Nutrition Education Integration Plan: A Teacher's Guide

1. A Teacher’s Plan for Incorporating Nutrition Education Into The Classroom Presented by: Roberta Acantilado, LAUSD Project Director

2. Daily Challenges • Scripted program • Fast paced • Packed curriculum • Flexibility varies by school • 2 to 3 hours per day • Assessments based on scripted lessons • Range of student abilities • Range of teacher abilities

3. Lay Foundations • ESL, Health, Social Studies, Math, Science • Identify prior knowledge using graphic organizers • Use Dairy Council materials • Teach students to use MyPyramid.gov • Display MyPyramid and use as a daily reference tool • Use visuals and multi-sensory realia in nutrition lessons • Whole group nutrition discussions • Small group activities • Discuss healthy snacks • Be a role model

4. Finding ways to integrate • Share ideas with colleagues • Listen to student ideas • Utilize transitions to practice • Ask questions and riddles about produce • Quick response descriptive words • Pair-share answers • Make the most of Independent Work Time

5. Independent Work Time (IWT) activities • Use Dairy Council picture cards to: • Connect with the OCR story • Depict items on the school menu • Sort and classify food items by MyPyramid category, color, size, beginning letter, rhyming sound, number of letters in name • Match food items with descriptive words • Write sentences, poems, stories

6. Ongoing connections • Connect OCR words to food words • Look for opportunities to connect food to stories • Who is the main character? What do they eat? Why? • What is the setting of the story? How does that impact food? • Food professions • Does weather impact food? • Travel • Packing food • Trying new foods

7. Related Stories • Look for ways to connect books with the featured language arts story • Check additional stories in each unit for nutrition ed connections • Attend book fairs • Talk to colleagues and librarians