Under normal teaching conditions, I teach my mini-unit on vegetarianism in a completely different way! Having to teach remotely, however, forced me to develop the KWL Vegetarianism E-Learning activity in order to cover the material. Students learn about various types of vegetarians, explore reasons people choose to become vegetarian along with the pros and cons and then students must take a stance. So, if you teach this topic, check out the KWL Vegetarianism E-Learning activity!
Category: Nutrition
Grain Bowl E-Learning Assignment
THANK YOU to Nikki Heflin for sharing her Grain Bowl E-Learning Assignment! This is a wonderful collection of notes, assignments and lab options! I can’t express how happy it makes my heart that so many of you are willing to share your ideas so that we may all get through this distance learning together and successfully! As I always say, “Let’s be Great Together”! If you are collecting flex lessons, I hope you add this Grain Bowl E-Learning assignment to it!
Gardenscape Bread Art
With more time on my hands due to COVID-19, I find myself in the kitchen more frequently, experimenting with new recipes. Inspired by something a friend sent me, I decided to give gardenscape bread art a try. Whoever said bread has to be boring never tried this form of art! If you like your students to be creative and engaged, I’ve got just the lesson, activity and recipe for you! I am assigning this to my students as an enrichment E-Learning activity, but when I’m back in the classroom, you can bet gardenscape bread art will be part of my foods class as a creative lab!
Food Dilemmas
Food Dilemmas are great to use as stand alone assignments or to assign as a culminating project in any given lesson or unit. More importantly, since many of us are on hiatus from our normal teaching routine, food dilemmas are an ideal solution when having to prepare e-learning or flex lessons, especially during this corona virus pandemic!
Fast Food Project Makeover
After students learn about the dietary villains, we compare a variety of fast food potato options looking at calories, fat and sodium levels. We compare different fast food options calculating calorie, fat and sodium differences and then apply it to an alternative fast food potato recipe prepared in the lab. Students then choose a fast food menu item, researching to find a healthier homemade version that saves them calories, fat and sodium in this fast food project makeover.
Fat, Sugar & Salt Oh My!
The dietary guidelines recommend that we limit these three bad boys: fat, sugar and salt (oh my!) in our diet to reduce our risk of serious health effects. Sometimes this is easier said than done with teens! In order to make this more interesting and palatable for my students, I’ve turned it into a mini comic book project. That is, of course, after they’ve initially learned a little about these dietary villains!
Reading a New Food Label
Reading and deciphering a food label is like learning a foreign language to many students! Some get it quickly and easily, some don’t and require more practice! Reading a new food label is an interactive lesson that has students cutting, pasting, and annotating various pieces of label information before learning how to decipher the numbers to determine its healthfulness. Once students understand the concept, their label reading skills can be reinforced by practicing on empty food containers!
A Glo-Bowl Affair
Sharing another Struggle Meal lesson that I presented at the Missouri FACS conference last summer! This lesson titled, A Glo-Bowl Affair, is a fun, engaging lesson that was inspired by both Frankie Celenza’s Struggle Meal Grain Bowl episode and by activities suggested in the EduProtocol Field Guide (amazon affiliate). I hope your students find this lesson and all of its activities as enjoyable as mine did!
Whole Grains
When teaching about whole grains, I like to cover the following six categories: wheat, oats, rye, rice, corn and barley. I do this as an overview because it’s a great way to introduce and expose students to a variety of whole grains that can be incorporated into different meals. After all, 100% whole grains are part of a healthy, nutritious diet!
Convenience Foods & A Can Do Struggle Meal Challenge
“Convenience Foods & A Can Do Struggle Meal Challenge” was another lesson I shared with Missouri FACS teachers during their July conference. This challenge was a big hit with my students! As a teacher, I love to see my students in full collaboration mode as they create, plan and execute their ideas!