There’s alot to wrap your head around when teaching students about food label literacy! I believe beginning with How to Read a Food Label is the first step! In this
lesson you will find a variety of engaging, interactive activities to help students learn to read them.
Set
- Start by playing the Elimination Game. Give each student a white board or piece of blank paper and ask them to list as many parts or pieces of information that can be found on a nutrition facts label before time runs out (2-3 minutes is usually sufficient).
- When time is up, students share their label parts/pieces one at a time. If the label part/piece shared is on anyone else’s list, it gets crossed off and no points are awarded. If the label part/piece is unique and no one else has it, the person sharing circles it and gets a point.
- At the end of the game, whoever has the most points is declared the winner! Points can be used as bonus or team points if you have a gamified classroom or given a small prize.
- Once you know how much or how little students know about the food label, it’s time to set up stations for them to learn or relearn the parts.The first slide of the slidedeck which can be found below is the students’ note form. The remaining slides get cut apart and set up randomly around the room for students to circulate through and write down the information.
Materials
- Projector & Screen
- Station Cards (Laminated)
- White Boards & Dry Erase Markers (optional)
Activities
- Once students have taken their notes and understand what each component means, it’s time for them to actually learn how to read the label.
- Show students the YouTube Video titiled “How to Read A Nutrition Facts Label“.
- Place students into small groups and have them practice reading the provide food labels and have them rank them from HIGH to LOW in rounds by category:
Calories, Total Fat, Added Sugars, Fiber, Sodium, Nutrients: Protein, Vit D, Iron, Calcium, and Potassium. - If you wish to review and/or assess students on the info, pull one of the labels from the above activity and ask them to analyze it for what’s high and low by category.
Attachments
