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)
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
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