Lesson Plan

I.

Target audience
Children at an after school program at the YMCA. Both the
gender and ethnicity of the children are very mixed. Ages range
from 9 to 12 in grades 4 to 6.

II.

Objectives:
After learning which food items contain calcium, and how it
affects the body 80% of children will be able to correctly choose
foods that contain calcium through playing a calcium relay game.
After learning about how much fruits and vegetables children
should be consuming each day, 80% of children will be able to
answer 6 questions on how select at least 2 cups of fruit and 3
cups of vegetables each day.
After learning about the foods groups you should have at
breakfast, 80% of children will be able to choose at least three
food groups by creating a breakfast MyPlate to create a
wholesome breakfast.

III.

Time allotted: 50 minutes

IV.

Pre-assessment (5 minutes)
talk them through each question.

V.

Content and Sequence

Intro (5 minutes)
Introductions (name, where we are from, why we are here)
What we will talk about today

Calcium: (10 minutes)

Ask students to raise their hands if they know what calcium is.
Ask students where they think that they can find calcium in the
foods that they eat.
o Point to poster and explain that calcium is a mineral that is
found in dairy products, and in items like milk, cheese, and
yogurt.

Explain how it is important to get enough calcium everyday,

otherwise they will not be able to have strong bones and teeth.
Explain that for all boys and girls their age they need to get at
least three cups of milk a day.
Introduce interactive relay-race lesson:

Directions:
1. Have everyone in the group line up facing you, then have them
count off by 5 and hold up the number with their fingers.
2. Have them separate into groups of 5 in a single file line, and
begin to place 5 pieces of colored paper evenly spaced between
each group of students and yourself.
3. Explain that you are going to be holding up an item of food and
the person in the front of the line must guess if the item contains
calcium or not. If they get it wrong they have to take one hop
back, but if they get it right they take two hops forward.
4. Begin to hold up each item, and use other members of the team
to help move the children forward or backwards depending on
their answers.
5. Stop after designed time, and award each student with a sticker
whether or not they won the race.
6. Have the other members of the team clean up the game and
move onto talking points and closing.

Clarify that is better to drink low-fat or reduced fat milk, cheese,

and yogurt rather than full fat.
Clarify that if they do not like milk there are many alternatives
such as soy, almond, chocolate milk, and Lactaid.
Encourage students to share their favorite kind of milk, and see if
they would be willing to try the different types that their peers
drink.
Ask students how many cups of milk they are supposed to drink
each day, and why it is important.
Thank them for their participation in the actives, and ask if they
could now turn their attention to Katie who is going to talk to
them about fruits and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables (10 minutes)

Ask the students to raise their hands and say their favorite fruit
and vegetable.
Ask the students why they think they should get enough fruits
and vegetables
o Fruits and vegetables give you vitamins and minerals that
help you grow, give you lots of energy, and prevent you
from getting sick!
Explain the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables for
children.
Introduce interactive board lesson:

Directions
1. Velcro the meal foods to the board (breakfast, lunch, dinner, two
snacks. (If time, switch in different meals for a second round).
2. Go through each meal and then ask But wait! Where are my
fruits and vegetables? DO you boys and girls see any? (No!) I
need you boys and girls to us get enough fruits and vegetables
for the day!
3. Provide the fruit and vegetable Velcro pieces to the participants.
4. Ask volunteers to raise their hand to add their fruit or vegetable
to a meal. (Mention that the fruit and vegetables can either go
into the meal or be eaten on the side).
5. During the process with children, ask: Now that we have 1 fruit
with our breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner, and we need 2 all day
long, how many more fruits do we need to make sure we have
enough? What could we add to our snack? Etc
6. The amount of fruits and vegetable on the board should equal
the numbers at the bottom of the fruit and vegetable columns

Clarify that it is OK to have more than 1 fruit and/or vegetable at

a meal.
Clarify that if participants eat more than the recommended total
number of fruits and vegetables per day, that is great!
Participants are not limited by the number of recommended
fruits and vegetables every day. Encourage participants to get at
least the recommended amounts each day.
Encourage the children to ask their parents for their favorite
fruits and vegetables when they eat breakfast or when they get
home from school.

Now can everyone remind me how many fruits you should eat a
day?! (2!).. And how many vegetables? (3!)
Great job boys and girls, now we are going to turn our attention
to Flavia where she will help you build a healthy breakfast!

Breakfast (10 minutes)

We will be discussing the importance of breakfast. Before we
start, did everyone have breakfast today? What did you have?
Ask about the food groups they belong in. Does anyone eat
breakfast daily? Can anyone tell us why breakfast is important to
have daily? Engage students to answer (Energy, improves focus
in class so you can improve your grades, sick less often, maintain
a healthy weight)
Lets talk about why breakfast is important for us to eat
everyday
Do you know what happens when we dont eat breakfast daily?
No breakfast: cranky, jittery, dizzy, decreased attention,
headache and stomach ache
Breakfast means: break the fast! Does anyone know what fasting
means? It means not having any food for an extended period of
time. When you sleep you are not eating for a long period of
time, so you are fasting. When you eat breakfast, you are
breaking the fast
What do cars need to run? Fuel! Our fuel is food. A car cant run
on empty, and neither can we. We need the right food to fuel us
up. We need to make sure we include 3 of the 5 food groups in
our breakfast
Can anyone name all 5 food groups? Grains, Fruits, Vegetables,
Protein, Dairy
Directions
1. Introduce the activity: Breakfast is key, so pick 3
2. Ask for 3 volunteers to come up to the front
3. Students will create a healthy breakfast using 3 different food
groups of the 5 food groups and place on the plate
4. Students will have 10 seconds to build their breakfast
5. Discuss each breakfast with the class
6. We will repeat the activity, time permitting

VI.

VII.

Eating 3 food groups at breakfast will provide you with energy

throughout the day and will keep you full until lunch
If you are on the go running late for school, ready-to-go breakfast
foods such as granola bars, fruit, yogurt available is okay
Closing (5 minutes)
Great job everyone, thank you so much for having us today, we
hope you had fun and learned from our class
Before we go we need you to help us filling the evaluation out
and please answer the questions as it applies to what you
learned today
Pass it around and help students if needed
Pass out handout to take home on calcium, fruits and vegetables
and breakfast

Learning activities
Calcium relay
Fruit and vegetable board
Breakfast is key so pick 3

Supplies/Materials
Breakfast is key, so pick 3 board
Peanut container
Milk container
Raisin container
Milk container
Yogurt container
Cereal Box
Calcium Board
Roll of stickers
25 Sheets of Colored Paper
Fruit and Vegetable board
Fruit & Vegetable Velcro pieces
Meal Velcro pieces
Handout
Pre and post evaluation sheets
Pencils (30)

Summative evaluation
Post survey

VIII.

IX.