Cultural Diversity and the Food Pyramid

1. Cultural Diversity and the Food Pyramid Whitney Connelly and Maria Dixon Ed200 Curriculum Project Spring ‘06 Trinity College

2. Introduction • Geared toward a primarily Puerto Rican 2nd Grade Class • Similar to our own classroom experiences • M.D. Fox Elementary School

3. Objectives • Students will learn how to interact and compromise in decision making in a group setting, encouraging interpersonal relationships. • Students will learn about the food pyramid to recognize ethnic foods as part of the food pyramid, and to regard these food as an important part of American nutrition. • Students will be encouraged to think more critically about everyday food choices through a series of intrapersonal evaluation and create a graph interpreting their daily food choices. • The students will enhance their logical-mathematical skills through a series of lessons and activities applying currency counting.

4. Justification • To fulfill the Health and Safety Education Standard One in the CT Framework, students will establish and maintain healthy eating patterns and a physically active life. • According to the CT Framework standards on Health and Nutrition Education, students will plan, select, and prepare a nutritious meal based on the U.S. dietary guidelines. • To fulfill the economic standards in the CT Framework, students will demonstrate that various economic systems coexist, and that economic decisions are made by individuals and/or governments, influenced by markets, cultural traditions, individuals and governments in the allocation of goods and services. • We choose to focus on the Food Pyramid because it is a meaningful part of everyday life and the children are at a critical age to think more deeply about it.

5. Weekly Log

6. Tuesday • Students will use intrapersonal reflection to brainstorm a list of foods they typically eat • We will then present them with a food pyramid consistent with typical Puerto Rican cuisine • Students will then apply their understanding of the food pyramid to their own food logs which they kept over the weekend • They will fill in a graph of each food group according to the amount of servings they ate from each category

7. Evaluation • On the sixth day, students will participate in a market. They will have to fill out a worksheet detailing the items they buy. Each student will have to buy one item from each food group, and will have to add up the price of their purchases.