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Grade Level: 3-5
Academic Areas: Health, Physical, and Family and Consumer Sciences,
Science
Duration of service: Semester-Long
Character Virtues: Caring, Giving, Civic Virtue and Citizenship
Service Areas: Human Services, Education/Tutoring
Service Learning Project:
After completing a unit about nutrition, students will help inform
and raise awareness of proper nutrition for families. In the process,
students will create a balanced menu to feed a family of four
for a week. Along with a grocery list and projected cost for those
groceries, students will create a brochure/newsletter that reflects
their understanding of the importance of including all of the
food groups in their daily meals. These brochures/newsletter will
reflect how families can better spend their money without sacrificing
nutritional content. These brochures/newsletter will be reproduced
and given to local grocery stores to distribute to the community.
To further reach out to the community, students will then begin
organizing the collection of food goods for those who are less
privileged to help them to create well balanced meals. A second
option that could be included to reach out to the community, students
will organize and raise money (bake sale) to donate to a local
agency who distributes food to families in need. (Note: Either
or both community outreach could be used depending on your community,
school, or classroom dynamics.)
Goals and Objectives
Academic
Learning Goal: Students will demonstrate an understanding of
what a balanced diet is and how to provide a nutritious meal on
a budget.
Standard: HPE/FCS Standard # 1 and Standard # 3
Learning Goal: Students will read and evaluate food labels to
determine the nutritional values of food.
Learning Goal: Students will write business letters to solicit
community involvement.
Standard: ELA Standard #1- and ELA Standard # 3 AND standard
# 4 MST # 1, # 2, # 3
Service
Community need: A lack of good nutrition among families who are
economically disadvantaged.
Possible Community Partners: soup kitchens, local groceries/businesses,
PTA, school clubs, food manufacturers, local restaurants, local
food pantries
Objective: Students will create brochures/newsletter that demonstrate
their understanding of proper nutrition.
Objective: Students will design a method of collecting, sorting
and distributing food items and brochures to those in need.
Objective: Students will organize and run a fund raising activity
(ex. bake sale) to raise money to be donated to a local agency
that distributes food to families in need.
Character
Virtue: Caring
Objective: Students will gain compassion for those who are economically
disadvantaged.
Virtue: Giving
Objective: Students give of their time to complete this project.
Virtue: Civic Virtue and Citizenship
Objective: Students will build public awareness about the importance
of a balanced diet and how to manage nutritious meals on a budget.
Key Activities
Key Planning Activities
1. Students will write letters to local food manufacturers and
businesses asking for donations of non-perishable food items and
permission to distribute brochures in their stores. Students will
also create fliers to send home requesting family donations.
2. Students will organize and create posters to advertise a fund
raising activity (bake sale) within their school to raise funds
for a local food shelf agency. Students will help prepare some
of the food items for the bake sale as well as run the sale during
the school day. This activity could be done along with activity
number one or instead of depending on your specific needs.)
3. Students will take a trip to the local grocery store to research
and practice comparing food labels. (If a field trip is not possible,
other ideas include: having students bring in food, asking the
local food store manager to speak to the children, asking the
district’s food service coordinator to speak, seeking out
the assistance of parents and/or nutritionists to speak to the
students, asking food pantry leaders/soup kitchen supervisors
to come to school to speak to the children.)
4. A variety of food items will be purchased (generic vs. name
brand) for the students to complete a taste testing activity.
(The focus of this activity is to show the students that many
generic items taste the same as name brand items and your family
can save a lot of money by purchasing them. The students will
not know which items they are sampling (generic vs. name brand)
and they will pick which one they like better. Results will be
reviewed and discussed.)
Key Service Activities
1. Students will create donation boxes to be placed in local
supermarkets and places of worship. They will then arrange groups
of students to collect items.
2. Students will create the food baskets to be distributed to
economically disadvantaged community members.
3. Students will design brochures/newsletters that will be distributed
to the community in the food baskets as well as at the local grocery
stores.
4. Students will organize and run a fund raising activity (bake
sale).
5. Students will visit the local agency that the funding is being
given to. (if possible)
Key Reflection Activities
1. (oral – civic virtue and citizenship) Students will
discuss in groups what benefits, if any, their new knowledge provided
the community. What about the project was effective and what could
be improved for the future? What frustrations did they meet? This
oral reflection will be done throughout the entire project.
2. (written – caring) Students will write poems about what
food means to them, to their family, and to economically disadvantaged
members of the community. They will then compare and contrast
these different perspectives.
3. Students will design a newsletter to be sent home and distributed
in the local community about the project. Updates can also be
placed in the school wide newsletter sent home weekly.
4. (performance – giving) Students will host a “fact
a day” for the school at which they will share with their
schoolmates facts about nutrition and its real-life applications
for students. (This may be done in any fashion based on your school
activities)
5. Students will participate in a taste testing activity with
generic vs. name brand items and choose which items they prefer.
(A cost comparison will also be part of this activity.)
Demonstration Activity
Pictures will be taken throughout the project. Students will
organize these pictures and report to the public and the school
board about their project. Information will be provided to the
newspapers and other local merchants about the project. Community
members will be invited to a night of GOOD EATING where the students
will present their information about nutrition and show the work
they have done to promote it in the community. Certificates and
thank you letters will be created by the students and will be
given to local merchants who participated in the FOOD for THOUGHT
project. Their names will be provided to the local newspapers
so they can be recognized. Food pantry and soup kitchen supervisors,
grocery store managers, etc, will be invited to attend this event.
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