Looking for some fresh ideas for teaching about nutrients? Lindsey Harlan from Arkansas comes to the rescue by sharing her Nutrient Lesson & Activities. She offers activities for both junior high and high school level students.

Set

• Start this lesson with the nutrient Functions graphic organizer; Give the students 5 mini post-its and have them place one in each of the function boxes and guess what is the function of each is by writing it on the post-it.
• Next watch the StoryBots: Why Can’t We Eat Dessert All The TIme, season 2 episode 2 (YouTube). As students watch, they are listening for the function and writing down what foods each nutrient is found in (the only one not on the episode is water, so Lindsey goes over that one separately). If they get the function correct when they guessed they don’t change it, but if they got it wrong students pull off the post-it and correct the function in the box on the page. This can also count as an informal assessment/pre-assessment to see how much they already know about the function of nutrients. Note: You may want to fast forward through some of the singing depending on the age group you are using it with.

Materials

• iPad or Laptops
• Projector & Screen
• Mini Post-It-Notes (affiliate link)

Activities

For Younger Students:

• Assign the Nutrient Twitter Page and go over the guide sheet and template so students understand what they will be doing.
• Students are to pretend they are creating a Twitter account for one of the six nutrients talked about in class. Specific vitamins can be used, such as Vitamin C, for example, instead of just vitamins.
• A Twitter name for this nutrient is created and students draw pictures of food sources the nutrient can be found in.
• Use web resources or the textbook to find more information about the nutrient.
• Decide who the assigned nutrient would “follow.” Create names and include pictures for 3 followers.
• Create #trends that relate to health and nutrition.
• Create 8 tweets that nutrient would “tweet” or “retweet” including pictures for the thumbnails.
• EXAMPLE:Twitter Name: @DrinkWater (draw a picture of watermelon, a source of water)
  Followers: @EatNutritious, @VitaminC, and @WeLoveCalcium
  Trends: #WaterSavesYourJoints, #WaterMakesTheWorldGoRound, #DrinkMoreWater
  Tweets:
  @DrinkWater Fun fact- Water makes up 55-75% of your body and helps regulate your body
  temperature when you exercise!
  @DrinkWater Looking for ways to drink more water? Each time you pass a water fountain,
  take a drink! #StayHydrated

For Older Students:

• After watching the StoryBots episode, Lindsey shares the following:”The episode showed lots of aspects of college life: parties, making friends, learning new things but it didn’t show one aspect that is on everyone’s mind in college….dating!”
• The Healthy Heartthrobs project is introduced. Students research some additional foods that contain the nutrient, more in depth functions, and what happens if a person is deficient in that nutrient and create a dating profile.
• The video, discussion, rough draft, and research usually takes 1-90 minutes class period. Then students have about 45ish – 60 minutes to do their final drafts.
• The finished profiles are displayed and the students do a gallery walk style activity where they read the profiles and give out their stars. During the gallery walk they also fill in their Deficient column in their Nutrient Functions graphic organizer.
• the Star Ratings are as follows:
  • Gold Star = The Soulmate 3+ foods, clear explanations of the functions and
    deficiencies, funny/descriptive, picture is present and fully colored.
  • Silver Star = The Partner 2 or 3 foods, explanations of the functions and
    deficiencies, funny/descriptive, picture is present and colored.
  • Red Star = The Friend 1 or 2 foods, unclear explanations of the functions or
    deficiencies, picture is present and somewhat colored.
  • Blue Star = The SideKick 0 or 1 foods, missing or very unclear explanations of
    the functions or deficiencies, no picture.

Attachments

• Nutrients Graphic Organizer
• Nutrient Twitter Page
• Twitter Template
• Nutrient Dating Profile–Healthy Heartthrobs Assignment
• Star Rating system
• Healthy Heart Throbs Hallway Signs