Nutrition Education Resources

Little D's Nutrition Expedition: Activity 6 - Prince Waffle's Grain Group

Grade Level: 2nd Grade/Primary Elementary

Materials and Advance Prep

• Preview the Suggested Instructional Strategy
• Little D, the Five Food Group Dragon mini-poster (PDF) - 1 per student.


• Write the following directions on the board for Step 1:

º Milk Group: º Meat Group: º Vegetable Group: º Fruit Group:

Make a big grin Make a muscle Point to your eyes Rub the palm of your hand

• Print A Trip to the Café (PDF) story
• Review the suggestions below for filling in the prices on the Grains to Go (PDF) worksheet (Step 4). Fill in the prices based on students' math skills and then duplicate - 1 per student.




	If your students can add 2-digit values for money:	If your students can add mostly 1-digit values for money:
bagel	50¢	8¢
hamburger bun	10¢	3¢
tortilla	25¢	5¢
crackers	5¢	1¢
blueberry muffin	60¢	9¢
pancakes	25¢	5¢
oatmeal	15¢	3¢
Amount Prince Waffle has in Problem 2	75¢	15¢



• Clock or watch with a second hand


• Duplicate Dragon Scales (PDF) blackline master - 1 scale per student to cut out. Optional: Use orange or peach paper. Make a sample scale naming your favorite Grain Group food.

  The Food Group Wall Dragon Activity begins in Activity 1.

• Orange poster board for Food Group Wall Dragon
• 7 1/2" circle template for the Food Group Wall Dragon. Cut a circle out of the poster board. Print "Grain Group" near the top of the circle.
• Markers or crayons, scissors and tape
• Review and consider introducing Little D's Picnic Adventure!™ Interactive Nutrition Game in Games

Suggested Instructional Strategy

1. Begin with a review of the Milk, Meat, Vegetable, and Fruit Groups. Point to the directions the board and explain:

• I'm going to name a food. If the food belongs to the Milk Group, make a big grin. Why do you think you should make a big grin? Foods in the Milk Group help build strong bones and teeth.
• If it belongs to the Meat Group, make a muscle. Why do you think you should make a muscle? Foods in the Meat Group help build strong muscles.
• If the food belongs to the Vegetable Group, point to your eyes. Why do you think you should point to your eyes? Foods in the Vegetable Group help you see at night.
• If the food belongs to the Fruit Group, rub the palm of your hand. Why do you think you should rub the palm of your hand? Foods in the Fruit Group help keep skin healthy by healing cuts and bruises.

Name foods such as:

2. Distribute and use the Little D, the Five Food Group Dragon mini-poster to introduce the Grain Group.

• How many food groups are there? Five
• Which ones have we studied so far? Milk, Meat, Vegetable, and Fruit
• Look your poster. Which food group do we still need to learn about? Grain Group
• Which Royal Family member stands for the Grain Group? Prince Waffle
• Why is he a good character to stand for the Grain Group? Waffles are in the Grain Group.
• What foods are pictured in the Grain Group? Waffle, cereal, noodles, bread, rice, taco shell, hamburger bun, muffin, French bread

3. Tell students that you're going to tell you a story about how Prince Waffle taught Little D about Grain Group foods. Read A Trip to the Café.

4. Distribute the Grains to Go worksheet. Continue:

• Here's the menu board outside of the Grains to Go café. Let's read the name of each food and how much it costs.
• What food group are these foods in? Grain Group

Read the problems with the class. Have students work independently or with a partner to solve them using the information on the menu. Or, make a transparency of the worksheet and complete the problems as a large group.

5. Review students' answers. Then ask:

• Which Grain Group food do you like for an after-school snack?
• Which Grain Group food would you choose as part of your breakfast?
• Which Grain Group food could be part of your lunch?
• When you look at the picture of Little D, do you see anything different about him? He has all Five Food Groups on his chest.
• What do you suppose that means? He's learned about all of the food groups.

6. Continue by explaining:

• All of the Grain Group foods have something in common - they help our bodies stay healthy by providing energy.
• That's because foods in the Grain Group are a good source of carbohydrate.
• What things do you do that use energy? Accept all reasonable answers.
• What are some of the ways you use energy when you play? Answers may include running, jumping rope, bicycle riding, swimming, skating, etc.
• What are some of the ways you use energy in school? Answers may include reading, writing, talking, thinking, breathing, etc.
• What are some of the ways you use energy at home? Answers may include doing homework, helping with chores, playing outside, playing games, brushing teeth, etc.

7. Have students do a few activities.

• I want you to jump in place for 30 seconds.

Time the students. After 30 seconds, ask:

• Does jumping use a little bit, a medium amount, or a lot of energy? If you think jumping uses up a little energy, put your hand near your waist. If you think it uses up a medium amount of energy, put your hand near your throat. If you think it uses up a lot of energy, put your hand above your head.
• Now clap 20 times.
• When you're done, show me with your hand how much energy you think clapping uses.
• Now jog in place for 30 seconds. I'll tell you when to start and stop.
• When you're done, show me with your hand how much energy you think jogging uses.
• Now I want you to sit down and lift up a pencil.
• Show me with your hand how much energy you think lifting a pencil uses.

8. Continue:

• How would your life be different if you didn't have enough energy? What couldn't you do?
• Could you exercise and keep your muscles strong if you didn't have much energy? No

Summarize:

• Some activities use up a lot of energy. Some activities use up a medium amount of energy. Some activities use up very little energy. But every activity uses energy. You even use a little bit of energy while you sleep.
• Students especially need to eat foods from the Grain Group so they have enough energy to learn and to play.
• Prince Waffle told Little D, "Grain Group foods give you 'Get-Up-and-Go.'"
• What do you think he meant by "Get-Up-and-Go"? Accept all reasonable answers.
• Grain Group foods give you the energy to get-up-and-go for physical activity. And physical activity is important to keep your body healthy.

9. To help students practice learning the foods in the Grain Group, guide them in writing riddles. Begin by using pre-writing strategies to organize their thoughts.

• Look at the Grain Group foods on the Little D mini-poster. Look at the Grain Group foods on the menu of the Grains to Go worksheet. Pick one of the foods, but don't tell anyone which food you picked.
• Turn your worksheet over. Write "My Mystery Food" at the top.
• Write "1." Next to number one, write the color of your food.
• Write "2." Next to number two, write the shape of your food.
• Write "3." Next to number three, write the temperature at which we eat the food. Do we eat it hot? Cold? At room temperature?
• Write "4." Next to number four, write a word to describe the texture of your food. Is it hard? Soft? Crunchy? Mushy?

10. Provide the class with a sample food riddle like the one below. Provide the clues, one at a time, until one of the students guesses correctly.

• Clue 1: I'm thinking of a food in the Grain Group that is yellow. What is it?
• Clue 2: The shape of this food is long and thin. What is it?
• Clue 3: This food tastes best when it's cooked in boiling water and eaten warm. What is it?
• Clue 4: Before it's cooked, this food is dry and stiff. After it's cooked, it's soft and flexible. What is it?
• Answer: Spaghetti noodles.

11. Ask students to use their words to make up Grain Group riddles. Have students form groups of three or four and try out their riddles on one another. Ask students to share their riddles with the class.

Check for Understanding

12. Keep students in small groups. Give groups a minute to think of as many Grain Group foods as they can. One group at a time, ask them to name a Grain Group food. Continue until none of the groups can name a new food.
Then ask:

• Show me what your body gets from the Grain Group to keep you healthy. Watch for any gesture/action using energy.

13. Distribute dragon scales. Each student should cut out a scale, initial it, and write the name of a favorite Grain Group food on it. Remind them to check with you and/or use their dictionaries if they do not know how to spell the names of the foods they selected.

14. Attach the orange circle to the Wall Dragon. Tell the students the name of your favorite Grain Group food and tape your scale to the circle. Have students identify their favorite Grain Group foods as they tape their scales to the circle.

15. Collect Little D, the Five Food Group Dragon mini-posters.

16. At a convenient time, introduce Little D's Picnic Adventure!™ and arrange for students to play it, to reinforce the names of the Five Food Groups and the foods in each group.

All of Little D's games are found on NutritionExplorations.org in Games.

Going Further

Movement Circles
Use a movement circle to help the students increase their coordination. Have the students form a large circle. Ask them to perform the movements you call out. For example:

• Pop up like bread in a toaster
• Go limp like a noodle
• Freeze like frozen yogurt
• Melt like cheese on a pizza

You also can have them move like different animals, form letters of the alphabet, make circles with different parts of their bodies, pretend they're playing different sports, etc.

Bread Book
People all over the globe eat some form of bread. If you have a multi-cultural classroom or are planning a multi-cultural activity, consider compiling a class "Bread Book." Let each student create a page for the book. Have the students do a family history project by finding out what type of bread was eaten in the countries from which their families originated. If possible, provide disposable cameras and have the students take family pictures to include on their pages.

Nutrition Expedition Programs © 2005

©2012 National Dairy Council® ©2012 NFL Properties LLC. Team names/logos/indicia are trademarks of the teams indicated. NFL PLAYERS is a trademark of National Football League Players Incorporated. All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. Fuel Up is a service mark of National Dairy Council.