This curricular unit, intended for 5th grade science or health students, will focus on alternative ways of eating instead of following the Standard American Diet in order to become healthier. “ The increasing prevalence and consequences of childhood obesity have prompted calls for broad public health solutions that reach beyond clinic settings. Schools are ideal settings for population-based interventions.” (Foster 2008) To that end, I believe children need to be exposed to vegetarianism and its various forms in school.
Of course parents also play a major role in what their children eat. Children tend to eat the kinds of food that mom and dad eat, and if those foods are not healthful choices, the foundation for selecting nutritional whole foods to eat will not be there. Many parents may not recognize there are alternative ways of eating, so they have not exposed their children to many vegetarian foods or even realize that a vegetarian lifestyle can be quite healthful. This unit will provide that introduction.
Students will have multiple experiences that they will document in journals. They will record new vocabulary regarding obesity, vegetarianism, and their reactions to guest speakers and recipes made in the classroom. They will document research learned about diseases caused by a diet high in fat, sugar and cholesterol. From their experiences in the unit, students will write a poem, essay, rap, play, draw an illustration or comic book about what becoming a vegetarian would mean to them.