Tuesday February 7 :: 

Arianna's Nutrition Expedition: Activity 3 - Arianna in Antarctica

Grade Level: 4th Grade/Upper Elementary
Estimated Time: 50 minutes

Materials and Advance Prep

• Preview the Suggested Instructional Strategy
• Duplicate Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ mini-poster (PDF) - 1 per student
• Duplicate Food Benefits Matching Cards (PDF). Cut out enough rows so that each student has one card.
• Duplicate Comparison Cards (PDF) handout - 1 per student.
• Overhead projector and blank transparencies
• Print and use Arianna's Mission Log (PDF) master (page 1); make a transparency on your photocopy machine.
• Print and use Comparison Cards (PDF) master (page 2); make a transparency on your photocopy machine
• Duplicate enough copies of Scientist Case Studies (PDF) - so each student gets one case study. Cut the case studies apart along the gray lines
• Students' Nutrition Journals (made in Activity 1)
• Students' Folders (from Activity 1)
• Review Arianna's Interactive Nutrition Games
• Review the "Others" category; page 3 of the Nutrition Backgrounder (PDF).
• Write the following on the board or on an overhead transparency
  • What health problem does your scientist have?
  • What nutrient is she or he probably missing?
  • What food group might he or she not be getting enough of?
  • What are three foods from that food group that could be sent to McMurdo Station for your scientist to eat?
• Optional: Globe or world map

Suggested Instructional Strategy

1. Review the food groups, the health benefits of each group, and the key nutrients in each group with the Food Benefits Matching Cards. Pass one card to each student. On the board, write:

(Food) + (Food Group) + (Nutrient) + (Health Benefit)

Give the class a minute to move around the room and find other cards that make a complete set. For example, a "carrot" must find students holding: "Vegetable Group," "Vitamin A" and "Night Vision." After students find each other, ask each group to prepare a "progressive" sentence in which each group member participates. For example:
Person 1: I am a carrot
Person 2: which is in the Vegetable Group
Person 3: and which provides vitamin A
Person 4: which helps people have good night vision.

2. Remind students about Arianna's and Marcus's desire to grow, feel good and perform at their best. Arianna and Marcus have learned that they need foods from ALL Five Food Groups each day to achieve this goal.

• Why do they need foods from the Five Food Groups each day? Each food group helps you stay healthy in a different way.

3. Explain that Arianna just returned from an adventure in Antarctica. She made some journal entries. Show "Day 1" of the Arianna's Mission Log transparency. Have students read the entry. Optional: Have the class locate Antarctica on a globe or world map.

4. Continue:

• What are nutrients? Nutrients are substances in food that help the body stay healthy in a specific way.
• When we read the story about the "Great-Mysteries-of-Nutrition" Pavilion, we learned the name of a key nutrient in each food group.
• What key nutrient does the Milk Group provide? Calcium
• What key nutrient does the Meat Group provide? Protein
• What key nutrient does the Vegetable Group provide? Vitamin A
• What key nutrient does the Fruit Group provide? Vitamin C
• What key nutrient does the Grain Group provide? Carbohydrate
• I have some charts to help you get a better visual of the nutrients found in each food group.

5. Show the Comparison Cards transparency. Distribute the Comparison Cards handout. This transparency and handout provide a visual profile of the nutrients in selected foods. Explain:

• The bar charts on the overhead and your handout are the same, except the overhead is in color.
• These bar charts show the amount of calcium, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, carbohydrate and calories in six different foods.
• The higher the bar, the better source of the nutrient it is.
• Find the bar for calcium on these charts. Which food is the best source of calcium? 1% lowfat milk
• Which food group is it in? Milk Group
• Which food group is a good source of calcium? Milk Group
• How does calcium keep the body healthy? Builds strong bones and teeth

6. Review the rest of the bar charts, examining one nutrient at a time. Help students develop the following generalizations:

• Protein is associated with the Meat Group. Protein helps build strong muscles.
• Vitamin A is associated with the Vegetable Group. Vitamin A helps improve night vision.
• Vitamin C is associated with the Fruit Group. Vitamin C helps heal cuts and bruises.
• Carbohydrate is associated with the Grain Group. Carbohydrate provides energy.

7. After reviewing the foods highest in calcium, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, and carbohydrate, there will be one food left - corn chips. Explain:

• Some foods - such as corn chips - don't belong in any of the Five Food Groups.
• Foods such as sweets, salty snacks and fats and oils are classified in the "Others" category.
• "Others" foods are not a good source of any key nutrients.
• The scientific way you can distinguish an "Others" food from a food group food is by comparing its nutrient bars with its calorie bar.
• Look at the corn chips. Which is the tallest bar on this graph? Calories
• All foods have calories. But foods in the "Others" category have more calories than they have nutrients.
• Now look at each of the bar charts for the food group foods.
• For milk, does the tallest bar on the chart represent a nutrient or calories? Nutrient
• For hamburger, does the tallest bar represent a nutrient or calories? Nutrient
• For squash, does the tallest bar represent a nutrient or calories? Nutrient
• For strawberries, does the tallest bar represent a nutrient or calories? Nutrient
• For brown rice, does the tallest bar represent a nutrient or calories? Nutrient
• Five Food Group foods have one or more nutrient bars that are taller than their calorie bar.

8. Continue, asking:

• What foods do you think are in the "Others" category? Possible answers include cookies, chips, soft drinks, candy, salad dressing.
• "Others" category foods aren't bad, but they don't offer key nutrients like Five Food Group foods.
• You can eat a few "Others" each day. But make sure most of your diet is Five Food Group foods.

9. Have the class read the "Day 12" entry from the Arianna's Mission Log transparency. Explain:

• Nutrient deficiencies happen when a person doesn't eat enough food from one or more food groups.
• Nutrient deficiencies don't happen overnight. But if, week after week, month after month, a person misses one or more nutrients, health problems can start to develop.

10. Arrange the class into five groups. Each group will solve one of the five case studies on the Scientist Case Studies handout. Give each student in the group a copy of the group's case study. Point out the questions on the board or overhead transparency. Have the group review their case study and decide:

• What health problem does your scientist have?
• What nutrient is she or he probably missing?
• What food group might she or he not be getting enough of?
• What are three foods from that food group that could be sent to McMurdo Station for your scientist to eat?

11. Next, have students read their case studies aloud and explain how they recommend solving the health problem.

• Case 1 needs more calcium found in Milk Group foods for strong bones.
• Case 2 needs more protein found in Meat Group foods for strong muscles.
• Case 3 needs more vitamin A found in Vegetable Group foods for better night vision.
• Case 4 needs more vitamin C found in Fruit Group foods to heal bruises.
• Case 5 needs more carbohydrate found in Grain Group foods for energy.

Check for Understanding

12. Ask students to take out their Nutrition Journals and respond to the following:

• Three foods I like to eat that give me calcium are...
• Three foods I like to eat that give me protein are...
• Three foods I like to eat that give me vitamin A are...
• Three foods I like to eat that give me vitamin C are...
• Three foods I like to eat that give me carbohydrate are...

Also ask students to write at least three sentences to complete a paragraph that starts with the following topic sentence:

• Foods in the "Others" category are different than foods in the Five Food Groups.

13. Review their responses to assess their understanding of this activity's concepts. Have students place their Journals and worksheets in their folders.

14. Allow students to continue playing Quintricious!™ to reinforce the concepts in Activity 3.

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

Going Further

Nutrient Reflections
Have students write essays about one of the nutrients introduced in this activity. They might answer questions such as:

• What are the health benefits of this nutrient?
• Why is this nutrient and its health benefits important to me?
• What foods do I like that contain this nutrient?
• What other information do I know about this nutrient that I learned outside of school?

Get Moving
For scientists who spend many months in the harsh environment of Antarctica, it is important that they do calisthenics every day to stay healthy. Have students do an "Antarctic Calisthenics" routine:

• 20 jumping jacks
• 10 push-ups
• 20 toe touches
• 10 sit-ups
• A variety of stretching exercises

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