TITLE:  Gregory, The Terrible Eater

AUTHOR:  Margaret Sornenson, Holy Rosary School, ID

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: 3-4; science, health
Presentation, Decision Making, Group Work and Math skills of graphing,
addition, and division.

OVERVIEW:  This is an evaluation project for a Science and/or Health
unit of study on the basic food group, good nutrition, and food sources
of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this activity is for the students to review
and demonstrate their understanding of the need for balanced meals and
an understanding of the food sources for proteins, carbohydrates, fats,
minerals, and vitamins.

OBJECTIVES:
  l.  Students will demonstrate an understanding of the four basic food groups.
  2.  Students will construct a balanced menu.
  3.  Students will use food advertisements to determine the best buys for
their menu selections.
  4.  Students will present their menu orally to the class and be able to
defend their selections.
  5.  Students will construct a graph to illustrate the total cost differences
in their menus.

RESOURCES:
Newspaper food advertisements, graph paper,children's book Gregory,
The Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat
  
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
  l.  Have students save food ads from local papers for a month prior to
this assignment.
  2.  Read the book GREGORY, THE TERRIBLE EATER, by Mitchell Sharmat. and
then discuss with the class if Gregory had gotten some good advice for
his eating habits?  Ask the students if their parents have ever tried this
approach to entice them to eat foods that they dislike?
  3.  Review the four food groups and review sources of proteins,
carbohydrate, fats, vitamins and minerals.
  4.  Divided the class into groups of three and four students each.
  5.  Assign the groups the projects of planning a three meal a day menu
for five days.
  6.  Use the newspaper food ads to figure ;the cost of their menus.
Stress that economy is important.  
  7.  Each group presents their menu to the class and must be able to
defend their selections.
  8.  Record the total costs of each menu and they have each group construct
a bar or line graph to show the differences in the menu costs.

    
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:  This is a culminating activity.