Unit Plan

Unit: My Health
Grade: 6
Level: Beginning/Intermediate

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• understand the food pyramid
• identify foods from different food groups
• explain what makes foods nutritious
• analyze nutritional information and menus
• create a healthy school lunch menu that will be implemented in their school

Learning Standards

ELA Learning Standards:

Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Standard 3: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation. Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

ESL Learning Standards:

Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for information and understanding.
Standard 3: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for critical analysis and evaluation.
Standard 4: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for classroom and social interaction
Standard 5: Students will demonstrate cross-cultural knowledge and understanding.

Prior Knowledge/Motivation

The relevance of this unit is that personal health is of a growing concern to the American population. This unit is especially relevant to an ELL because not only are they learning a new language, but a new culture. In this new culture, they may not be living in the same manner that they have been used to and they will have to learn to make different choices and decisions regarding their personal health. They will not be eating the same way or living the same way and this has direct implications on their health. The unit will begin with activating prior knowledge by examining a food pyramid and students will discuss the foods they eat with their peers. Students will see that they all eat different foods and will learn a little about each others cultures as well. Students will be examining their own health and the foods that they eat at home and school. The motivation for the unti will be the final project - designing a new school lunch menu.

Materials

For this unit students will rely on a blog to deliver instruction. The following technological resources will be used:

Blogger
YouTube
Interactive on-line games
Electronic graphic organizers
On-line journals
Internet research (using a directory and listed resources)
Podcasting

Procedure

Session 1: Introduction/Activating Prior Knowledge

1. Teacher will introduce “My Health” unit to students by activating their prior knowledge of food groups using the USDA Food Pyramid and graphic organizer.
   
2. Using the think-pair-share model, students will complete the graphic organizer on their own and then pair with a partner to discuss the results.
   
3. After the pairs have examined each other’s graphic organizers, students will play an on-line game with their partners to see if they can identify the healthy food choices.
   
4. At the end of the introduction, teacher explains that the class will be studying nutrition over the next few days and assigns homework: students must keep an on-line journal of everything they eat for the next week.

For this activity students can choose their own partner.

Session 2: What makes food "healthy?"

Task #1

1. Students will form groups to research the food pyramid. Each student will be responsible for one category.
2. Students will research their food group using listed internet resources and complete a mini-report graphic organizer about what they learned about their food group.
3. They will become the "expert" in that category and then teach the rest of the group so that everyone has a full understanding of each food group.

Task #2

1. Students will analyze three different school lunch menus to determine if they are healthy.
2. Students will post their analysis on the class blog.

For these activities, teacher should assign groups prior to the unit. Teacher will tell students who is in their group. Groups should be heterogeneous.

Session 3: Project and Assessment

In their groups students will use the knowledge they have gained from research and analysis to develop their own menus. Students will be given a rubric and instructed to work with their groups to write menus that include nutrition information and a rationale for their menu. Students will then write and record a script that will be recorded as a podcast for the school's website. Teachers, studetns and staff will be able to vote on the best menu online after listening to the podcasts.

Reflection

This unit is based on student-directed learning. In developing this authenic learning experience, the students became excited about developing their skills in all areas, and by making the unit personal, each student could relate their learning to themselves