Students examine variations in leaves and consider how leaf adaptations can help plants survive in different environments.

Using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Nutrient Database,” the students will compete to predict which vegetables or fruits grown in the school garden contain the highest levels of specific nutrients, graph the results and research the value of those nutrients to their growth and health.

Students compare their own similarities and differences. They then grow and compare several varieties of lettuce plants to explore variations within the same type of plant.

Grouping things with similar characteristics helps us make sense of our world.

Students will sort fruits and vegetables (by examining plants grown in the school garden, purchased in the market, or featured in models or pictures) into the parts of the plant eaten as food, identify a serving size, and locate where on MyPlate the food belongs. Understanding the food storage function of a specific plant part will aid in understanding the nutrition provided by that plant part.

This activity introduces what influences students’ own food choices and those of people in different cultures.

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 participate in creating a food product, identify and explain the steps in production, and describe the influence of those steps in the cost of the item.

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.