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Graphing Our Snacks


Subjects

  • Mathematics
    --Arithmetic
    --Statistics
  • Health
    --Nutrition
    --Our Bodies

Grade

  • 3-5
  • 6-8
  • 9-12

Brief Description

Students graph the fat content of their favorite snack foods.

Objectives

Students

  • gather information from Nutrition Facts labels on their favorite snack foods.
  • graph the calories from fat (younger students) or calculate and graph the percentage of fat (older students).
  • share their graphs with classmates.
  • reflect on what they learned from this graphing activity.

Keywords

graph, bar graph, nutrition, snack foods, fat, calories from fat, nutrition facts, nutrition label, nutrition facts

Materials Needed

  • a selection of snack foods to choose from (students might bring in from home the nutrition labels from favorite snack foods or you might provide packages -- or photocopies of Nutrition Facts labels from packages -- of snack-packs sold in grocery stores)
  • Graphing Our Snacks printable work sheet

Lesson Plan

National Nutrition Month (March) -- or, for that matter, any other time of year -- is a great time to challenge students to look at the things they eat. In this activity students will examine some of their favorite snack foods for their nutritional value.

  • Young students will graph the "Calories from Fat" information on the Nutrition Facts label.
  • Older students will graph the "percentage of fat." That information can be determined by dividing the "Calories from Fat" by the "Total Calories per Serving" information that appears at the top of any Nutrition Facts label.
Provide students with a copy of the Graphing Our Snacks printable work sheet. If you teach young students, label the y axis "Calories from Fat" before photocopying the work sheet. Older students can label the y axis "Percentage of Fat."

Students will graph the fat content of three different types of snack food of their choice -- for example, different types of chips or a variety of snacks that might include pretzels, peanuts, cheese puffs, and others.

Technology Integration
As an alternative to using the printable work sheet provided with this lesson, students might use the free and easy-to-use Create a Graph tool to create their graphs.

Assessment

Provide an opportunity for students to share their graphs and make brief statements about their findings and what they learned from this activity.

Lesson Plan Source

EducationWorld.com

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

FINE ARTS: Visual Arts
GRADES K - 4
NA-VA.K-4.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.K-4.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-VA.5-8.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
GRADES 9 - 12
NA-VA.9-12.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines

MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations
GRADES 3 - 5
NM-NUM.3-5.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
GRADES 6 - 8
NM-NUM.6-8.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.6-8.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
GRADES 9 - 12
NM-NUM.9-12.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.9-12.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates

MATHEMATICS: Connections
GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-CONN.PK-12.1 Recognize and Use Connections Among Mathematical Ideas NM-CONN.PK-12.3 Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics

MATHEMATICS: Representation
GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-REP.PK-12.1 Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
NM-REP.PK-12.3 Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH: Health
GRADES K - 4
NPH-H.K-4.4 Health Influences
NPH-H.K-4.5 Using Communication Skills to Promote Health
GRADES 5 - 8
NPH-H.5-8.4 Health Influences
NPH-H.5-8.5 Using Communication Skills to Promote Health
GRADES 9 - 12
NPH-H.9-12.4 Health Influences
NPH-H.9-12.5 Using Communication Skills to Promote Health

TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations and Concepts
NT.K-12.3 Technology Productivity Tools
NT.K-12.4 Technology Communications Tools

See more Lesson Plans of the Day in our Lesson Plan of the Day Archive. (There you can search for lessons by subject too.)

For additional health lesson plans, see these Education World resources:

Education World®
Copyright© 2006 Education World

03/03/2006



 

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