Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™

Activity 1 - Arianna Bones and the Case of the Missing Food Groups

Grade Level: 4th Grade/Upper Elementary
Estimated Time: 40 minutes
Rating:

Materials and Advance Prep

Preview the Suggested Instructional Strategy
Duplicate Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ mini-poster (PDF) - 1 per student
Duplicate Arianna Bones and the Case of the Missing Food Groups (PDF) handout
Duplicate Munchberg Menu Mix-Up (PDF) worksheet - 1 each per student
8-1/2" x 11" unlined white paper - 5 sheets per student
Folder for storing all handouts and completed worksheets - 1 per student
Optional: Duplicate Introductory Letter and Eat the Five Food Group Way!™ take-home handouts - 1 per student
Review the Eat the Five Food Group Way!™ chart; page 4 Nutrition Backgrounder (PDF)
Make a sample Nutrition Journal to show students (See Step 11)
Write the following prompts on the board:
1. If I went to Munchberg, the restaurant I'd want to try first is the ________________ because ________________.
2. Make a list of foods you eat almost every day.
3. Make a list of foods you've tasted and do not like.
4. Name a food that sounds interesting and that you would like to taste.
5. If I were solving the Case of the Missing Food Groups, here are three questions I would have asked each of the chefs: ________________.
6. Have I thought about nutrition very much on my own? A lot? A little? Why or why not?
Review the Interactive Nutrition Game, Quintricious!™, available on NutritionExploration.org in Kids

Suggested Instructional Strategy
1. Open by leading a discussion about "health." Ask:

Why is being healthy important for students your age? Accept all reasonable answers.
What can you do to keep yourself healthy? Accept all reasonable answers.
How do you think nutrition plays a role in keeping your body healthy? Accept all reasonable answers.

2. Explain they'll be learning more about nutrition with two fourth-grade adventurers, Arianna Bones and Marcus Muscleman. Point out:

Eating a nutritious diet helps you grow, feel good and perform at your best.
Nutrition, along with physical activity, helps you stay healthy.

3. Explain:

To help people learn to eat a nutritious diet, nutrition experts have created the Five Food Groups.
We need to eat from ALL of the food groups every day to stay healthy.

Distribute Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ mini-poster. Using the poster, have students name the Five Food Groups and identify the foods in each group.

4. Pass out Arianna Bones and the Case of the Missing Food Groups story. Describe it as a mystery involving the Five Food Groups. Have students read the story aloud as a group, aloud with a partner, or silently to themselves. As they read, have them underline the names of any Five Food Group foods and circle information about how a food group keeps you healthy.

5. Next, review the restaurant names: Dairy Way Cafe, Munchberg Meatery, Vegetable Valley, Fruit Crate Creations, and Great Grains. Review the foods in each food group by recalling details from the story. Ask:

What foods were in the kitchen of the Dairy Way Cafe? Milk, yogurt, cheese, frozen yogurt, pudding
What are other flavors of Milk Group foods that might be served there? Possible answers include string cheese, strawberry milk, chocolate milk, blueberry yogurt.
What foods were in the kitchen of the Munchberg Meatery? Peanut butter, chicken, steak, pork, fish, shrimp, turkey, dried peas and beans, eggs, almonds
What are other Meat Group foods that might be served there? Possible answers include refried beans, tuna, lamb
What foods were in the kitchen of the Vegetable Valley? Cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, snow peas, squash, carrots
What are other Vegetable Group foods that might be served there? Possible answers include corn, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens.
What foods were in the kitchen of Fruit Crate Creations? Mangoes, kiwifruit, apples, oranges, cantaloupes, lemons
What are some other Fruit Group foods that might be served there? Possible answers include grapes, melons, peaches, strawberries, bananas, watermelons, raisins.
What foods were in the kitchen of Great Grains? Rice, macaroni, crackers
What are some other Grain Group foods that might be served there? Possible answers include bread, waffles, cereal, muffins, tortillas, rolls.

6. Review the main ideas of the story. Ask:

What did Arianna think was the problem at the beginning of the story? That a thief was stealing foods from the restaurants.
What was really going on? The owners of the restaurants decided to collaborate and develop meals that incorporated all Five Food Groups in order to create balanced meals that give customers all the nutrients they need to grow, feel good and perform at their best.

7. Point out that the story has several homophones and "food" wordplays. As a group, identify them. Ask students to consult a dictionary if they need to look up the meaning of any words. The homophones and wordplays include:

The names of the five restaurants: Dairy Way Cafe, Munchberg Meatery, Vegetable Valley, Fruit Crate Creations, and Great Grains.
The names of owners: Mr. Hamlet, owner of the Meatery; Hugh Cumber, owner of the Vegetable Valley; Annie Apple, owner of Fruit Crate Creations
Page 1 of story: Paragraph 3, "Holy Cow"; paragraph 4, use of "whey" (a byproduct of cheese production) for "way."
Page 2 of the story: Paragraph 4: use of "bean" (dried beans are in the Meat Group) for "been"; paragraph 6, "Mighty Meatballs"; paragraph 12: use of "lettuce" for "let us"
Page 3 of story: Paragraph 6, use of "stalking"
Page 4 of story: Paragraph 1, use of "leek" (a type of onion) for "leak."
Page 5 of story: Paragraph 4, "The Five Star Bistro." Besides referring to the Five Food Groups, a "five-star" restaurant rating indicates the highest quality of meals.

Check for Understanding
8. Distribute and review the Munchberg Menu Mix-Up worksheet directions:

There are five menus on this page - one for each restaurant in Munchberg.
Each menu has nine items. Two of the foods on each menu do not belong in that food group.
Cross out the two foods that do not belong on each menu.

9. Review the worksheets to check their understanding. Answers to be crossed out are:

Dairy Way Cafe Menu (Egg, milk chocolate candy)
Munchberg Meatery Menu (Cheese, tortilla)
Vegetable Valley Menu (Whole wheat bread, tangerine)
Fruit Crate Creations Menu (Cauliflower, blueberry yogurt)
Great Grains Menu (Potato, peanut)

Distribute folders. Have students place Arianna Bones and the Case of the Missing Food Groups and the Munchberg Menu Mix-Up in their folders for Activity 8.

10. Show students the sample Nutrition Journal. Distribute five sheets of 8-1/2" by 11" paper to each student. Give the following directions:

Fold each paper in half to the size of 5-1/2" x 8-1/2."
Make a crease along the fold line of each sheet.
Open all the sheets back to 8-1/2" by 11. Show students.
Lay all five sheets flat, one on top of the other.
Refold all five sheets together along the crease to make a 20-page booklet.
Print "Nutrition Journal"on the cover.
Also print your name on the cover.

11. Explain that Arianna is always making notes in her journal. Students will keep their own Nutrition Journal during the unit. Point out:

You can use this journal to jot down any thoughts or ideas you have related to nutrition.
You can write down unusual food names, reactions to new foods, nutrition jokes, anything you like related to nutrition. You can even make sketches of foods.
During some nutrition activities, I will ask you to write in your journals on a specific topic.

On the inside cover, write today's date in the upper corner of the page.

12. Have students read the prompts on the board out loud and then use them to give students practice writing to discover, record and reflect on ideas. Explain:

I want all of you to make at least two entries in your journal today.
I'd like all of you to respond to item #1.
Then, pick at least one other item to respond to.
Each time you make a new entry in your journal, please write the date.

Give students several minutes to complete the writing assignment. If time allows, ask volunteers to share their entries. Have students to store their journals in their folders.

13. Optional: Have students fill in the blanks and sign their names to the Introductory Letter. Send it home with the Eat the Five Food Group Way!™ handout.

14. At a convenient time, introduce and have students play Quintricious!™

All of Arianna's games are found on NutritionExplorations.org in Kids.

Going Further
Five Food Group Races
Divide the class into an even number of teams of five to eight.

Draw and label a large Five Food chart on the board for every two teams.
Provide each team with colored chalk or dry-erase markers, using a different color for each team.
Have two teams line up on either side of their assigned chart, approximately 10 feet away.
When you say "go," each team's members race in turn - relay style - to write a food name in the appropriate box. Students may either write a new food or correct an error. Time students for three or four minutes. When time is up, count the number of foods that have been correctly written on the sections of the chart.

Mystery at the Grocery Store
Have students work with a partner or in a small group to write a mystery story about a grocery store that is suddenly missing an entire food group. On the board, make a story chart to help students organize their thoughts. Include title, setting, main characters, problem, event one, event two, event three, and a solution. Instruct students to draft their stories using the chart as a guide and to include story details that refer to each of the Five Food Groups and the foods in them.

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