ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LESSON
YOUR SUPER(BOWL) PLATE
UNDERSTANDING MYPLATE
OBJECTIVES:
1. What is MyPlate?
2. What is nutrition and why is it important?
3. What choices can you make that help you stay healthy?
INDIANA HEALTH & WELLNESS STANDARDS
(Grades 3-5).1.1 Explain the connection between behaviors and
personal health.
(Grades 3-5).5.4 Describe the possible consequences of each
option when making a health-related decision.
(Grades 3-5).5.5 Determine a healthy alternative when making a decision.
(Grades 3-5).7.1 Describe positive health behaviors.
(Grades 3-5).7.2 Describe a healthy behavior to improve personal health
and wellness.
TEACHER TALKING POINTS
What is MyPlate?
• Current nutrition guidelines published by the USDA, MyPlate replaces the pyramid for a balanced diet.
• Talk with students about the five food groups
• Fruits: Fruits are an excellent option for fueling up with natural energy. Focus on
eating the whole fruit instead of just fruit juice and making sure the juice is
100 percent made from fruit.
• Vegetables: Color your plate with great-tasting vegetables! Try to eat more
dark-green, red and orange vegetables and also include beans and peas. Eating a
rainbow of colors is important with both fruits and vegetables.
• Grains: Aim for at least half your grains to be whole grains. List some options
such as popcorn, brown rice, oatmeal, whole wheat breads, whole wheat pastas or tortillas, etc.
• Protein: Suggest varying protein foods such as fish, shellfish and beans. Encourage
students to try things such as a bean burrito, hummus, veggie chili or fish tacos.
• Dairy: Choose fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese at meals or snacks. Dairy
foods contain calcium which will build strong bones and healthy teeth.
What is nutrition and why is it important?
• We get nutrition from the food we eat.
• Nutrition is what allows our body to be able to do the things we want to do like be outside, play sports and feel good.
• Eating a balance diet allows our bodies to grow and to have the ability to concentrate at school and even to not get sick.
What choices can you make that help you stay healthy?
• Based on the MyPlate visual earlier in the lesson plan, remember to make half your plate
fruits and/or vegetables, ¼ of your plate will be protein and a ¼ of your plate will be grains.
Don’t forget to have a serving of dairy!
• Along with eating a healthy diet is making sure to get enough exercise. Make sure to get
at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day.
STUDENT ACTIVITY –
Who Am I?
Materials:
• One index card per student.
Directions:
• On the index cards, write a specific food item, remembering to cover all five food groups.
• Tape an index card on the back of each student without them seeing what food is on
their card.
• Explain to students that they’ll be playing a game called “Who Am I.” They will need to guess which food one another is by asking classmates questions.
• Have the students spend a few minutes thinking of questions to ask such as:
• Am I a vegetable?
• Am I a protein?
• Do I taste spicy?
• Do I live in the sea?
• Do I sound crunchy when you eat me?
• Once someone has guessed their food correctly, they sit down.
• Then ask students to group themselves together to create a complete meal following the MyPlate format.
FAMILY INFORMATION
Parents are the most important includes on their child. You can do many things to help your
children develop healthy eating habits for life. Offering your family a variety of foods will help
children get the nutrients they need from every food group. They will also be more likely to try
new foods and like more foods, which makes meal planning much easier.
Cook together, eat together, talk together and make meal time a family time!
Tips
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for parents for being a healthy role model:
Lead by example. Eating healthy foods yourself sets a good example for everyone else in the family.
Go grocery shopping or food shopping together. This can be an educational experience for children. Let them pick out some food and make healthy choices.
Offer the same foods for everyone in the family.
Get creative in the kitchen. Cut food into different shapes, come up with fun names for food and encourage children to invent new snacks.
Listen to your child. If they say they’re hungry offer a small, healthy snack of preferably a fruit or vegetable. Offer choices like choosing between broccoli and cauliflower instead of asking if they want broccoli for dinner.
LESSON PLAN EVALUATION
1. Brown rice is an example of a whole grain. ___True ___False
2.Fruits and vegetables should take up only one-fourth of your plate. ___True ___False
3.Proteins are not a part of MyPlate. ___True ___False
4.Make it a goal to get 90 minutes of exercise every day. ___True ___False
5.Dairy contains something called calcium, which is good for helping bones grow strong.
___True ___False