Last Year I was teaching Year 3 (Grade 2), and the beginning of the year had me teaching about balanced lifestyle. The students in Year 3 can choose their own food, and one thing I noticed immediately was that there was little to no knowledge in how to make healthy food choices. I started taking images of the foods choices students were making at lunch. I didn't tell them why I was taking these pictures, and didn't include their faces with their plates, I just took pictures of the food on their plates, and sometimes I took pictures of all the things the cafeteria had on offer during that particular day.
After that, I got to work teaching about food and healthy food choices. Firstly students were taught about the different food groups. Students were placed into mixed level small groups and set about learning about five different food groups - Dairy, Grains, Protein, Vegetables and Fruits. They were each assigned a book about their topic and were instructed to write information in their own words explaining what the food group is, what foods are included, and why it is healthy for us to eat that food item. They also had to write the resource (book title and author) and draw a picture of foods in that food group. Then they gave a presentation.
After that we reviewed the different words and food groups and what foods were contained in those groups. I then introduced the "My Plate" model as I liked how the visuals made it easy for students to grasp How to make healthy choices. I also brought measuring cups into the classroom and borrowed a cafeteria plate and bowl, so they could see a visual of what a healthy meal might look like.
For a few days while going deeper into food groups, every day after lunch students kept track of what food groups they ate during lunch, through using a checklist.
We then looked at the pictures of the meals I took previously. I asked students if there was a way the meal could be improved to be healthier, and how it could be improved. For example "there's no protein" or "they have vegetables but no fruit" or "it's all grains." Sometimes I also showed the students all the food on offer on that particular day, so they could better consider what other choices could have been made.
Students were then given the menu for Thursday of that week and they were told that they were going to plan a meal, based on Thursday's menu. If there were any menu items that were unknown, we image searched them so students could have a better concept of what would be available on that day. We then set about drawing a balanced meal for that day, while considering the different food groups. Before students went to the cafeteria on the Thursday, they were told to look carefully at the bulletin board (their plan) to remember what they said they would put on their plates.
In this template image dairy is specifically circled as the only times when dairy is made available, is when the cafeteria includes cheese in a particular dish, so I told students not to worry about it, but that they must try to have a meal containing fruits, vegetables, proteins and grains.
During lunch that day, I took photos of all the food choices they made so we could see what better choices they were making and compare it to the choices they were making before. Of course even though we went through this process, this did not mean that magically all students continued to make balanced, informed and healthy choices in the cafeteria throughout the rest of the school year, but it did open the door to conversations about continued food choices, because they now knew what it meant to eat in a balanced and healthy way.
Also, to be clear, this entire unit was about balanced lifestyle, so we certainly did have conversations about how it's okay to eat fast food or sweets sometimes, just not every day or for every meal. We talked about how we need to have balance that is more in favor of making healthier choices more often, but also how foods not contained in the My Plate model can also be eaten and enjoyed.
Overall I think that this was a great way for students to learn, reflect and take action, and something they can take with them as they continue to make food choices into the future.
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