Innovative Ideas!
Kindergarten
Veggies Three Ways:
With your kindergarten class and perhaps some parent volunteers, plant a small garden to grow vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, zucchini, beets, potatoes, etc. Once the vegetables have grown, involve the students in harvesting the vegetables and then throw a party where they can all enjoy eating the produce from their garden. With the students you can prepare and offer veggies and dip, vegetable juice made from the students' own recipe creations, carrot muffins, zucchini loaf and even vegetable soup or veggie "fries" (cut beet and sweet potato tinto sticks and bake them in the oven).
Ronald Vine, Green Acres School
Geometry and Healthy Foods:
This activity introduces various types of fruit to kindergarten students using math concepts. The students begin by piping melted chocolate from a bag over a cone shape to create a basket. Students are assisted to cut apples in half (symmetry), section grapefruits and oranges (fractions), and prepare other fruit shapes (star fruits, melon spheres) to fill their baskets.
Although only a very small amount of chocolate is used, some students are more inclined to try the fruits in their "basket" because of the chocolate, but once they try the fruits they realize how delicious they are and just want more!
Ronald Vine, Green Acres School
A-Shopping-We-Will-Go:
This activity provides an authentic food shopping experience for kindergarten students. Each week the students are provided with a grocery store flyer and each student selects a healthy snack from the advertised specials. All of the foods chosen are placed on a grocery list.
Each week one student is chosen as the "shopper of the week," and with the pre-determined budget they get to decide which of the foods on the list they will purchase. The family of the "shopper of the week" provides the funds to do that week's shopping. The class then takes a walking trip to the grocery store, where the foods are purchased and then enjoyed as a class back at school. Prior to the start of these shopping trips, the class visited a farm to see the origin of most of our grocery store food.
Lillian Dal-Barco, Nobleton Junior Public School
Grade 1
Salad Celebration:
To begin, the class starts to grow its own tomato plants in the classroom. They study them as a part of their Science Unit and then move into Health and Social Studies by classifying foods into food groups, while also learning about the importance of different people in the community. The class then starts to plan a celebration to mark the completion of their Health Unit. We discuss ways to get healthy food. The culminating task is the collection of vegetables. We suggest using the tomato plants we have grown as well as getting foods during an upcoming annual trip to the farm or grocery store. We suggest looking for Ontario signs at the grocery store. The teacher then makes a salad from all the gathered vegetables for the class to share. The salad celebration activity gives students the tools to grow their own vegetables, seek out locally grown vegetables, and make them into meals and recipes. From field to table!
Nicole Creasy, Brisdale Public School
Farmers' Market Visit:
Visiting the local farmers' market is a great way to end a nutrition unit. Parent volunteers come along and the students are divided into small groups. Each group has a set amount of money and must come to a consensus on how to spend it to purchase healthy snacks that do not need to be cooked. Upon returning to school, all the purchases are pooled and the students participate in washing, chopping and arranging the snacks on platters. Students bring a very colourful and appetizing selection of snacks back to the classroom. Students can then look for colour, food groups represented, and the foods that may be new or unknown to some children. Then comes the best part - eating! Everything always disappears. It's a very fun multi-sensory activity.
Wilma Wierenga, Calvin Christian School
Healthy-Eating Cookbook:
Each student (or students in groups) reflects on lessons taught on Canada's Food Guide and designs a healthy meal that includes foods from all four food groups. Students then plan and prepare their recipe and present it to their classmates. The whole class can then try each of the prepared foods. Recipes are collected and a class cookbook is prepared for each child to take home.
Jan Golden, Trillium Woods School
Let's Make a Meal:
The students were given the opportunity to develop their own creative lunch menu that included items from all four food groups. They read recipe books, developed the grocery lists and had to justify their selections on the basis of healthy eating and food-group classification. The students also developed a letter to parents to inform them of the activity.
The menu decided upon was individual pizzas (made with multi-grain thin crust hamburger buns), purple cows (drinks made from grape juice and yogurt), apple crisp (made from apples they picked themselves) and homemade ice cream (made as a class). Before they made and enjoyed the food, the students also developed posters for the class with the menu on them and four-food-group placemats to use for the meal.
Lynn Verner, Princess Margaret Public School
Healthy Snack Calendar:
The students are involved in the creation of a calendar of healthy snack ideas. They develop ideas for both morning and afternoon snacks and those chosen by the class for each day appear in the school calendar with the student's name. The calendar is sent home to families to help them to be creative as they prepare healthy school lunches with their children.
Héléne Saucier and Michelle Leduc, Walter E. Harris School
Grade 2
Real Deal Meal, or No Deal!:
With help from families at home, students collect nutrition information on the foods available at four different fast food restaurants (either online or by picking them up at the restaurants). Many fast food places advertise meal "deals" and sometimes these deals may not really be worth it from a health perspective. The students must use Canada's Food Guide to assess one day of meals and snacks from each restaurant. They must look at whether the foods will help them to meet their Food Guide requirements and compare all four in a table. Students determine whether the restaurant provides a "real deal" or "no deal." For each restaurant the students should then create their own "Real Deal Meal" that could be sold there and creatively name and promote it.
Charlana Wheaton, Sunset Heights Public School
From Field to our Table:
We discuss with students the fruits and vegetables that are grown locally and sort them according to fruit or vegetable as they are mentioned (use a T-Chart). We discuss growing seasons, harvesting, and how this affects what we eat as well as the amount of work required to have the food get to the kitchen table. Students then create a poster promoting local produce which includes the title From the Fields to our Table and a slogan as well. Finally, we present a 'challenge' to the class which is to eat 3 to 5 fruits and veggies a day for 2 weeks. Students are given a tracking sheet where they mark what fruits and veggies they have eaten each day. (There is a bonus point for each local produce they eat). The winning student receives a fruit and veggie basket of locally grown produce. The rest of the class all receives an apple/fruit for participation. This activity makes students more aware of and accountable for what they eat and the challenge component is motivating and encourages students to ask parents to buy local as well!
It also allows students the opportunity to understand the hard work that local farmers and all farmers do for us so that we can have food on the table and introduces and stresses the importance of buying local produce.
Marc Koechl, St. Teresa of Avilia School
Fun-Run Marathon Club:
In the spring a 10-week running club will be open for students. The club will meet three times a week, twice for a fun run and once for a nutrition lesson including information on healthy breakfasts and snacks and how students can ensure they meet their Canada's Food Guide recommendations.
Jo-Anne Locke, Conestoga Public School
Class Restaurant:
Each student in the class creates their own restaurant. The students, with the help of their families, name their restaurant and develop menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each meal must include at least one choice from each food group.
Students must choose one of the meals to enjoy as a family and make a list of foods needed to prepare the meal, set a budget and shop for ingredients. The students prepare and enjoy the meal with their families.
Charlana Wheaton, Sunset Heights Public School
Grade 3
Vegetable/Fruit of the Month:
Each month we highlight a vegetable or fruit of the month preferably one that is in harvest and is local in order to promote locally produced, harvested items. The teacher brings in a sample and explains how it grows through photos or computer technology. We highlight the food in a monthly classroom newsletter and include a recipe for parents/caregivers to try at home. Ideally, the recipe links to what is available at local farmer's markets. Examples: Butternut squash soup, pumpkin soup, strawberry scones, etc. Sometimes, students even visit a local farm or farmer's market to see the vegetable/fruit growing. In the winter months, we talk about how vegetables grow in greenhouses in Ontario. We have students try the vegetable/herb or fruit or alternatively we ask a student each month to learn about the food and present it to the class through a short presentation or poster. Posters can be put up around the school or we do announcements. We reinforce how many fruits/vegetables students should be eating through discussion or as part of the assignment. By highlighting locally produced vegetables and fruits, students realize where their food comes from and how many different kinds of fruits and vegetables there are and that trying new ones can be fun! You also encourage caregivers/parents to try foods through the classroom newsletters/recipe sharing. You get to advertise fruits and vegetables that students might never have heard of or have ever eaten!
Vickie Morgado, Metropolitan Andrei
Working Together - Canadian Communities:
To develop a greater understanding of food from field to table, students learn to identify what makes up the food items they find at home, such as cheese, juice, bread, hummus, soup, fruit salad, etc. They also explore how the foods get from the farm (or other origin) to their table at home and learn about how urban and rural communities work together. The culminating part of this project is to research a food product and create a comic strip or poster to show others how their healthy food choices get to their tables.
Joanne Giovanatti, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School
Camp Can I Do It!:
In this activity students are asked to plan for a week of family camping at "Camp Can I Do It!" To do so they must:
- Determine a reasonable budget
- Make a list of favourite family foods they will need
- Consult Canada's Food Guide to create a balanced meal plan for one week that includes the correct number of food-group servings for each family member
- Creat the shopping list they would use to purchase the items they need
- Set up a mock "camp" at home and enjoy preparing one of the meals with their family
- Reflect on the experience and decide how they can incorporate family meal planning into their everyday life
Charlana Wheaton, Sunset Heights Public School
Freggie Fridays:
This fun celebration occurs every Friday in this grade 3 class, and during the month of March every class in the school will participate! On Freggie Fridays parents are encouraged to send in fruits and vegetables for their children's school snacks.
On one of the Fridays in March students will be able to take their fruits and veggies and mix them with yogurt, which will be provided, to make smoothies! A contest for the best smoothies will be held. Much class learning happens with the Freggie Friday activities. The students develop graphs of the types of foods brought in and will develop a survey to determine the best smoothie in the class.
Emily Goold, Holy Redeemer School
Eating Pioneers:
Students examined their own diet by tracking their eating habits and graphing and charting the results. They then moved to examining the diet of pioneers and looking at their sources of food and food preparation methods.
The students developed charts that linked and contrasted the eating habits of pioneers with their own, and developed commercial-style advertisements to promote and present pioneer foods to the entire school. This highlighted the high intake of fruits, vegetables and grains in the pioneer days. The foods were prepared in a heritage meal buffet. Students also took part in field trips that involved being a pioneer and participating in organic farming, apple pressing and bread baking over an open fire.
Ann Vieira, Anson S. Taylor Jr. Public School
Stone Soup:
Using the popular book Stone Soup, students perform the story as a play for the entire school. They also take the recipe and mathematically redevelop it for 200 people. All students in the school then bring in foods needed to make the soup. The soup is prepared by volunteers and served at lunchtime. The students develop announcements and bulletin boards for the school on the theme of sharing and healthy eating.
Lee-Ann Matteau, William Merrifield School