Language
Lesson Ideas: Language Arts, Food Journal
Activity Type: Language Arts Activity
Size: Large
Objective:
Nationally, only a small percentage of children are eating the
recommended number of servings of fruit per day. By keeping a record
of fruits and vegetables they eat or drink, students can assess their
eating habits, and will be able to compare their results. The students
will record the fruits and vegetables they eat or drink in a week's
time, look at their own average, and compare their results to others
in their class.
Materials:
Journal entry sheets: "Fruits and Vegetables Eaten Yesterday"
Introduction:
Ask the kids if they remember what they had to eat or drink yesterday.
Have them think about fruits and vegetables that were part of their
meals and snacks yesterday.
Individual Activity:
Have each student fill in the student activity sheets –
"Fruits and Vegetables Eaten Yesterday". Using the journal entries,
the following activities could be conducted:
- Have the students compare the number of fruits and vegetables eaten by various members of the class.
- Have the students compare their results to the goal of 5+ A Day.
- Have your students make a display for the school classroom wall about 5+ A Day.
- Have students perform this record keeping activity for five days and find their own daily average.
Student Activity Sheet
Fruits and Vegetables Eaten Yesterday
Name ________________________________
How many servings of fruits and vegetables did you eat yesterday? One serving is:
1 piece of fruit
180mls of 100% fruit juice
1/2 cup of cooked vegetable
1 cup of leafy greens like lettuce
1/4 cup dried fruit
List the fruits and vegetables you ate with breakfast. Don't forget the juices you drank.
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
List the fruits and vegetables you ate with lunch. Don't forget the juices you drank.
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
List the fruits and vegetables you ate with dinner. Don't forget the juices you drank.
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
List the fruits and vegetables you ate as a snack. Don't forget the juices you drank.
_____________________________________________________
Now, add up all your fruits and vegetables!
TOTAL _______________________
Students' Reactions :
Lesson Ideas: Language Arts, Rhymes
Activity Type: Language Arts
Activity Size: Large
Objective:
Describe what students have learned about the various fruits and
vegetables using rhyming verses.
Rationale:
This activity gives students an opportunity to think about fruits and
vegetables in terms of their colour, shape, size, texture, taste, and
other facts about them such as where they grow and ways to fit them
into their diet. It also incorporates the language arts skills of
writing and using rhyming words.
Materials:
'Rhyming Riddles' sheet
Notebook or construction paper for student-created riddles
Introduction:
Discuss rhyming words and riddles.
Class Activity: Let the students practise making up a fruit or vegetable riddle as a class. Prompt them by asking the colour, shape, etc. of the fruit or vegetable.
Group/Individual Activity:
- Give students the sheet 'Rhyming Riddles.' Read over the instructions with them, and have them complete the sheet as a group or individually.
- Give the students a chance to share their riddles with others.
Related Activities:
- Have students write poems or descriptors in the shape of the fruit or vegetable.
- Students may write limericks about fruits and vegetables. A limerick consists of five lines. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme, and lines three and four rhyme.
- Acrostic poems may be written by the students. Have them write the name of a fruit or vegetable vertically on a piece of paper. Then, a word or words are written next to each letter of the vertical word such that a poem is formed.
For example,
A ll
P erfect
P eople
L ove
E ating apples!
********
Rhyming Riddles
Stan and Sarah love vegetables,
And of course they love their fruits.
No matter if they come from trees,
Or leaves or stems or roots.
Stan and Sarah like rhyming words.
They use them all the time.
Can you make up some riddles
And try to make them rhyme?
Try to answer this riddle!
I'm yellow and I'm sweet.
I'm what monkeys like to eat.
I grow in trees.
Serve me with peanut butter, please!
What am I? _______________________________
Now, make up riddles about other fruits and vegetables. Think about:
Colour, shape and size of fruits and vegetables
How does it taste?
How does it feel?
Why is it good for you?
What can you learn about the fruit or vegetable from its colour?
What are different ways to eat the fruit or vegetable?
Students' Reactions :
Lesson Ideas: Language Arts, Stories
Activity Type: Language Arts
Activity Size: Large
Objective: The students will write stories using story starters.
Description:
Rationale: The fruits and vegetables are depicted as characters, each
with a unique personality. This activity gives students a chance to
explore these fruits and vegetables and write creatively about them.
Materials:
Story starters
Introduction:
Work together as a class to write a creative story about one of the characters.
Example: Gretta Grapefruit was proud to be a citrus fruit and wanted everyone to know about all the citrus fruits, so she decided to spread the word.
Group/Individual Activity:
Have each student choose a story starter and write stories that begin with the story starter sentence.
Related Activities:
- Have students act out their stories!
- Give students creative and unusual titles from which to write stories.
- Use partial sentences as story starters.
- Use story endings for which students must write a beginning and middle.
- Feature winning stories in the school newsletter or on the classroom wall.
Story Starters:
Anthony Apple was pleased to be one of the most popular fruits in New Zealand. He had a lot to be proud of and decided to write his own story, because he wanted everyone to know some other neat things about apples.
Bobby Banana was proud of the tropical paradise he called home, and was excited when the librarian asked him to give a talk on "Where Bananas Come From."
Barney Broccoli had a story to tell, and it was the story of why broccoli was so good for everyones health. His story went something like this.
Annie and Arthur Asparagus wanted everyone to know that they were the stems of plants, so they decided to tell the kids their story.
Christopher Carrot wanted everyone to know why his bright orange colour made him such an important vegetable. He decided to tell the kids the good news about carrots.
Courtney Cauliflower wanted the kids to know how cauliflower was grown, so she started her story.
Cornelius Corn wanted the kids to know some new ways to eat corn, so he decided to...
Penny Paw Paw was a really healthy fruit, and she wanted to tell everyone all about it.
Gretta Grapefruit was proud to be a citrus fruit and wanted everyone to know about all the citrus fruits, so she decided to spread the word.
Lucy Iceberg Lettuce was proud to be such a popular vegetable that she decided to tell the kids how they could make great salads.
Sam Celery wanted the kids to know all the ways celery could be used, so he wrote a story.
Gus Grapes wanted the kids to know how grapes are made into raisins, so he started by...
Kevin Kiwifruit wanted more kids to enjoy fitting kiwifruit into their 5+ A Day, so he decided to tell them why he was such a good choice.
Danny Dates was proud to be a date, but the kids didn't seem to know much about dates, so he decided to fix that.
Pinellopy Pineapple grew up in the Philippines but no one seemed to know where that was, so she decided to tell them.
Students' Reactions:
