To eat or not to eat

After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, students will sort the foods the caterpillar ate by foods they need or don't need for their body.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Studies

By Karlyn Sugg

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• Learn more about English language arts, healthful living, nutrition, and reading.

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Learning outcomes

Students will sort foods our body needs and does not need.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

30–45 minutes

Materials/resources

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• pictures of foods that the caterpillar ate (can be cut from magazines)
• extra pictures of food (enough for each student)
• two hula-hoops
• labels or signs for the hula hoops: “Foods We Need” and “Foods We Do Not Need”

Pre-activities

Students should be aware of the foods that their body needs through previous lessons on nutrition and the food pyramid.

Activities

1. Teacher will do a short review of previous lessons on nutrition and the food pyramid. Teacher will introduce the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. (Anytime I introduce a book, we talk about the parts of the book, author and illustrator, and take a picture walk through the book. This is not necessary for this lesson but is a great way to add English Language Arts goals). Teacher reads the book the first time for enjoyment. Students discuss what the story was about. Teacher will reread the book. This time, students are to listen for the foods the caterpillar ate in the book.
2. After the book has been reread, students will name the foods the caterpillar ate on each day. Students will dictate, as teacher records on chart paper, what the caterpillar ate for each day. For example: On Monday, he ate ________________. After the foods have been listed, students will help the teacher read the chart aloud.
3. Teacher will have students sit in a circle. Place the two hula-hoops in the middle of the circle with the hoops overlapping each other to form a Venn diagram. Label each hula-hoop with the labels, “Foods We Need” and “Foods We Do Not Need.” It is not necessary to label the middle section (JPG attachment available depicting an example). Give each student a picture of food the caterpillar ate. Give extra food pictures to the rest of the class. Have students place their food in the appropriate hoop one at a time. If a student has trouble with the food, have other students help and talk about why it belongs in that hoop. When students get to foods like ice cream and cherry pie, they may choose either hoop. Talk about why ice cream is needed (milk) and why it is not needed (sugar). Teacher will explain that these items could go in either group. Then students will place them in the middle of the hoops. After all the foods have been sorted, teacher asks students what kinds of foods our bodies need (fruits, vegetables, etc.) and which ones we don’t need (candy, cake, etc.). Teacher can refer back to previous lessons on nutrition and the food pyramid.

If you would like to extend this further in math, count the foods in each group. Talk about which group has most/least. You can also use the sorted foods to make a real graph with the pictures.

As a follow-up activity, you can use the same pictures in a center for the students to sort individually.

Assessment

Teacher will assess students by keeping anecdotal records while observing students as they choose the group in which their food belongs.