Substitute Lesson Plan: Meet the Five Food Group Friends

Subject: Health | Grade: Kindergarten | Duration: ~45 minutes

Objective

Students will be able to:

• Name the five MyPlate food groups (Fruit, Vegetable, Grains, Protein Foods, Dairy) and identify food choices within each group.
• Describe why eating foods from all five food groups helps keep our bodies healthy.

Materials

• The Five Food Groups poster
• Food Cards
• Food Group Friends Profile Cards (Farrah Fruit, Reggie Veggie, Jane Grain, Dean Protein, Mary Dairy)
• Two hoops or a sorting mat
• A container of buttons (or other small manipulatives) to sort
• Board or flip chart and marker
• Tape

Warm-up (~5 min)

1. Gather students on the carpet in a circle. Display the Five Food Groups poster where everyone can see it.
2. Place two hoops (or the sorting mat) in the center of the circle and pour out the container of buttons in front of you.
3. Demonstrate sorting a few buttons by an attribute (color, size, or shape) into the hoops.
4. Let students take turns sorting a few more buttons into the hoops.
5. Explain: "Just like we sorted buttons, we also sort foods into food groups. Foods in the same group are alike in some way."
6. Have students help you put the buttons back in the bin, then have them return to their seats.

Main Activity (~25 min)

1. Introduce the Five Food Groups (5 min): Using the poster, point to and name each group: Fruit Group, Vegetable Group, Grains Group, Protein Foods Group, and Dairy Group. Ask students to think about what group their favorite food belongs to; write a few examples on the board.
2. Say and Move (2 min): Have students jump each time they say "Five Food Group Friends." Ask: How many words did you say? Then have them say "Five Food Friends" slowly and identify the first sound/letter in each word. Ask students to say their own name and think of a food that starts with the same sound (example: Britney—broccoli).
3. Food Cards Sort (8 min): Spread the Food Cards in the center of the circle. Ask each student to name a food they ate that week and pick its card. Tape the cards on the board. Go through each group one at a time using the poster as reference:
4. Fruit – Ask what group an apple and an orange belong to. Explain fruits come from plants, can be many colors, often taste sweet, and help our bodies stay healthy and grow (heal cuts/scratches, healthy teeth and gums). Fun extra: have students smile and point to their teeth and gums.
5. Vegetable – Ask what group broccoli and sweet potatoes belong to. Explain vegetables come in many colors and some are fun to crunch raw. Vegetables also provide vitamins that heal cuts/scratches and help with healthy eyes and skin. Fun extra: have students make "night-vision goggles" with their hands and name vegetables they recognize.
6. Protein Foods – Ask what group chicken and peanut butter belong to. Explain these foods have protein, can come from animals (fish, beef, ham) or plants (beans, nuts, tofu), and help build strong muscles. Fun extra: have students move body parts (blink, smile, snap fingers, march) to show muscles at work.
7. Dairy – Ask what group milk and yogurt belong to. Explain dairy foods (cheese, yogurt) usually come from cow's milk (also sheep, goats, or fortified soy) and help build strong bones and teeth. Fun extra: sing a simple bones song, pointing to body parts from toes to head.
8. Grains – Ask what group bread and rice belong to. Explain grains come from plants (wheat, rice, oats) and are made into flour for bread, tortillas, crackers, and noodles. Grains give the body energy to move and play. Fun extra: have students check their pulse, do 10 jumping jacks, then check their pulse again and notice it's faster.
9. Wrap the Food Groups Discussion (2 min): Ask students to recall the ways foods help us stay healthy (strong bones/teeth, strong muscles, energy to move, healing cuts/scratches). Point to Nate and Kate on the poster and explain they remind us to choose healthy foods from all the groups.
10. Meet the Food Group Friends (8 min): Introduce the Food Group Friends Profile Cards one at a time: Farrah Fruit, Reggie Veggie, Jane Grain, Dean Protein, and Mary Dairy. Briefly name the foods that make up each friend (for example, Farrah Fruit is made of apple, blackberries, bananas, watermelon, strawberry, kiwi, grapes, orange, and cherries). Display all five Profile Cards on the board. Give each student a Food Card and invite them, one at a time, to bring their card up and "give" it to the Food Group Friend made of the same type of food. Discuss as a class whether the card was placed correctly (note: some foods like beans can belong to more than one group — Dean Protein's hair and Reggie Veggie's nose are both made of beans).

Wrap-up / Exit Ticket (~10 min)

1. Gather students back together as a whole group.
2. Point to each Food Group Friend one at a time and ask the class to say the food group's name aloud together (Fruit, Vegetable, Grains, Protein Foods, Dairy).
3. Exit Ticket: Ask each student to name one food and tell which food group it belongs to before they line up or transition to the next activity.
4. Close by reminding students: "Eating foods from all five food groups helps our bodies stay healthy and strong!"

If Time Remains

Show the Five Food Groups poster again and play a quick game: Hold up a Food Card and have students point to (or call out) which Food Group Friend it belongs to. Repeat with a few different cards, mixing up the order of the groups to check understanding.