt board www.neatsolutions.com OR fruit and vegetable felt
pieces from Food Groupie, Inc. at 1-800-476-8743.

• Tomato, carrot, broccoli, grapes, and banana black and white cut-outs (see Attachment 1)

• Red, orange, green, purple, yellow, and white crayons

• Food Models www.enasco.com www.nutritionexplorations.org/catalog/preschool.asp

Materials Needed for Optional Reinforcing Activities

1. Surprise bag:
• Five A Day Bag or lunch sack
• Fresh fruit and vegetables or fruit and vegetable plush toys www.neatsolutions.com

2. Munch Time:
• Cut up fresh fruit and vegetables (enough for every parent and child)
• Wipes for hand washing
• Paper plates

3. Rainbow streamers (see Attachment 2):

• Black and white pictures to color
• Scotch tape or glue
• Paper plates
• Red, orange, green, purple, and white crepe paper streamers
• Music such as the Give Me 5 A Day! CD
• CD player
Sunshine Standards

Health Literacy
Standard 1:

• The student comprehends concepts that relate to health promotion and disease prevention.
(HE.A.1.1)

• The student understands positive health behaviors that enhance wellness.

Standard 2:

• The student knows how to access valid health information and health-promoting products
and services. (HE.A.2.1)

• The student knows sources of health information (e.g., people, place and products) and how
to locate them.

Responsible Health Behavior

Standard 1:

• The student knows health-enhancing behaviors and how to reduce health risks. (HE.B.1.1)

• The student knows and practices good personal health habits.

R st U v
Q
Attachment 1
Attachment 2
Instructions for Rainbow Streamers

You will need the following:

• Scotch tape or glue stick

• Stapler
• Paper plates with center large whole cut out.
• Red, orange, green, purple, and white crepe paper streamers
• Banana, grapes, broccoli, tomato, and carrot pictures

Cut a hole in the paper plate. Have children color the banana, grapes, broccoli, tomato, and car-
rot pictures. Provide each child with the plate, 5 streamers, and a glue stick. Have parents help
their child attach streamer to plate. Have the children glue each colored fruit and vegetable onto
the appropriate colored streamer.

X
w yZ
Pictures for Rainbow Streamers - Have children color.
Attachment 3
Parent Goal Setting (English Version)
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What did you see or hear today that you think your child would like to do at home?

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