Lesson 3.1: Understanding Foods and Nutrients
Overview
This lesson focuses on understanding health, wellness, and illness and develops the skill of identifying and analyzing influences on wellness.
Learning Targets
- Explain how nutrients affect your overall health.
- Identify the categories of nutrients, and provide examples of foods that fit each category.
- Identify and defend the benefits of drinking enough water each day.
- Explain how sugary drinks and energy drinks might influence your health.
Preparation
Chapter Opener: Use the Understanding My Health self-assessment as a reflective introductory activity to start the chapter. This activity will allow students to identify their own health levels, based on what they know about healthy, nutritious behaviors before the chapter.
For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the journal question on the board, or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:
For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 3.1 PowerPoint slides, or make copies of the Lesson 3.1 Note-Taking Guide.
For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 3.1 Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
Warm-Up Activity
Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on-task.
- Self-Assessment: Have students complete the My Well-Being self-assessment as a chapter opener.
- Journal Question: What do you drink when you are thirsty, and how do you decide what to drink? Explain your answer using three different circumstances and situations.
- Option: Write or project the question, and have students respond in their journals as they enter class.
- Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
- Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in partners, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 3.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
- Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 3.1 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
- Option: Collect the quizzes, and use them alongside posttests to demonstrate student learning.
- Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.
Lesson Content
Review the content from the textbook lesson.
- Option: Use the Lesson 3.1 PowerPoint slides to review the chapter content.
- Option: Have students use the Lesson 3.1 Note-Taking Guide to review the chapter content. Ask students to work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Review the questions as a class if time permits.
Lesson Focus: Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water
- Give each student a copy of the Lesson 3.1 Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
- Have students work individually to complete the worksheet.
- Ask students to pair up and share their responses. Have each pair identify which influences they have in common and which are different.
Challenge Activity
Have students who need an additional challenge work on the following critical-thinking task.
You have a friend who doesn’t like to eat any kind of vegetable except potato chips and French fries, which he eats at least once a day. You know that fresh vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. What could you tell your friend about the benefits of eating vegetables that might help him change his diet? What could you tell him about his habit of eating chips and fries? Identify three ways he might get more fresh vegetables into his diet. Write out your response using complete sentences and proper grammar.
Reflection and Summary
Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets, and ask students to answer each question posed.
Can you…
- Explain how nutrients affect your overall health?
Nutrients are the substances found in food that your body needs to survive. The nutrients you consume each day keep you healthy, help you grow, and give you the energy you need to move.
- Identify the categories of nutrients and provide examples of foods that fit each category? Carbohydrates: fruits, bread, and pasta Fats: avocados and bacon Proteins: eggs, meats, cheese, and beans Vitamins: vegetables and whole grain bread Minerals: milk, fruits, and most foods Water: fruits and vegetables
- Identify and defend the benefits of drinking enough water each day?
Your body is made mostly of water. Water helps to keep your body at a constant temperature.
- Explain how sugary drinks and energy drinks might influence your health?
Sugar can cause cavities in your teeth; add to health problems, such as type 2 diabetes; or cause you to gain weight. Sugar has calories but no vitamins and minerals. Energy drinks are high in caffeine, which triggers your nerves, can make you shake, and causes anxiety.
Assessment
Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.
- Quiz: Have students take the Lesson 3.1 Quiz.
- Vocabulary Review: Collect the Lesson 3.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheets, and evaluate them for accuracy.
- Note-Taking Guide: Collect the completed Lesson 3.1 Note-Taking Guides, and spot check one or more items for completion and accuracy.
- Skill-Building Worksheet: Have students submit the Lesson 3.1 Communicating the Benefits of Drinking Water Skill-Building Challenge Worksheets, and use the Healthy Communication Holistic Rubric to evaluate their skill development.
- Journal Question: Ask students to respond to the journal question again, adding information they learned from today’s class. Require a one-paragraph response that uses proper grammar.
Take It Home
Write down six benefits of drinking water. Tell the people you live with that you are trying to promote drinking water, instead of sugary drinks, and why. Write each benefit on a card or a sticky note. Place the cards or sticky notes in key locations in your house where they might help remind people to make a healthier choice. After three days, ask your family members or friends whether the notes helped them to drink more water.
Option: Assign the Understanding My Health self-assessment as a homework task if it was not used at the start of this lesson.