Purpose:

The students will create a brainstorm of food items that are healthy to eat and food items that are not healthy to eat.

Curriculum Connection:

1st Grade Core
Standard 1
Objective 1
Describe and practice responsible behaviors for health and safety.
2. Describe the benefits of eating a variety of nutritious foods.

Materials:

Computer for each student
Internet Connection
Kidspiration

Prerequisite Knowledge:

Discuss with the students what makes certain foods healthy and other foods unhealthy for out bodies.

Procedure:

Give the students a brief tour of the program by showing them how to do the project on the projector screen first. Open the Healthy Foods Kidspiration template on your computer. Once in the program, click on your space bar to continue. Show them the variety of food images the students can put on their brainstorms by clicking the two blue arrows above the food pictures. (There are three food picture lists.) Show them how to click and drag on a food item and place it under the correct bubble, “healthy” or “unhealthy”.

The students do not have to use all the food images – they can choose the ones that represent the two categories the best. Students may be unsure about how healthy certain items are, like pizza or popcorn. This is a good opportunity for discussion about what makes food healthy or unhealthy.

After you have shown them how to use the program, have the students open the Healthy Foods Kidspiration template on their computers. Hint: Ask the students to turn off their computers’ sound before opening the program. Once in the program, students will click on their space bar to continue. Then they may begin their project!

When students have finished their brainstorms, you have a few options: You can help them type their names on their projects by showing them how to add a bubble to their page, or you can have them write their names on after they have printed. You can have them save their work (second graders can usually to “Apple S” to save, but then you may need to go to each computer to type a title for the document and save it where you would like it to be), or you can just print (second graders can usually do “Apple P” to print, but you will need to help them select the color printer).

Technology Tips:

In order to add a new item to the screen in Kidspiration, you must either click and drag that item on or you must click on the background before clicking on a picture. If you click on a new picture while the previous picture is still selected, it will change the previous item to the new picture.

To remove items that have been placed on the screen, simply click on the unwanted item and type the delete key on your keyboard.

Warn the students not to click on the bubbles that are already on the screen. Second graders are really good at accidentally deleting the template bubbles.

Adaptations:

Having every student’s sound on while using Kidspiration can be quite annoying unless each student has headphones, but the sound may help struggling students because the voiceover tells them what every picture and button is as their mouse passes over them.

Extensions:

Fast finishers can play the online game “Supermarket Spree” once they have finished their project and you have helped them print it. Another online nutrition site is "Monster Nutrition". This site can be used as fast finishers, as review lessons another week, or to help teach nutrition before doing this lesson.

Example Project

Download Lesson Plan

Product Information