As we near Thanksgiving, there is always lots of talk about food. In order to educate the children about being healthy and making healthy food choices our theme this week was Nutrition.
In the dramatic play area, the children had a chance to act out various roles in a Grocery Store. The students pretended to be cashiers, baggers and shoppers. They used shopping lists to select their items and paid with pretend money.
During circle time we discussed three things we needed to do to be healthy- eat healthy food, exercise (move) and sleep. The children were introduced to the five food groups and how healthy meals include something from each of the groups. I emphasized the importance of eating a rainbow throughout the day or foods of many different colors. The children practiced sorting fruits and vegetables by color and foods into the correct food group. We used Choose My Plate as a visual. The website is filled with interesting information https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Throughout the week, the children engaged in activities to identify their own healthy eating and to learn more about the food groups. They built their vocabulary for fruits and vegetables too! During snack each day, we discussed what the students were eating and which group their snack should be placed. During free play they played the My Plate Game which again asked them to name and sort foods by group.
In the play doh center, the children made different fruits that they might buy at the grocery store.
In the art center, the children painted with different fruits and vegetables.
At the end of the week, we talked about picky eaters and how important it is to try new things. I read the story I Really Like Slop by Mo Willems in which Elephant tries slop even though he doesn't want to. I then asked the children to try eating a rainbow. In my rainbow I included tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, oranges, carrots, bananas, asparagus, green beans, avocado, blueberries and grapes. I am happy to report that everyone at least licked everything!
Also this week, we focused on the story The Little Red Hen. We read two different versions of the story and compared the characters and plot. The students also predicted what the Little Red Hen would do in the end and then we discussed why she made the decision she did in each of the books. The children then had a chance to act out the story in small groups.
Our sensory table was filled with corn this week and hidden inside were the characters from the little red hen for the children to discover.
Other skills we focused on this week were prepositions (under, above, beside), 1:1 counting, rhyming, and patterns.
