Grade 4 Lesson plan on Nutrition

Every year I teach a 6 week unit on health related activities for Grade 2-5. The following lesson plan is for Grade 4 with students that have different levels of English proficiency.

Concepts and Skills

Vocabulary for food names; Understanding the food pyramid; Identifying the different food groups

Differentiation for ELL students at different stages of language acquisition

Pre-production

• Students should make flashcards to learn the food names necessary in the unit
• Draw their own “interpretation” of the USDA MyPyramid
• Play relay games: “Organize the Food groups” 

Early production

• The teacher can use the flashcards to test students knowledge (yes/no or a one word response is acceptable at this stage)
• Label a blank USDA MyPyramid worksheet

Speech emergence

• Student can discuss in groups about different food types identified in class; what they consider nutritious or healthy food and the types of food they bring to school.
• They can create in a food journal a menu of nutritious food that they would like to bring to school

Intermediate fluency

• Students can research and watch a short videos on nutrition for kids. They can write a short summary of what they have learned and read it to their peers in class.
• Students can compare and discuss the USDA MyPyramid with a food pyramid of another country for example, Australia
• They can record their weekly eating habits in a food journal

Full fluency

• Students can research and watch short videos discussing nutrition for kids. They can write a short summary of what they have learned and create a short visual presentation for their class.
• Students can compare and discuss the USDA MyPyramid with two or more food pyramids from different countries
• They can organize simple activities or games about nutrition
  
  
  Sources
  Haynes, J. (2005). Stages of Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/language_stages.php 
  
  Haynes, J. (2010). Teaching about Nutrition. Retrieved December 28, 2016, from http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/food_unit.php