Exploring MyPlate with Professor Popcorn Grade 1: Experiencing Food Grade 1: Lesson 3 (1:3) Make half of your plate fruits and vegetables. Objectives Upon completion of Lesson 3, youth will: 1. State how eating vegetables and fruits keeps us healthy and growing. KCAS Health, Nutrition 2.31, 2.3 Health, Safety 5.1 2. State that vegetables and fruits come from plants. 3. Describe how to clean fresh fruits and vegetables. Display board Visual packet for Grade 1, Lesson 3 (1:3) Copies of prelesson evaluation (Lesson/Activity 1) *Use approved EFNEP evaluation tools Crayons and paper (Lesson/Activity 4) Feely bags and various foods to touch (Lesson/Activity 7) Copies of postlesson evaluation (Lesson/Activity 11) *Use approved EFNEP evaluation tools Snack supplies (Lesson/Activity 12) Copies of recipes (Lesson/Activity 12) Copies of take-home handouts: Parent Letter, Lesson 3 MyPlate Poster Evaluation Questions Addressed in this Lesson: #1 At your home, do you have vegetables to eat? #2 At your home, do you have fruits to eat? #6 Circle the foods from the Vegetables group. Pictures include: bell pepper, lettuce, meat, cake, pretzel, cucumber #7 Circle the foods from the Fruit group. Pictures include: apple, broccoli, strawberries, French fries, bread, glass of milk
1. Prelesson Evaluation Tools (Use only EFNEP approved evaluation tools) 2. Interest Approach Professor Popcorn has made two new discoveries on the MyPlate the Fruits Group and the Vegetables Group. Illustrated talk: Use Visuals 1:3A and 1:3B and ask the children if they remember Professor Popcorn and MyPlate. Review the food groups. 1.3 Approved EFNEP youth evaluation tool. 1:3A Professor Popcorn 1:3B MyPlate Today s topic will be the Vegetables and Fruits Groups. 3. Plant or Animal? Illustrated talk: Use Visual 1:3C and ask the children if they remember learning where our food comes from. Ask, Where do we get fruits and vegetables from? (Plants.) 4. Variety of Colors Activity: One Color or Many? Give each child ONE crayon and one sheet of paper. Explain that for this activity they can use only this one crayon. Ask the group to name as many fruits and vegetables as they can think of. Then ask each child to draw three fruits and vegetables of their choosing. (These can be any fruits and vegetables, not just the ones that are the color of their crayon.) Then give each child a new sheet of paper, and tell them to share their crayons. You might also want to provide additional crayons in an assortment of colors. Ask each child to draw three fruits and vegetables (they can be the same ones they drew earlier or new ones). Ask them to share their before and after pictures. What is different? Discuss how this is like fruits and vegetables. They are not just one color they are a variety. Alternative: If the teaching location is not conducive to coloring, you could bring black and white graphics of food, then show colored graphics to convey the idea of the variety of fruits and vegetables. 1:3C Plant or Animal? Plant Animal Various colors of crayons Paper
5. Can You Pick the Food? Activity: Name the Food Game. Using Visual 1:3D, place each food on the board. Then ask the group which one of these foods is being described. 1. Can be red, yellow, or green. Is crunchy. Is a symbol of school. Apple 2. Is sweet and yellow. Found frozen, in a can, or on an ear. Can be popped. Corn 3. Is red. Tastes good on cereal or ice cream, or all alone. Covered with tiny seeds on the outside. Strawberries 4. Is brown or orange. Has many eyes. Can be baked, fried, boiled, and mashed. Potato or Sweet Potato 5. Is a kind of melon. Is pale orange inside. Is round, bigger than a softball, smaller than a basketball. Cantaloupe 6. Is orange. When raw, carries a big crunch. Is a big hit with kids and rabbits. Carrots 7. Is dark green. Is leafy. Popeye s favorite it makes you strong! Spinach 1:3D Name the Food Apple Corn Carrots Strawberries Potato/Sweet potato Cantaloupe Spinach
6. Color Is Important Let s talk some more about variety and colors. There are many different types of fruits and vegetables. Professor Popcorn discovered that all fruits and vegetables are important for a healthy body. Put the colorful headings from Visual 1:3E on a board. Ask the children to name fruits and vegetables that fit under each of those colors. After they are named (or to add them in), place foods under each group. Ask the children if they can name other foods. As foods are named, ask the children to describe the taste, texture, size, shape, etc. Red apple, strawberries, tomatoes Orange orange, carrots, pumpkin, winter squash Yellow lemon, banana Purple grapes, raisins, eggplant Light green lettuce, green beans, lime Dark green broccoli, spinach, collard greens 1:3E Color Is Important Red Orange Yellow Purple Light green Dark green Apple Tomato Strawberries Orange Carrots Pumpkin Lemon Banana Grapes Raisins Eggplant Lettuce Green beans Lime Broccoli Spinach Collard greens Winter squash 7. Identify the Food Activity: Pass around feely bags that each contain a real fruit or vegetable. Focus on a variety of vegetables and fruits. When possible, choose some foods that can be cut and tasted for the snack. Ask the children to identify each food without looking inside the bags. Clues are the smell, texture, shape, etc., of whatever is in the bag. Opaque bags Suggested real fruits and vegetables: Squash Apple Carrots Ear of corn Kiwi Asparagus Broccoli Potato Dried beans Spinach leaves Lemons or other citrus
8. Physical Activity Ask the children to join you in singing this fun Fruit and Veggie Song* (sung to Frere Jacques). I am an apple, I am an apple, Growing on a tree, growing on a tree. (Hold arms out like branches.) If you want some applesauce, If you want some applesauce, Just grind me, just grind me. (Move fist in a circle.) I am a tomato, I am a tomato, Growing on a vine, growing on a vine. (Spread out arms.) If you want some ketchup, If you want some ketchup, Smoosh me fine, smoosh me fine. (Stomp and squish with feet.) I am an orange, I am an orange, Growing on a tree, growing on a tree. (Hold arms out like branches.) If you want some orange juice, If you want some orange juice, Just squeeze me, just squeeze me. (Wrap arms around self and squeeze.) *Adapted from Super Snack News, August 1992, Warren Publishing House, Inc.
9. Food Safety Activity Using Visual 1:3F, review the four Fight BAC! Rules. Remind the children that fruits and vegetables come from plants and often have dirt on them because they have been outside or on the ground. It is important to wash our fruits and vegetables before we eat them to remove any dirt that may still be on the food. Ask the children the following questions and provide the answers, if the children don t come up with them. How do you wash fresh fruits and vegetables? Explain that the best way to wash fresh fruits and vegetables is to run them under cold water. If you put soap or another chemical on them, you may get a stomach ache. How would you wash different fruit and vegetables? Discuss examples, such as lettuce, grapes, melon, and broccoli. 10. Let s Review Ask the children to: Describe how eating vegetables and fruits keeps us healthy and growing. Name at least three fruits and three vegetables. Tell where vegetables and fruits come from. Describe how to clean fresh fruits and vegetables. 11. Postlesson Evaluation Tools (Use only EFNEP approved evaluation tools) 12. Snack Veggie Dip Sundae Veggie Pizza Cottage Cheese Parfait Fruit Kabobs 13. Take Home Parent Letter, Lesson 3 1:3F Fight BAC! Rules Clean Separate Cook Chill 1.3 Approved EFNEP youth evaluation tool. Vegetable and Fruit Group Recipes Take-home handouts Parent Letter, Lesson 2 Adapted by Texas A & M AgriLife Extension from original work: Frischie, S. (1993). Switzer, B. (2002). Vandergraff, D., & Coleman, G. (2006). Exploring My Pyramid with Professor Popcorn, Purdue University Extension/Consumer and Family Sciences/4-H Youth Development. Adapted with permission for use in Kentucky, from adapted materials: Scott, A. (2012). Exploring MyPlate with Professor Popcorn, Texas A & M AgriLife Extension. Brooke Howard-Jenkins, M.S. Nutrition Education Program Curriculum Coordinator Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.