Little D's Nutrition Expedition™

Lesson Modifications

Personalizing the Program
Since no two classrooms are the same, we realize that you may want to customize Little D's activities. Here are some suggestions that you may find helpful:

• Most lessons run 30-45 minutes. Two lessons, Activity 2 and Activity 4, can take up to 60 minutes; however you can also teach each of these activities in two, 30-minute blocks. Suggestions for dividing these activities are provided in the lesson.
• Activities 3, 5 and 6 take approximately 45 minutes. About 30 minutes is needed for the core lesson. An additional 15 minutes is needed for the Food Group Wall Dragon, which is a visual review of the Five Food Groups. If your periods are 30 minutes or less:
• Schedule another time slot of about 10 to 15 minutes to do a quick review and to complete the Wall Dragon portion of these lessons.
• Allow students to complete their portion of the Wall Dragon during free time.
• All student materials are written at the second-grade reading level or simpler. If you have many students reading below grade level, complete the reading activities as a large group.
• Use Little D's Interactive Nutrition Games to reinforce the nutrition concepts taught in class.
• Use the GOING FURTHER activities at the end of each lesson to enrich the program for more advanced students or to include more movement in your classroom.
• Select titles from the Book List to supplement Little D's Nutrition Expedition™.

Get Students Moving
Incorporating movement into classroom activities serves many purposes. It:

• Provides variety in instruction.
• Helps students release pent-up energy after being seated for extended periods.
• Models age-appropriate activity in the classroom.

Movement is incorporated into several activities:

• Within several reading selections.
• In GOING FURTHER activities.
• As part of the teaching strategy in selected lessons.

Evaluation Ideas

• Use the "Check for Understanding" at the end of most Activities, to assess whether students have achieved the lesson's Activity Outcomes.
• Use the pre- and post-test found in Little D's Downloadable Materials to assess students' learning over the course of the entire unit.

Home Connections
Making healthy eating a permanent habit often depends on what happens at home. Reinforce and extend Little D's Nutrition Expedition™ messages using Home Connections, where you'll find blackline masters of handouts for adults. These handouts provide parents and guardians with basic nutrition information and help share the excitement students are experiencing with this program.

Classroom-Cafeteria Connections
The cafeteria is another important arena for reinforcing the classroom nutrition messages. You'll find suggestions for classroom-cafeteria connections on page 7 of the Nutrition Backgrounder.

The school cafeteria and your school food service director or manager are a great resource. For example:

• Ask the school foodservice director or manager to supply foods for GOING FURTHER activities, Cheeses of the World (Activity 2) and Before and After (Activity 5)
• Request a guided tour of the cafeteria, and identify Five Food Group foods served on the line and discuss their importance for good health.
• Invite the foodservice director or manager to visit your class and talk about the foods served in the cafeteria.
• Share Little D's Nutrition Expedition™ artwork for use on cafeteria bulletin boards, menus or food stations.
• Conduct poster contests related to specific nutrition concepts taught in the program.
• Institute a family night where you and the school foodservice personnel can showcase how knowledge in the classroom is being applied to mealtime.
• Have students share what they have learned.
• Display the Food Group Wall Dragon, posters and other nutrition-related artwork
• Invite parents and guardians to share their favorite Five Food Group recipe.
• Invite parents and guardians to speak about foods from their cultural background.