Gardening for Nutrition

Students create a rap song or chant and dance containing and promoting the components of their favorite salad as well as use chant as a device to remember that plants do not eat and only plants produce food.

Students will evaluate their meal selections, determine the caloric content and evaluate eating and exercise options to maintain a healthy weight.

USDA’s “Nutrient Database” will be the focus of research to identify which foods contain necessary nutrients and which foods grown in the garden are most nutrient dense or will meet specific nutritional needs.

Students explore the meaning of essential nutrients, using periodic tables to compare the elements that are essential to people and plants. Students make predictions as to where in the environment plants obtain each of their essential elements.

This lesson is a sensory exploration of the herbs and spices that create food scents and flavors with a mystery twist- geographic and cultural examination. Herb growing in the garden will be encouraged. Students will be asked to explore antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that herbs provide.

Using a WebQuest, students will research foods grown in Florida and nutritional requirements of different age groups to determine if survival consuming only foods from Florida is possible.