Lesson Plan Title: Eat a Rainbow

Date: March 20, 2018

Subject: Health Education Grade: 1/2

Topic: Nutrients in different coloured fruits and vegetables

Essential Question: Why is it important to eat a variety of colours of food every day?

Estimated duration of lesson: 30 minutes

Materials: book “I Eat a Rainbow”, corresponding handout fill-in chart, laminated cutouts of
examples of colourful foods, classroom poster listing the different nutrients

Stage 1- Desired Results – you may use student friendly language

What do they need to understand, know, and/or able to do?
Following this lesson students should be able to name at least 2 or 3 types of fruits or vegetables
of each colour of the rainbow. They will also understand that eating different colours of fruits and
vegetables helps you intake a variety of nutrients that you need in order to be healthy.

Broad Areas of Learning: LL, SSCP

Cross-Curricular Competencies: DT, DL

Outcome(s):
USC2.2 Determine how healthy snacking practices influence personal health.

AP2.1 Act upon health-related understandings, skills, and confidences to make healthy connections
related to personal thoughts-feelings-actions, healthy snacking, affects of illness/disease, respect,
safety, and diversity.

PGP Goals:
1.4 a commitment to service and the capacity to be reflective, lifelong learners and
inquirers.
2.5 knowledge of a number of subjects taught in Saskatchewan schools (disciplinary/
interdisciplinary knowledge); and
3.1 the ability to utilize meaningful, equitable and holistic approaches to assessment and
evaluation; and
4.1 knowledge of Saskatchewan curriculum and policy documents and applies this
understanding to plan lessons, units of study and year plans using curriculum outcomes as
outlined by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education;

Stage 2- Assessment
Assessment FOR Learning (formative) Assess the students during the learning to help determine
next steps.

We will have a brief question and answer period following the reading of the book and the
quick discussion of the nutrients poster as it relates to different coloured foods. If students are
not understanding the coloured foods and their positive links to health and nutrition then this can
be addressed during this brief class discussion.

Assessment OF Learning (summative) Assess the students after learning to evaluate what they
have learned.

Following the lesson students will have a sheet to fill in that requires them to brainstorm
(individually or as a group) types of fruits and vegetables of every colour of the rainbow. Despite
working together as a class for some tricky colours (aka blue) and with spelling, how readily
students are able to brainstorm and share examples of coloured food will demonstrate their
familiarity and knowledge of nutritious fruits and vegetables.
Stage 3- Learning Plan

Motivational/Anticipatory Set (introducing topic while engaging the students)

The lesson will start with the reading of a simple picture book, “I Eat a Rainbow”, which offers
pictures and one-word labels of different colours and corresponding fruits and vegetables.

Main Procedures/Strategies:

Following the reading of the picture book, I will lead the students into a brief discussion of why it
is important to eat foods of different colours. I will use both the classroom poster outlining
different nutrients as well as laminated cutouts of different sorts of colourful foods to help in
explaining this importance.

A group discussion and brainstorm will then take place around the story time corner for students
to begin brainstorming different colourful foods as a class.

Once we have thought of several examples of rainbow-coloured foods as a class I will introduce
their handout to be completed in class and handed in to their health folders. They will be given
the remained of the day (approximately 15 minutes) to work individually or together to fill in the
chart that has them thinking of multiple examples of different coloured fruits and vegetables.

Adaptations/Differentiation:

For those students who finish the handout quickly and without problem they will be asked to draw
some pictures of the foods they brainstormed, and/or to colour their handouts with the
corresponding colours of the rainbow.

For those students who struggle to brainstorm different types of colourful foods (whether it be
due to language barriers, unfamiliarity with many types of fruits and vegetables, or high
distractibility), images of rainbows of foods will be googled and group work will be encouraged.

Closing of lesson:

The lesson will end with the brainstorming activity/handout that student will complete.
Personal Reflection:

This lesson went well, but did highlight some of the inequities present even in an affluent classroom.
Some students seemed to have little trouble filling their entire sheet with examples of colourful
fruits and vegetables while others struggled to recognize different foods aside from apples, oranges,
bananas and a few other common staples. By encouraging group brainstorming and by googling an
image of a food rainbow many of the students who faced this challenge were able to flesh out their
chart more fully.

The only challenges that came with this lesson were most likely due to the fact that this lesson oc-
curred in the last 30 minutes of the day, and students were therefore rambunctious and less easily
focused. Despite their energy and distractibility most of them did manage to complete the handouts
effectively.

M. Wilkinson ’16 *Adapted from Understanding by Design (McTighe and Wiggins, 1998)