School Nutrition Education Program
Reading up the Food Guide Pyramid
Activities That Meet The California Content Standards
Reading Up The Food Guide Pyramid is a nutrition and literacy program developed for kindergarten through 3rd grade. Children learn about food and nutrition by having children's storybooks with food-related themes read to them and then participating in hands-on nutrition activities.
Each lesson includes a lesson preview, nutrition objectives, life skills, background information for the instructor, guidelines for discussion before and after reading the story, nutrition lesson and activities based on the Food Guide Pyramid, list of supplies needed, supplemental activities, other books children might enjoy, recipes, quiz, and letters to parents (to be signed by the instructor).
Goals:
- To encourage children to make healthy food choices.
- To help children develop good health and nutrition habits.
- To promote reading and listening skills for 5-9 year olds.
Objectives:
- Expand the variety of foods from all food groups that children include in their diet.
- Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to their diet.
- Eat a diet lower in fat and sugar.
Books/Lessons:
- The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy (Food Guide Pyramid)
- Bread, Bread, Bread by Ken Heyman (breads and grains)
- The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin (vegetables)
- Oliver's Fruit Salad by Vivian French (fruit)
- Cow by Jules Older (dairy)
- Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (protein-meat and alternatives)
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (snacks)
- Nothing Beats a Pizza by Loris Lesynski (review of Food Guide Pyramid)
- Let's Exercise by Alice B. McGinty (exercise for health)
- Those Mean Nasty Downright Disgusting but...Invisible Germs by Susan Donohue (food safety)
- Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell (sharing a meal from planning to service)
For more information call Angie Tazio, Nutrition Education Program Manager for Tulare County at (559) 685-3309 ext 219 or aftazio@ucdavis.edu
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