ACTIVITY 6 Summary SERVING SIZE PART 1 1. Students begin this lesson with a brief discussion of calories. 2. Next the teacher introduces the term serving size and demonstrates measuring four different serving sizes that are based on the volume of a food 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon. 3. After each demonstration, students are asked to identify a personal reference (a common object that is about the same size as the particular volume). 4. Students also begin filling in the serving sizes of foods on their What s In Each Food Group? charts. 5. Finally students write the sixth Step to Good Health in their Choose Well Owner s Manuals. Estimated Lesson Length 55 minutes Nutrition Objectives ACTIVITY 6 SERVING SIZE Part1 Students will be able to: Explain the meaning of the term serving size. Identify serving size information on Nutrition Facts labels. Recognize foods measured by volume (cups and tablespoons). Cross-Curricular Objectives Students will be able to: Measure food or objects using common measuring tools such as 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and tablespoon. (Mathematics) Develop personal references for a cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon of food. (Mathematics) Materials Required Blackline master 15 Measuring Volume Meet the Power Foods poster Dry measuring cups (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup) Clear liquid measuring cup (8 fluid ounces or larger) Measuring spoons Two handfuls of shredded paper Four plates A few drops of food coloring Pitcher filled with water Three rubber bands Two clear glasses (plastic or glass) of different sizes and widths, each able to hold at least 8 fluid ounces of liquid Choose Well Owner s Manuals (from Activity 1) Scissors (one per student) Tape or glue OPTIONAL: Several balls including a golf ball, tennis ball, Ping-Pong ball, and softball OPTIONAL: Appetite Attack CD-ROM game 27
BLACKLINE MASTER Copyright 2006, CATTLEMEN S BEEF BOARD and NATIONAL CATTLEMEN S BEEF ASSOCIATION. May be duplicated for instructional purposes. 17-770E15 28 ACTIVITY 6 SERVING SIZE Part1 Advance Preparation Review the activity ahead of time. Hang the Meet the Power Foods poster in a spot where all students can see it. Duplicate blackline master 15 Measuring Volume, making one copy for each student. Find a place in your classroom where all students can easily watch you conduct the measuring activities and see the items that you have measured. Instructional Strategy 1. Start by reviewing Activity 5. Ask students: What is the phrase we learned in our last class to remember the names of the five food groups? Using the phrase as a reminder, what are the names of the five food groups? (Grain, Vegetable, Fruit, Milk, Meat and Beans) Next ask students to recite the 6-5-3-3-2 chant using hand motions. Have them repeat the chant a few times, to reinforce the recommended number of daily servings. Have students turn to the back cover of their Choose Well Owner s Manuals. As you review the five steps for good health that students have written down, ask students why each step is important. Also ask students to share examples of ways they are using these steps in selecting foods. 2. Ask students to turn to any page in their Choose Well Owner s Manual with a Nutrition Facts label. Explain: We ve spent a lot of time focusing on the nutrients the body needs from food. Almost every food also provides the body with calories. Ask a few students to share the name of the food and the number of calories on the label they are looking at. Continue: Let s take a quick survey. If you think calories are good, put your thumb up. If you think calories are bad, put your thumb down. 1 cup is about the size of 1/3 cup is about the size of 1 cup 1/2 cup 1/3 cup 1/2 cup is about the size of 1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon is about the size of After students have shared, explain: Believe it or not, calories are good. In fact, we all need calories. Another word for calories is energy. Food provides energy for our bodies to work, play, breathe, and for all body functions. How many calories do you think students your age need? Students your age need about 1800 calories a day for activity and body functions. However, calories can be a problem if we take in more than our body uses. 3. Continue by explaining to students: The first four steps for good health focus on selecting nutritious foods. We all need to eat nutritious foods to get the nutrients we need for good health. In Step 5, we changed our focus asking questions such as: How do we know when we are getting enough of a food? How do we know when we re eating more than we need? What is Step 5? (Eat the recommended number of servings each day 6-5-3-3-2 from the five food groups.) Today we continue learning about getting the right amount of food for good health. 15 Introduce Serving Size 4. Write serving size on the board or overhead. Continue: A serving size is a generally recommended amount of food. Where would you find the recommended serving size for a food? (Meet the Power Foods poster and Nutrition Facts labels.) NOTE: Serving sizes on Nutrition Facts labels may be different from the serving sizes listed on the Meet the Power Foods poster. The serving sizes listed on the label are standardized according to the amount of food customarily eaten per occasion. They are not necessarily aligned to MyPyramid recommendations. Introduce Serving Sizes Measured by Volume 5. Explain that there are different ways to measure food. Today students will focus on foods with serving sizes measured using cups or tablespoons. These foods are measured by their volume. Ask students to look at the Meet the Power Foods poster. Point out the serving size information for each food group. Read off the name of each food on the poster in random order. Instruct students to do the following: If the food is measured by cups or tablespoons, clap your hands. If the food is measured by another method, stomp your feet. 6. Have students turn to the pages in their Choose Well Owner s Manuals with the Nutrition Facts labels. Ask students to find the Serving Size information on the label. Then have them look through their Choose Well Owner s Manuals and identify the foods measured by cup, fraction of a cup or tablespoon. These include sweet potatoes, green peas, raspberries, nonfat milk, vegetable beef soup, and peanut butter.
7. Distribute copies of blackline master 15 Measuring Volume, to students. Hold up a copy of the worksheet and compare the size of the dry measuring cups to the size of the drawings. Point out that these illustrations are life-size. One Cup 8. Help students to develop personal references for each of the four measurements studied in this activity. Begin by filling a 1-cup dry measure with loosely packed shredded paper and emptying it onto a plate. Continue: Unless you travel with measuring cups in your back pack, it might be hard to make sure you re eating the correct-sized serving. For this reason, I m going to measure out 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1 tablespoon. We re going to look at how big these volumes are and see if we can figure out other objects that are about the same size. When you come up with something that is about the same size as a particular unit of measure such as 1 cup, we call this a personal reference. It s a mental image you carry with you all the time that can help you estimate a serving of a particular food. Take a look at 1 cup of Would you say this is the same size as a golf ball? Ping-Pong ball? Tennis ball? Softball? (Tennis ball) How about comparing 1 cup to a part of your hand or arms? (About the size of a preteen s closed fist) Is there something in your desk about this size? 9. Discuss the personal references students suggest. If possible, let them hold the object they suggest next to the cup of paper for comparison. On the Measuring Volume worksheet have students write down a personal reference for a 1-cup serving on the line under the 1-cup illustration. NOTE: Leave the 1-cup of shredded paper on the plate. OPTIONAL: If you have a tennis ball, place it near the 1 cup of 10. The volume of a beverage is more difficult to estimate than the volume of a solid food. To demonstrate this, pour a few drops of food coloring into the pitcher of water. Pour the water into the liquid measuring cup to the 1 cup level. Then pour the water into the first glass. Mark the height of the water in the glass by putting a rubber band around the glass. Show it to the class. Then pour the water into the second glass. Mark the height of the second glass and show it to students. Discuss what they observe. (Liquids take the shape of their containers. The same volume of liquid looks different in different shaped glasses. It might be hard to know how much liquid is in a glass unless you measure with a measuring cup.) 11. Have students turn to the What s In Each Food Group? chart in their Choose Well Owner s Manuals (completed during Activity 1). Explain that 4 items on this chart have a serving size of 1 cup. Have students write 1 c. next to the following four items: spinach, milk, chocolate milk, yogurt. ACTIVITY 6 SERVING SIZE Part1 One-Half Cup 12. Fill a 1/2-cup measure with loosely packed shredded paper and empty it onto the second plate. Ask students to suggest personal references to help them visualize a 1/2 cup. For example, 1/2 cup has been compared to half of a tennis ball. If possible, let students hold the object they suggest next to the 1/2 cup of paper for comparison. Place the plate with 1/2 cup of shredded paper next to the plate with 1 cup. half-cup serving on the line under the 1/2-cup illustration. 13. Have students turn back to the What s In Each Food Group? chart. Explain that there are eighteen items for which 1/2 cup is the serving size. Ask students to write 1/2 c. next to the following foods: rice, pasta, broccoli, carrots, squash, peas, cauliflower, cabbage, watermelon, strawberries, grapes, cherries, peach, plum, pudding, frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, legumes. Ask students: Do you see any patterns? (Many fruits and vegetables have a 1/2-cup serving size; cooked foods from the Grain Group have a 1/2-cup serving size.) One-Third Cup 14. Move on by filling the 1/3-cup measure with loosely packed shredded paper and emptying it onto the third plate. Ask students to suggest personal references to help them visualize 1/3 cup. For example, 1/3 cup is about a handful. If possible, let students hold the object they suggest next to the 1/3 cup of paper for comparison. Place the plate with 1/3 cup of shredded paper near the plates with 1 cup and 1/2 cup of 1/3-cup serving on the line under the 1/3-cup illustration. 29
30 ACTIVITY 6 SERVING SIZE Part1 15. Have students turn back to the What s In Each Food Group? chart. Explain that there are two items for which 1/3 cup is the serving size. Ask students to write 1/3 cup next to almonds and sunflower seeds. One Tablespoon 16. Complete this activity by filling a tablespoon with shredded paper and emptying it onto the fourth plate. (If your paper is in longer strips, it may be necessary to cut it into smaller pieces.) Ask students to suggest personal references to help them visualize one tablespoon. For example, one tablespoon is about the size of half a Ping-Pong ball. If possible, let students hold the object they suggest next to the one tablespoon of paper for comparison. Place the plate with one tablespoon of shredded paper next to the other plates. OPTIONAL: Place a Ping-Pong ball next to the one tablespoon of one-tablespoon serving on the line under the one-tablespoon illustration. 17. On the What s In Each Food Group? chart, explain that one item is measured in tablespoons peanut butter. The serving size for peanut butter is two tablespoons. Ask students to write 2 T. next to peanut butter on the chart. 18. Ask students to look at the What s In Each Food Group? chart. There are two more foods on the chart measured using a part of a cup. What foods are those? (Orange juice and milkshake) What is the serving size for each of them? (Both have a serving size of 1/2 cup.) Pour 1/2 cup of colored water from the pitcher into the liquid measurer. Before pouring the water from the measurer into one of the glasses, ask students: How high do you think 1/2 cup will fill? Pour the water in. Mark the height with another rubber band so students can see the difference between 1 cup of liquid and 1/2 cup of liquid. Point out: If you want to be sure you are drinking a correct serving size of a liquid, measure it with a liquid measuring cup. 19. On the What s In Each Food Group? chart, have students write 1/2 cup next to the orange juice and milkshake. 20.Point out to students that the total amount of food they consume depends on the number of servings and the serving sizes they eat. Do you remember in the last nutrition class when you filled out the food log? The food log was more of an estimate than a precise measurement. That s because we didn t include the serving size of each food. 21. Have students turn to the back page of their Choose Well Owner s Manuals. Explain: The best way to make sure you are eating the correct serving size for a food such as fruits, vegetables, pasta, milk, and peanut butter is to measure the food using measuring cups and tablespoons. But lots of times we don t have the measuring equipment handy. So we need Plan B. The next best way to make sure you are eating the correct amount is to remember and use your personal reference for that serving size. On line 6, please write the following: Use cups, tablespoons and personal references to help eat the right-sized servings of foods. 22.Ask students to cut worksheet 15 Measuring Volume along the dotted lines and tape or glue each portion of the handout onto a page of their Choose Well Owner s Manuals. 23.OPTIONAL: Allow students to play the Appetite Attack CD-ROM to reinforce concepts taught in the Choose Well nutrition unit. 2006, CBB and NCBA Extending the Learning WORD SMART As a class, make a Believe It or Not? book of Serving Sizes. Ask students to bring in Nutrition Facts labels for foods they eat. Encourage them to bring labels for Extra Foods as well as Power Foods. Many people are surprised to discover the serving sizes of their favorite foods. (For example, a typical serving size for potato chips is 1 ounce or about 11 chips.) Using the Nutrition Facts labels, have students guess the serving size of each item. After you share the serving size, ask students to vote if this label goes into the Believe it or Not? book. MATH SMART Ask students to use their personal references to evaluate the serving sizes of foods served in the school cafeteria. Discuss their findings in class. Have students measure the amount of liquid held in the drinking cup they use at home. They can do this by filling the cup/glass with water and pouring the liquid into a measuring cup. Have students report on their findings.
BLACKLINE MASTER 15 1 cup 1/2 cup 1 cup is about the size of 1/2 cup is about the size of 1/3 cup 1 tablespoon 1/3 cup is about the size of 1 tablespoon is about the size of Copyright 2006, CATTLEMEN S BEEF BOARD and NATIONAL CATTLEMEN S BEEF ASSOCIATION. May be duplicated for instructional purposes. 17-770E15