Tools

Arianna's Nutrition Expedition: Activity 7 - The Riddle of the Playground Cave

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

Materials and Advance Prep

• Preview the Suggested Instructional Strategy
• Duplicate The Riddle of the Playground Cave (PDF) story - 1 per student
• Students' Nutrition Journals (made in Activity 1)
• Students' Folders (from Activity 1)
• Review of Recommended Number of Servings; pages 4-5 of the Nutrition Backgrounder (PDF)
• Review Combination Foods; pages 3 and 12 of the Nutrition Backgrounder (PDF)
• Arianna's Quintricious™ and Nutrition Mixer™ games
• All of Arianna's games are found on NutritionExploration.org in Games

Suggested Instructional Strategy

1. Begin with a review of recommended servings and Combination Foods. Write "6-5-3-3-2" on the board. Ask:

• What do the numbers 6-5-3-3-2 stand for in terms of nutrition? The daily recommended number of servings from the Five Food Groups
• What food group does the "6" relate to? Grain Group
• What food group does the "5" relate to? Vegetable Group
• What food groups do the two "3s" relate to? Milk Group and Fruit Group
• What food group does the "2" relate to? Meat Group
• What is a Combination Food? A food that combines foods from two or more food groups.
• What is an example of a Combination Food? Accept all reasonable answers.
• Why do we say Combination Foods are nutritious? Because they provide the same nutrients as the food group foods they contain.
• How do Combination Foods help people get their recommended daily servings from the Five Food Groups? Combination Foods provide servings from more than one food group.

2. Distribute The Riddle of the Playground Cave. Introduce the story by telling students that they're going to help Arianna solve a riddle that has something to do with Combination Foods.

3. Have students either read the story silently or take turns reading it aloud.

4. Review the elements of plot by having them retell the story.

• What's the problem in this story? Marcus and Arianna were exploring an underground cave and discovered a glowing boulder. When Arianna reached out to touch it, a wall fell and trapped Marcus.
• How did they try to solve the problem? Arianna drew pictures of Combination Foods on the rock, attempting to fill in the recommended number of servings from the Five Food Groups.
• Why do you think Arianna chose to draw Combination Foods instead of single food items? She needed to work quickly and Combination Foods helped her get the recommended servings and health benefits from the food groups faster.
• Why did she need to work quickly? Marcus was injured and was running out of air.
• What happened as Arianna drew pictures of Combination Foods? Lights began to glow on the boulder representing servings of the food groups. Also, Marcus started to feel better.
• How was the problem resolved? It wasn't. When the story ended, Arianna still needed to draw something that contains one serving from the Milk Group, one serving from the Vegetable Group, and one serving from the Grain Group.

5. Form small groups. Ask the groups to think of a Combination Food that could help Arianna and Marcus solve the puzzle and get Marcus out of the cave. Give the groups a few minutes to discuss and agree on a Combination Food that has the appropriate foods.

6. Write the following on the board: "What Combination Foods solved the riddle?" Ask each group to share its response, and write all the responses on the board. Some appropriate examples include: a slice of cheese pizza, spinach lasagna, tossed salad with shredded cheese and croutons.

7. Conduct a pre-writing brainstorm using these prompts to help students write the story's ending and record suggestions on the board:

• What might happen to the wall?
• What might happen to the glowing boulder?
• What did Arianna and Marcus have to help them find their way out of the cave?
• Who was waiting for them when they got back on the playground?
• What did each of them say to a news reporter who interviewed them later?

8. Ask students to take out their Nutrition Journals and complete this story. Each story should include:

• The story's ending from Arianna's or Marcus's point of view.
• The Combination Food that solved the riddle.

9. Invite several students to share their narratives with the class.

Check for Understanding

10. Ask students to think of foods for three meals and a snack they could eat that would provide them with the recommended number of servings from each food group. Instruct students to include at least two Combination Foods.

Draw a five-row by six-column chart on the board. Fill in the headings as below. Ask students to write each food under its correct food group. A Combination Food should be written under each food group it contains along with its component foods. For example:

11. Collect and review students' charts to see if they understand the activity nutrition concepts. Return the charts and ask students to place them in their folders for Activity 8.

12. Allow students to continue playing Quintricious! ™ and Nutrition Mixer™ to reinforce the concepts taught earlier in the unit.

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

Going Further

Combination Food Mobiles
Provide students with a paper plate, several pieces of string and some construction paper.

• Have students draw a picture of a Combination Food on the front of the paper plate, write the name of the Combination Food, list each food component along with its health benefit.
• Using the construction paper, have students draw and cut the shapes of the foods that make up their Combination Food. For example, if students draw spaghetti and meatballs with sauce, they would create meatballs, strands of pasta, and tomato sauce (or tomatoes) from the construction paper. Attach the foods to the plate with string.
• Attach a string to the top of the plate so it can be hung from the ceiling.

Musical Food Groups
Assign each student a food group so that all food groups are represented evenly. Play music as you would in "Musical Chairs." Have students wander slowly about the room while the music plays. When it stops, students gather with the students nearest them to form groups of three. Each group of three must think of a Combination Food represented by their food groups (additional food groups may be part of their Combination, but all three of their groups must be represented). Any group that is unable to identify a food using all three of their food groups must be seated. Continue until only one group remains standing.

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