Food Learning Activities
Across the Curriculum
Relationship to Illinois Learning Standards

Printable version

Arts and Aesthetics

*Constructing (LS26A1e)

• 3-dimensional objects such as the tractor out of boxes and junk, food out of clay (pizza, fruit, etc.)
• Build with craft supplies, paper mach, newspaper, balloons, modeling clay, cardboard (pizza dough mixer, dough flattener, shelf from a grocery store
• Build with food
• Construct tractor, farmer and animals, body showing digestion tract, dough flattening machine, and mixing bowl with dough hook made with boxes and junk
• Construct with commercial made materials:
• Cuisenaire rods
• Geoboards
• Legos
• Measure costumes made for dramatic play
• Pattern blocks
• Problem solve
• Representation of the equipment for making pizza and tractor
• What's Important About Food murals
• Wooden blocks

*Dramatizing (LS25A1b and LS26A1b)

• Dramatize the nursery rhyme Pat-a-cake, There was an old lady who lived in a shoe after discussing the food that was involved in the rhyme
• Practice play lines for puppet shows and skit
• Practice play lines for story innovation of books, The Hungry Thing and Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.
• Role-play farmer, restaurant
• Use child-made puppets to explore creative dramatics

*Memory drawing (LS26B1d)

• Draw favorite food, food they had just eaten, food they would eat, eating food, or preparation
• Draw Jack and the Beanstalk play, potluck and other events from memory because not appropriate to draw at the time
• Draw pictures of what their question is about to help them remember their project questions (e.g., questions for site manager, etc.)
• Draw prediction of what food they will see on walk around preschool classroom, neighboring offices, and outside around the school
• Draw predictions of what expert will say about food and nutrition

*Observational drawing (LS26B1d)

• Draw corn and bean field site visit
• Draw corn and soybeans collected on field trip (Time 1 drawings)
• Draw food brought into classroom for their lunch (Time 1 drawings)
• Draw people working with food and plants (grocery store, cafeteria, pizza restaurant, green house, Busey woods and field mill) from field site visits
• Draw plants, seeds, digestion and mold (artifacts brought in by experts)
• Revisit observational drawings and elaborate, edit, and revise to make Time 2 observational drawings of lunch food, seed sprouts, corn and soybeans

*Painting (LS26A1e)

• Paint food, plant, mold, digestion and animals eating pictures
• Paint fire tractor, dough flattening machine, and mixing bowl with dough hook made with boxes & junk
• Paint murals (depicting themes of the project) for open house and culminating display
• Revisit observational drawings to add detail or information and color with water colors

*Relating art to literature

• Draw pictures and write responses to Jack and the Beanstalk, The Hungry Thing, There was an old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, The Little Red Hen, etc.

*Representations (LS26A1e)

• Create food pictures on the computer with Kid-Pix
• Create "food" mural
• Draw pictures to imitate artistic style of known artist
• Make two-dimensional drawings on a variety of food, plant, seed, digestion, mold, animals eating subjects that they drew throughout the investigation

*Responding to music (LS25A1c, LS26A1c, and LS26B1c)

• Listen for fast/slow, high/low, soft/loud and musical patterns
• Listen to sounds at food field site (feed mill, pizza shops, and cafeteria) and reproduce sounds with instruments
• Move creating a simple creative dance and draw after listening to classical music
• Write a poem with words to describe sounds

*Singing, movement and dance (LS25A1a and LS26A1a)

• Create a simple dance
• Sing Found a Peanut; Oats, Peas Beans and Barley Grow; At the Corner Grocery Store; There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly; Take Me Out of the Bathtub as well as tap and clap to the beat

*Viewing visual art exemplars (LS25A1d)

• Discuss art prints that feature food and analyze elements of art - line, shape, color and texture

Language and Literacy

*Analyzing (LS5B1a)

• Analyze information gathered through field studies (field notes, data tabulation, video of expert interviews, photographs, etc.)

*Classifying

• Classify memory drawings
• Classify questions that children asked to pursue study groups
• Sort and classify ideas for Student Food Topic Web 1 and Student Food Topic Web 2.

*Comparing

• Compare and articulate differences in definitions
  • Photosynthesis, chlorophyll
  • Large intestine, small intestine, pancreas, liver, esophagus, rectum
  • Herbivore, carnivore, omnivore
  • Mycelium, spore, mold, tentacles
  • Taste buds, salt, sweet, sour, bitter
  • Tilting skillet, griddle, steam jacket kettle, stack oven, proofer
  • Egg, shell, membrane, poached, coddled, scrambled, fried, sunny-side up
  • Restaurant, cafeteria, café
  • Food chain, food source, water cycle
  • Parts of plant - flower, seed, fruit, root, stem leaves
  • Pizza, loaves, rolls, hallah, humantachen
• Compare different kinds of cooking equipment
• Compare different kinds of exotic fruits
• Compare different kinds of tastes
• Compare different kinds of ways eggs could get cooked
• Compare temperature needed to make yogurt, cookies, bread

*Critical thinking (LS5A1a)

• Decide on what to present for culminating event
• Decide what to include in mural for culminating event
• Predict, hypothesize, or theorize the answers to their questions
• Support own opinions when responding to questions such as the following:
  • How does your body use food?
  • What food is bad?
  • What is important about food?
  • Where does food come from?

*Developing oral language (LS4A1a and LS4B1b)

• Brainstorm what they remember about food
• Categorize and label to form a topic web or graph
• Design survey questions and ways to show results of surveys - example - How many times do you eat in a day? How many soybean products do you have in your house?
• Discuss in group meetings (whole class, small group, or one-to-one )
  • Food project "opening event"
  • Help in solving problems
  • Puzzling questions
  • Question of the day
  • Responses to different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly, and tunes for Chicken Soup with Rice, and art exemplars
• Interview experts
• Listen in large group discussions, small group, one to one, and to experts
• Report progress on representations, experiments, research, etc.

*Formulating questions (LS4A1b and LS5A1a)

• Develop researchable questions
• Ponder questions at the beginning, middle and end of the project

*Integrating new vocabulary

• Brainstorm words they know about the topic before and after studying (Topic Web I and Topic Web II)
• Use new vocabulary words in conversation

*Making lists

• Characters for puppet show and plays
• Jobs related to food and nutrition
• Kinds of food in our school
• Make lists of what they might see
• Make lists of what they would like to research
• Questions to be asked on parent questionnaire
• Questions, predictions, and findings
• Vocabulary list
• What kinds of things are eaten and by whom
• What they had learned
• What they might do
• What they would need for their representations, models, etc.

*Planning

• Develop power point presentation
• Draw a design for representation
• Follow phases of writing, and pre-write and discuss ideas for "Jack and the Beanstalk, Three Little Pigs innovation" stories
• Write web for food and plant knowledge

*Presenting (LS4B1a)

• Explain food posters, models, PowerPoint presentations, representations, stories, puppet show and food skit to the neighboring classroom and parents at the Open house and culminating event
• Serve food for the Pizza Sale and Culminating Pot Luck
• Share personal food story with the class
• Share progress on representations with the class
• Share stories, puppet show and poems written about food with the class

*Reading (LS5A1b)

• Choose food, plant, body and digestion books for Independent Reading time
• Dictate a project experience story (after a field trip, after talking with an expert)
• Make a book out of experience story
• Read about length of small intestine and mold from an Internet search
• Read child authored stories
  • Adapted stories
  • Co-operative stories
  • "Jack and the Beanstalk, There was an Old Lady and Three Little Pigs" innovations
  • Poems
• Read nursery rhymes booklets - Pat-a-cake, Little Tommy Tucker, Lady who lived in a Shoe, Four and Twenty Blackbirds etc.
• Use experience story for reading

*Reflecting

• Brainstorm "What I Now Know"
• Edit stories for publication
• Respond to the literature through writing or discussion
• Self - evaluate
  • Edit writings for publication
  • PowerPoint presentations
  • Progress to complete any part of the project
  • What I have learned about the project
• Think about and write or tell "what I learned" after field visits

*Using references and resources (LS5A1b)

*Writing (LS5C1a )

• Book log entries of the title, author, date and comments about books read
• Describe the sound of animals at the farm
• Label parts of a plant
• Plan representations and presentations for culminating event
• Record field trip and expert findings
• Write books that integrate new knowledge about food
• Write food chain
• Write food questions
• Write innovation stories
• Write invitations for culminating event
• Write memory stories about food
• Write number stories about the project
• Write or dictate a self-evaluation of food project
• Write poetry that integrates food
• Write PowerPoint presentation
• Write predictions of what they will find out on field trips or from experts
• Write reports on what they have learned
• Write stories about various aspects of the topic
• Write survey questions
• Write thank you letters to the experts
• Write web of what they know about food and plants

Investigative Skills-Science

*Exploring (LS11B1c)

• Explore questions such as the following:
  • Where does food come from?
  • Do you have all the food groups in your lunch?
  • What is "junk food?"
• Dissect a lima bean seed soaked over night
• Taste salty, sweet, sour, and bitter food
• Compare the feel of flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, baking soda, sugar, salt
• Use bread dough to form pizza, loaves, rolls, hallah, humantachen
• Grinding seeds (wheat, beans, and corn)

*Experimenting (LS11A1c, LS11A1f, LS11B1b, and LS11B1d)

• Answer questions such as the following:
  • Will mold form on everything - bread, fruits & vegetables, cheese, etc?
  • How long will it take to form mold?
  • How can mold be stopped?
  • Will plants grow with and/or without air?
  • Will plants grow with and/or without sunlight?
  • Will plants grow with/or without soil?
  • Will plant grow with/or without water?
  • What kind of food does the classroom turtle prefer?
  • What kind of food do worms prefer?
  • What do chocolate chip cookies taste like without the chocolate chips?

* Investigating (LS11A1b)

• Is water a food?
• How does the body use food?
• How do plants make food?
• How does food help our body?

*Observing (LS11A1a and LS11A1e)

• Dissect and describe parts of seeds and plants
• Observe mold
• Observe corn
• Observe soybeans
• Observe wheat
• Observe food from lunch

*Predicting (LS11B1a)

• Predict descriptions what food is available in the neighborhood
• Predict possible answers to questions formulated before talking to an expert
• Predict prior to conducting experiments
• Predict purpose of kitchen tools and equipment
• Predict what kinds of food are in our school and CRC

*Reporting (LS11B1e)

• Report the test process and results of their experiments
• Report what small investigating group found out on field site visit

Numeration and Problem Solving

*Counting (LS6A1b, LS6D1, LS10B1b)

• Count and compare the following:
  • Number of corn kernels on an ear of corn
  • Number of cups or fractions of cups when measuring
  • Number of inches, centimeters, pounds, ounces etc. used in measuring
  • Number of soybean seeds in a pod
  • Number of soybean seeds on a soybean plant
  • Number of wheat seeds on a stalk
  • Tally what they see on their field trips

*Estimating

• Estimate the following:
  • Amount of something (beans, etc.) that would fit into a container
  • Length, height and width of objects before measuring (ear of corn)
  • Number of days to an event, e.g., seed will sprout
  • Weight of objects before weighing (pumpkin, apple)

*Measuring (LS7A1a, LS7A1b, LS7A1d)

• Measure number of days until seeds sprout
• Measure the following items converting nonstandard measurement to standard measurement by comparing Cuisenaire links, Cuisenaire rods, inches and centimeters
  • Bean plant
  • Ear of corn
  • Onion plants
  • Spider plant
• Measure the height, height, and width of corn, beans plant and wheat stalk, etc.
• Measure the temperature of oven when baking bread, cookies and yogurt
• Measure the temperature outside to communicate whether or not students would have an inside or outside recess.
• Tractor, dough flattening machine
• Use food to build representations
• Scenery for puppet stage
• Weight of classmates, corn, pennies, beans, etc.

*Organizing, analyzing, and communicating data (LS10A1a, LS10B1b, and LS10B1c)

• Develop bar graph displaying results from surveying peers
• Develop bar graphs displaying the results of the survey sent to parents
• Develop bar graphs representing data from field trips (e.g., what we saw on walking tour of CRC building, walking in the neighborhood and at the feed mill)
• Develop pie graph displaying the results of one of the survey questions sent to parents

*Problem-solving (LS6B1, LS6C1a, LS7C1, LS7B1a)

• Building the co-operative tractor

*Predicting answers to questions such as the following: (LS10A1b)

• How many pieces do I cut my crepe to get fourths?
• How much salt will taste good in pancakes?
• What is the temperature for baking bread?
• What temperature is good for making yogurt?

*Surveying (LS10B1a)

• How many bean products do you have in your house?
• How often do you eat?
• On Thanksgiving, how many times did you eat meat?
• On Thanksgiving, how many times did you eat vegetables?

*Using geometry

• Analyze geometric relationships
  • 2-dimensional shapes to 3-dimensional shapes
  • Drawings of representation to boxes and junk models
  • Drawings of representation to clay models

Social, Emotional Growth and Dispositions

*Communicating

• Engage in group discussion
• Frame questions skillfully
• Listen to others
• Negotiate roles, turn-taking, problems to solve
• Report progress of investigations at group meetings
• Share research
• Use new vocabulary

*Cooperating and collaborating while working with others

• Prepare displays
• Present final reports
• Study collaboratively in teams

*Empathizing with others and their needs

• Appreciate work of peers noting evidence of effort, care and originality
• Share friends, materials, space and time
• Share praise and appreciation of peers

*Enjoying

*Gaining confidence in abilities to do the following:

• Investigate
• Make presentations to an audience
• Observe people communicating more closely
• Remember experiences of foods
• Represent food in drawings
• Use a variety of mediums to express their ideas

*Helping peers

• Clean up joint project
• Discuss for better understanding
• Problem solve
• Represent

*Initiating

• Choose appropriate materials
• Experiment
• Predict and manage time
• Research to answer questions

*Persevering

*Persisting at a task

*Problem solving

*Risk taking

• State disagreements in conversations or at group meetings
• Support own opinions
• Verbalize estimations, predictions, and hypotheses

Return to top of page
Continue to Illinois Learning Standards >>