Tag: Nutrition

Fiber-Full Food Choices: # Mania Infographic

In the past, I’ve shared some of the EduProtocol teaching strategies and templates such as the Iron Chef Non-Cooking Challenges, Thin Slides and the Amazing
Race that were well received by students. Today, I want to share how I used the # Mania Infographic strategy with you.  The Fiber-Full Food Choices: # Mania Infographic was created for use in my nutrition unit. This strategy incorporates technology and has students very engaged as there’s a lot going on simultaneously within small groups of students to create one infographic about fiber filled foods.

43 Minute Lab Series: Cloud Eggs

After noticing continuous requests for lab suggestions that are doable in 43 minute class periods, I’ve decided to do a recurring series, featuring recipes that can be completed from beginning to end in a 43 minute time frame. In some cases, longer recipes will broken into two day labs. In addition, I will include my pre-lab review questions that pertain specifically to the recipe. This helps to ensure that students are reading the recipe. It also allows me time to show any videos that may demonstrate the product or specific techniques. So, without further ado, I present the first recipe in the 43 Minute Lab Series: Cloud Eggs!

The Basics of Soup!

Did you know that January is National Soup Month?  Soup is the perfect comfort food for a typically cold, winter month or any other day for that matter!  To celebrate this meal which has so much to offer in the way of health benefits, versatility in its types, and cultural ties, I’ve created a Hyper-Slide of activities to help students learn more about soup.  Read on to see how you can add a mini soup unit and lab to your repertoire!

Stoplight Foods & Jenga Review Game

The stoplight is such a simple traffic device, but has a universal meaning to pedestrians and drivers in the world of transportation. You may also be familiar with this concept in the nutrition world as it was introduced a few years ago as “Go-Slow-Whoa” or “Stoplight Nutrition”. In order to reinforce healthy food choices, why not implement the universal meaning of the stoplight into an interactive Jenga game?  It’s a simple way to reinforce healthy food choices for all age groups.

Exploring Pasta

Pasta is one of my all time favorite units to teach in my Foods unit! Pasta is so easy, versatile, and economical that I feel every student should know how to prepare before they leave high school! I always tell my students that they will never go hungry if they know how to cook pasta. Use the provided slide to navigate through a variety of resources to learn more about pasta as your students complete this assignment and work their way into the lab.

Salads in a Jar

One of my classes was on the small side this year so I asked them if there was anything in particular they wanted to learn about regarding food. They very promptly provided me with a list! I wish I could get some of their assignments that quickly! LOL! Anyway, one of the items on their list was salads…in a jar! Having been to a salad in a jar party where each person brought an ingredient to share, I thought this would be a fun lesson and lab to put together. I also thought I’d try my hand at putting the lesson together as a HyperDoc where students could work their way through the background information in an independent, self-directed way. Even if you don’t feel comfortable giving students the HyperDoc, I find it’s a great way to keep myself and my resources organized!

Sodium Lesson

I’ve always viewed sodium as a “Catch 22” flavoring agent! It’s one of those minerals your body needs to function correctly, but if under or over consumed, serious health issues can result. So, when I teach this information to my students I try to get them to understand why it’s good, why it’s bad, where we find it and how to reduce it. Of course it’s always fun to follow it up with a low sodium lab and/or a unit on herbs and spices, teaching them how to prepare foods that taste good, with or without the “Catch 22” flavoring agent. So, encourage your students to put on their detective cap and investigate the amount of sodium in the foods they are consuming!

MyPlate Fairy Tale Flip Books for Children using Flip Snack

The goal of this assignment was for students to write a story or fairy tale that encouraged young children to eat all of the food groups on MyPlate. I really wanted this to be student driven so I introduced the project, shared an example and let the creativity flow. My role was to walk around, monitor progress, address any technology issues and answer questions as they came up. It was kind of like a flipped classroom, although I’ve never technically done this. Anyway, the results were very impressive and students were highly engaged for the entire project!

Water: The Overlooked Nutrient

Water is one of the six essential nutrients that is often overlooked and forgotten. Water is so important to our health and after viewing the Fed-Up documentary, I wanted to show my students why it’s a better alternative to their sugar laden soda and juices. This lesson can be used as a follow up to sugary beverages or it can be used as a stand alone lesson. Either way, the emphasis is on the role and importance of water in our diet, using Memes as a fun, humorous way to generate the message.

Activities for Introducing the New Nutrition Facts Label

You are you probably aware that the nutrition facts label has been updated, but do you think your students are aware of the changes made? My guess is that most students will have no idea that the nutrition facts labels have changed or why. So, with that mindset I put together some activities to not only show students the differences between the old and new labels, but to have them put themselves in the driver’s seat and create their own updated version of a nutrition facts label first. This gives them an idea, as a team, how to approach a problem, critically discuss possible changes based on what they know and then come up with a final revision. Finally, they will explore why actual changes were made to the current nutrition facts food labels.