Aug. 30, 2006: School Lunches

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Cut out a picture of your favorite food from the newspaper. Paste the picture on a piece of paper. Now draw the rest of a scene around your food.Your food might be on a plate or in someone's hand - you decide.

2. Draw a large circle on a piece of paper. Then draw a small circle in the middle of your large circle. Cut out newspaper words and pictures for different foods. Paste healthy foods inside the large circle around the small circle. Paste foods that you should eat less often or in a limited fashion in the smaller inner circle.

3. Cut out words or pictures of different ethnic foods: Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, etc. Paste them in a row down the side of a piece of paper. Now show the list to different family members and friends. Have each person put a check by three foods he or she likes a lot. Check the totals.Which food was the most popular? Which food received the least number of checks?

4. In which countries would you find the following types of food: (a) cassava, (b) bananas, (c) miso soup and (d) rice?

5. Draw a series of seven boxes on a piece of paper. Put the name of a day of the week in each of the boxes. Write down all the foods you eat every day. At the end of the week, highlight the healthy foods you¹ve eaten with a yellow highlighter. Highlight the less healthy foods with a pink highlighter. Did you eat more healthy foods or more not-so-healthy foods? What healthier choices can you make next week? Make a list of three things you will do in the next week to eat better foods.

This week's standards:

• Students understand how nutrition, food and wellness practices enhance individual and family well being across the lifespan and address related concerns in a global society.
  (Family and Consumer Science: Nutrition, Food and Wellness)
• Students understand how information from school and family influences health. (Health: Influences on Health)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)