Lesson One:
What Foods Will Grow In a Garden?
Objectives:
1. To help students understand where their foods come from.
2. To specifically identify which foods originate from the ground, i.e. food that they can grow in a garden.
3. To help them understand that there are almost unlimited varieties of plant foods, all that come in different colors, have different textures, grow in different ways and have different vitamins and minerals.Ask children to tell you what their favorite foods are. As they give you a list, write down these foods on the blackboard. Encourage them to include fruits and vegetables like watermelon, apples, carrots and potatoes or grain foods like breads and cereals.
Essentially, there are four different places food comes from: an animal that has died or been killed, the milk from an animal, an egg, or from a seed in the ground. Those that come from seeds in the ground are known as plant-foods, and these are the foods that our lesson is focusing on.
After you have helped children understand the difference in where food originates, you will want them to identify those foods they have listed that come from plants. Go down the list and ask the children if a food is a meat, dairy, egg or plant-food. Remind them that a plant food is a kind of food that can grow in a garden. As you identify foods that are not plant foods, erase them or cross them off the list. Keep those items on the board that can be grown in a garden.
Some foods will have multiple ingredients (a burrito for instance), or it may not be clear where the food originates (cereal or bread). Take the time to help the students identify what is in each food. When one of the ingredients is a plant food, write that food on the board. For instance, if one of the food items listed is a burrito, ask the students what a burrito is made from (The tortilla is from flour, which is from wheat, which is a plant food, the beans, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole are plant foods. The beef is not.)
By the time you have completed this exercise, students should be pretty clear about the origin of their food, and more specifically what foods can be grown in a garden. To complete the lesson, choose from one of the following activities:
Option One:
Allow the children to bring out their coloring supplies. Give them each one sheet of paper.
On the top of the board write: Plant foods come from a tiny seed
On the bottom of the board write: And make a rainbow of color
If your children are still learning to read, you may consider drawing a seed with a plant growing from it on the top, and a rainbow on the bottom. Have the children copy one of the two versions on their paper. In the middle of the paper they should draw a rainbow of food: i.e. red apples or tomatoes, green peas or beans, blueberries, oranges, bananas, plums…whatever plant foods they can think of that come in different colors.Option Two:
Break the student's into small groups. Have them share with each other what are their favorite plant foods. After they are done, let each student share about a different favorite…they can tell why they like it, how it tastes, what it looks like and how it feels, and how it grows (if they know). Encourage participation by asking each child questions about their fruit.
---Another way to do this, is to have show and tell. Have a few student's each day bring in a favorite fruit or vegetable and tell about it. Use a circle format so all the student's can see the fruit. Then cut up the fruit or vegetable and share it with the class.Wrap up:
Pass out take home materials (see Lesson One Take Home Materials). Let the student's know that building a healthy body means trying new foods, understanding about them, and sharing healthy foods at home and at school. The class will be discussing more about healthy foods and tasting different fruits and vegetables throughout the unit.
