Blaze Wilson

Pre-K

Nutrition: Fruits and Vegetables

One Week (5 Days)

Day One (Theme Introduction):

To kick off our Fruits and Vegetables unit I will introduce the idea of nutrition during

message board. The second message for message board will be introducing new plastic fruits and

vegetables for our house area. I will also add books about fruits and vegetables to the book area

for students to explore. All materials for the unit will be available for the week of the unit and the

following week.

Day One: Music

Standard:

KDI 41: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through

music.

KDI 23: Children understand and use a variety of words and phrases.

Learning Goal: Students will identify fruits or vegetables to use during the song “Aiken Drum”.

Rationale: By identifying fruits and vegetable students show their knowledge about different

foods as well as expanding their vocabulary. It is important for students to practice food related

vocabulary in order to identify these foods in the world around them.

Unit Objective: Students will expand their vocabulary of fruits and vegetables

Prior Knowledge:

- Students will need to have a basic vocabulary of fruits and vegetables.

- Students will need to be familiar with “Aiken Drum”.

Materials:

- Whiteboard

- Whiteboard Markers

Short Overview: During this Large Group lesson our class will be singing “Aiken Drum” with

the theme of fruits and vegetables. We will first choose a fruit or vegetable for each of Aiken

Drum and then we will sing the song. This activity can be done by students during work time if

they are interested.

Assessment:

Formative Assessment: When students are called on to contribute to “Aiken Drum” they are

displaying their knowledge about fruit and vegetables. To assess student knowledge, label each

contribution to record which students contributed. Notes should also be taken about other student

conversation.

Guided Inquiry Questions:

 How do you know a ______ is a (fruit/vegetable)?

 What other (fruits/vegetables) look like a (facial feature or body part)?

Differentiation:

Tier One:

 Some students may need some redirecting to stay on task with the new topic

 Use large drawing so that all students can see

 Repeat student responses so that all students can hear what is being said
Reflection: For this introduction lesson, the goal is to assess student prior knowledge. This

lesson might be challenging for students to stay on task. Starting new units is always

exciting. Classroom manage might be more difficult but still manageable. This lesson should

be a good start to the week and unit.

Day Two: Social Studies

Standard:

KDI 54: Children recognize that people have different roles and functions in the community.

Learning Goal: Students will recognize that people in the community help provide produce

to our community.

Rationale: It is important for students to know where their fruits and vegetables come from.

This helps students to identify where they can find fruits and vegetables as well as learning

about people in their community.

Unit Objective: Students will recognize where produce comes from and the people who

provide it to our community.

Prior Knowledge:

- Students will need to be familiar with the idea of community

- Students will need to have a basic knowledge community roles and places
Materials:

 Plastic fruits and vegetables

 Wooden people

 Wooden blocks or hollow blocks

Short Overview: To start off this small group we will talk about where we think fruits and

vegetables come from. I will prompt students to see if they can use the material on the large

circle rug to show how produce gets to our homes. Students will be able to explore with ideas

about food and community roles.

Assessment:

Formative Assessment: Take pictures and write notes about student ideas. Take notes about any

student conversation that mentions roles related to the production or sale of produce. Make note

of student actions with the materials provided.

Guided Inquiry Questions:

 Where does your family get fruits and vegetables?

 What people help us get fruits and vegetables?

 How are you showing how you get fruits and vegetables?

Differentiation:

Tier One:

 Add or subtract materials depending on student needs

 Redirect students to the goal of the lesson when needed

  Use direct instructions or explanations

Reflection: This lesson could be difficult if students do not have prior knowledge about

community. The best things I can do would be to use lots of vocabulary with students. By using

vocabulary students can build knowledge about where their food comes from. Redirecting

students will be key when there are several materials available for student use.

Day Three: Art

Standard:

KDI 40: Children express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through two-

and three-dimensional art.

KDI 46: Children classify materials, actions, people and events

Learning Goal: Students will classify/sort pictures fruits and vegetables by their physical

characteristics and make art with these pictures.

Rationale: Students need to be able to classify fruits and vegetables by physical characteristics.

Students will use these skills for cooking and eating. Physical characteristics of foods also helps

students to identify what they are putting into their bodies. This skill also separates fruits from

vegetables.
Unit Objective: Students will make a collage with fruit and vegetable pictures

Prior Knowledge:

 Students will need to be able to identify objects by characteristics such as color and

shape.

 Students will need the ability to use a glue stick

 Students will need a knowledge of their colors and shapes

Materials:

 Magazine/picture cut outs of fruits and vegetables

 Glue sticks

 Pieces of paper

Short Overview: For this small group lesson students will create collages of fruits and

vegetables. Students will be encouraged to sort the fruit and vegetable pictures by their physical

characteristics. Students will be encouraged to classify/identify the fruits or vegetable pictures.

Assessment:

Formative Assessment: Take photos of each students’ collage to further assess each students

work. Also take notes about student thoughts or statements about classification.

Guided Inquiry Questions:

 What are you adding to your collage?

 How do you know the ___ and ___ look alike?

 How did you classify the _______?

Differentiation:

Tier One:

 Students may need help using the glue sticks

 Students may need help grasping the fruit and vegetable pictures

 Students may need more direct instructions for how to use the materials appropriately

Reflection: This lesson will be engaging for students who find a large interest in art. This lesson

might be difficult if students are not using materials appropriately. Students who may not grasp

the idea of classification aspect will still be able to make a collage. This lesson will also help

students build small motor skills.

Day Four: Mathematics

Standard:

KDI 39: Children use information about quantity to draw conclusions, make decisions, and solve

problems.

Learning Goal: Students will draw conclusions based on the data we collected about the class’s

favorite vegetables
Rationale: It is important for students to draw conclusions based on data because it can help

them to make informed decisions. When collecting data about our class’s favorite vegetables,

students can also find things they have in common with their peers.

Unit Objective: Students will make observations about data based on their favorite fruits and

vegetables.

Prior Knowledge:

 Students will need a basic knowledge of how to read data

 Students will need to understand likes and dislikes

Materials:

 Oliver's Vegetables by Alison Bartlett and Vivian French

 All student letter links with Velcro backs

 Velcro vegetable cards (only vegetables featured in the book)

 Felt board

 Sticky notes

Short Overview: For this large group, I will be reading Oliver’s Vegetables. During the read

aloud I will occasionally stop to ask students questions to engage them in the story. After the

story is over, I will introduce the felt board chart we will be making. I will hand each student

their letter link and set expectations for taking turns at the felt board. Each student will be

prompted to choose their favorite vegetable from the chart. After students have filled the chart,

we will discuss the data as a class.

Assessment:
Formative Assessment: Take note of interaction with each student. Keep chart available to

assess. Write student conclusions on sticky notes.

Guided Inquiry Questions:

 What is your favorite vegetable that we talked about today?

 Why is it okay to try new vegetables or foods?

 Why/how do you know (student conclusion)?

Differentiation:

Tier One:

 May need to make letter links bigger for visibility

 Use a clear reading voice

 Describe vegetables clearly incase students are unfamiliar

Reflection: This lesson will be engaging for students because of the read aloud paired with a

hands-on activity. This lesson will be difficult when students have to take turns contributing data.

However, this can be solved through classroom management and routines. This lesson is a good

way to get students into the idea of mathematics while teaching about nutrition. This lesson can

be repeated with students using fruits and other foods as well.

Day Five: Culminating Activity

For the last day of the fruits and vegetables unit, students will be making smoothies.

Students will be making smoothies during afternoon snack. Depending on student allergies, there

will be frozen fruits and yogurt to be used as ingredients. A posterboard recipe will be used to

walk each group through making their smoothies. This lesson will encourage students to work

together and learn about measurements. This is an engaging lesson for students because they are

creating something they can enjoy. Each group will be encouraged to discuss the ingredients in

their smoothies.

Summative Assessment: While students are eating their smoothies, the class will discuss what

fruits and vegetables can be used in different recipes. The class will also recap what we learned

this week about our topic and students can share their knowledge.