SUBJECT: HEALTH & NUTRITION

GRADE LEVEL: 5TH

Decoding the Crunch

Enduring Understanding
Students will understand that it is important to be a critical thinker, observer and listener in order to recognize false and misleading information in food related advertising and learn to make healthier choices based on nutritional facts instead of packaging. By the end of the lesson students will meet the following objectives and be assessed on the following standards:

Objectives
1. 2. 3.

Students will investigate the nutrition facts of breakfast cereal, record, analyze and compare the results and use this decision-making process to identify healthy choices (5.1.N ). Students will demonstrate higher-order thinking skills of critical consumerism by reconstructing a valid and creative representation of foods they regularly eat (2.3.N). Students will demonstrate problem-solving behaviors by writing letters to school administration to encourage and promote healthy food choices at school and in the community (CA 8.1.N). Students will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively on multiple tasks involving the use of technology (NETS-S 1b, 2d).

4.

CA 5th Grade Health Standards

1. 2. 3.

5.1.N Use a decision-making process to identify healthy foods for meals and snacks. 2.3.N Describe the inuence of advertising and marketing techniques on food and beverage choices. 8.1.N Encourage and promote healthy eating at school and in the community.

NETS-S Technology Standard

1b Students create original works as a means of personal or group expression. 2d Students contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. 3d Students process data and report results. 4c Students collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions. 6a Students understand and use technology systems.

Technology Rationale

The use of technology in this lesson will improve learning for students by using online tools such as Trackstar, videos and interactive games and calculators to increase students engagement with
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DURATION: TEN CLASSROOM PERIODS

SUBJECT: HEALTH & NUTRITION

GRADE LEVEL: 5TH

the materials. The technology-enhanced collaborative tasks are well-suited for accessing students spatial, logical, linguistic, and interpersonal learning styles. The project oriented small group tasks are supported with visual examples, hands-on activities, precise data representations, digital authoring, design and presentations which combine to create a learning experience that meets both content and technology standards. The learners are provided with opportunities to use engaging and ecient tools for technology-enhanced tasks, such as: the interactive game that shows students how designers make decisions about packaging; using the online cereal box maker to provide easy and, if students are advanced at using digital design tools, somewhat more complex design templates; and videos that are otherwise not available or reproducible in the classroom.

Technology and Material Resources Needed

1.

Internet connected computer stations one for every group of three or four students or one computer can be used if students work through the project in independent or small group rotations over the course of the trimester. Printer with paper Printed food journal worksheets for each student from http://www.personal-nutritionguide.com/support-les/weekly_food_diary.pdf Microsoft Word or Pages software Powerpoint or Keynote, if needed for the nal presentation Calculator or computer calculator Computer le folder or ash drive for saving project materials Access to Trackstar Enter Track #437151 Printed KWL chart one for each group from http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ pdf/kwl.pdf

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. Physical group report folders 11. Art supplies, markers, scissors, tape 12. For the measuring task:
Full boxes of at least 6 kinds of breakfast cereals Full bag of granulated sugar Measuring teaspoons and 1/2 cup measuring cups Bowls

Procedures
1.

Opening & Motivation (Day 1)

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DURATION: TEN CLASSROOM PERIODS

SUBJECT: HEALTH & NUTRITION

GRADE LEVEL: 5TH

Homework before lesson: students keep a food journal to track their breakfast food choices. Students move into small groups of three to four and complete a KWL chart about breakfast cereals. Whip-around from each group to share one idea from what the Know and Wonder. Introduce EQ: How can looking for hidden messages help me to make better choices?
2.

Research & Presentation (Days 2-4)

Go through the rst 3 sites of Track #437151 on Trackstar. After you watch the video that demonstrates the quantity of sugar in breakfast cereals, go to the science table and choose 3 cereals to perform the same experiment. In order to compare the cereals, determine if the suggested serving size on the nutrition facts are the same between the three cereals; if it is proceed to measure out a single serving of cereal into a bowl. If it is not, then you will need to make the serving size and nutrition facts equivalent between the three cereals by choosing one serving size and multiplying or dividing the other cereals nutrition fact to match. (For example if cereal As serving size is 1/2 cup and cereal Bs serving size is 3/4 cup, then you can increase the serving size of cereal B by half to equal 3/4 cup. Then be sure to do the same to increase the amount sugar (and other facts) from cereal A by 50% by multiplying the total by .5 and adding that amount to your total. Use a calculator convert the amount of sugar in one serving of cereal from grams (unit of weight) to teaspoons (unit of volume) by dividing the total number of grams of sugar in the serving by 4.2. One teaspoon of sugar is equal to about 4.2 grams of granulated sugar. Measure out how much sugar is in your cereal bowl in teaspoons and put it into a separate bowl. Now think about how much cereal you usually put in your bowl and talk about it with your group. Record the amount of sugars, dietary ber, and protein, in grams, found in the nutrition facts from each breakfast cereal onto 3 separate charts. Record your ndings on paper. You can choose make a chart on paper or using the charts tools in the word processing applications on the computer. Put your completed chart in your group report folder.
3.

Practice & Application (Days 5 - 6)

As a group, choose the best, healthiest cereal for you based on which cereal has the least amount of sugar. Return to Track #437151 on Trackstar and visit sites 4 and 5 Based on the interactive game and readings from kidshealth.org, discuss the packaging choices that the advertiser made for the cereal your group chose as the most healthy and decide on ways that you can improve the information on the box to represent the cereal honestly. As a group work together to redesign the box to represent why the cereal is a good choice. Create your new cereal box design online using either site number 7 in Track #437151 or if you cannot or do not wish to use this tool you may design it on a piece of paper or cereal box.

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DURATION: TEN CLASSROOM PERIODS

SUBJECT: HEALTH & NUTRITION

GRADE LEVEL: 5TH

Print or post your new design into your group report folder.
4.

Independent Practice and Assessment (Days 7-10)

As a group, return to your KWL chart and complete the nal column. Discuss what you learned. Record your ideas in the nal column and return the KWL to the group report folder. Each student writes a letter to either their parents or the school, asking them to buy this kind of cereal and persuading them with evidence demonstrating why it is a healthy choice. Students can collaborate on their letters by editing and revising them together. Put your letter into your group report folder. Self-evaluate your individual work by scoring yourself using the rubric in your report folder and place your assessments into the report folder. Present your nal report in small groups to the class.

Assessment Rubric

Lesson

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DURATION: TEN CLASSROOM PERIODS

SUBJECT: HEALTH & NUTRITION

GRADE LEVEL: 5TH

Management

Together with the teacher, students have been focusing on making healthy choices on a personal and community level. If there is not a 1:1 or 1:small group ratio of equipment to student, the interactive resources could be viewed in whole group lessons or the entire lesson could be done by the class as one large group. Equity measures such as talking sticks and assigned job roles would need to be included. Students could work in job-alike, learner-centered teams as leaders of certain tasks.

Differentiated Instruction

Teachers can modify task and outcomes to suit individual students needs. For ELL students, the teacher can allow more time and a smaller group for them to work with. Students with disabilities can use more or less of the technological resources as is suited to their needs. Students with advanced technical skills can create more rened creative outcomes and use other tools such as Illustrator or Photoshop to create their redesigned boxes.

Teacher Tasks/Procedures

Teachers need to prepare to meet the needs of their class dierently depending on the technological and nancial resources available. If the lesson can be implemented as outlined in the main lesson, teachers need to acquire a variety of cereals that span a good range of healthy and unhealthy and popular options. Students could be asked to donate unopened boxes. The teacher needs to reproduce sucient copies of the food journals, KWL charts, rubrics and project folders if the nal presentations will be done physically. Alternatively, the teacher needs to establish where students will save their works in progress.The nal presentation can be done as a word processed document or as a slideshow using Powerpoint or Keynote, which would extend the time needed for the lesson by at least two periods. The teacher can open the doors to other creative outcomes such as songs, brochures, commercials, or posters as a way of further meeting the needs of students with dierent styles of learning. The nal presentation, in the lesson was not the primary learning objective but the rubric could be modied to include this portion of the tasks and standards into the lesson for assessment.

Student Assistance/Tasks

Strategies for students to be successful in this lesson include working together in small groups, providing the grading rubric at the beginning of the lesson, having students work edit each others writing for grammatical issues and to check for errors in calculation. The lesson asks students to engage in dialogue and stay focused on many tasks. Students could make progress deadlines for their group to be done with each task at the outset of the lesson unit to accomplish the entire lesson in the allotted amount of time.

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DURATION: TEN CLASSROOM PERIODS