Design-A- Meal

Summary

Students will create menus for fictitious restaurants in small groups. The class will use them as a basis to order a healthy meal and calculate the cost of the meal.

Materials

Poster of the Food Pyramid menus from local restaurants, calculators, pencils, paper

Background for Teachers

Needs to have taught the Food Guide Pyramid to the class. American Heart Association http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

Student Prior Knowledge

Students must be familiar with the Food Guide Pyramid. Students must know that food choices affect how they feel and how their bodies develop. Basic calculator skills are necessary.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to make a menu for a fictitious restaurant that contains good food choices from each of the areas of the Food Pyramid. Students will be able to select from a menu a healthy meal choice. Students will be able to calculate how much a meal at a restaurant will cost.

Instructional Procedures

1. Students will be motivated by the teacher reading several menus from local restaurants. The teacher will begin asking the students whether the meals sound healthy or not.
2. Teacher will review with the class the food pyramid and healthy eating concept.
3. Teacher will discuss with the class some ideas of food they would like to see on a menu at a restaurant. (keeping in mind the healthy food pyramid concept)
4. Teacher will divide the class into groups of 3 or 4.
5. Teacher will give the students the assignment to come up with a creative name for a fictious festaurant. Students will identify the food items that will be on the menu. These will be named and have a brief discription. They will make the menu including a cover and prices for the food items.
6. The second day, groups will present their menus to the class. They will exchange menus with other groups and make a math problem by writing down a complete and healthy meal choice. They must have items from all of the groups for the meal.
7. They will use their calculators to add up the cost of the meal.

Strategies for Diverse Learners

Teacher groups the students, so they can be put in groups that will help each other.

Extensions

Students could create their own restaurant menus. They could suggest ideas for their own school lunch. They could keep a food journal for a week. Collect menus from local restaurants to see how healthy the meals are and tally the costs.

Bibliography

• American Heart Association http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/
• Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/