Week 8
Class 1: Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin means ‘vital for life’. Vitamins and minerals are compounds necessary for the healthy functioning of our bodies. We need vitamins and minerals to help us grow, to see correctly, to form bones, muscles, skin and organs, as well as to help us battle infections. Deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals can lead to severe problems.
The best way to ensure you are receiving enough vitamins and minerals for healthy growth and development is to eat a wide variety of fresh foods from the five food groups.
Our class goal today is: SEL Goal:
Let's start with a little introductory presentation:
1. We can store some vitamins in our body for future needs, and some others we need to eat them in a regular basis not to get sick. Read the TeensHealth website (under the title "what are vitamins and minerals") and explain which ones do we store? which ones don't? and why does this happen?
2. Go to the BYJUS website and:
a) Write the name of fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins
b) Complete the Venn diagram for vitamins and minerals, taking into account their similarities and differences:
3. Visit the website BETTERHEALTH website and complete this information about some of the most important vitamins (you can search for key words in the text to make the search easier):
a) Receiving sunlight is necessary to produce this vitamin: ______________________
b) Its deficiency can cause blindness: ______________________
c) Vitamin in charge of blood clotting and wound healing (coagulación): _____________
d) Their deficiency can cause osteoporosis (1 vitamin and 1 mineral): ___________________
e) Mineral that is essential to make thyroid hormone: ________________
4. Choose 4 vitamins and 4 minerals and create a crossword with clues using the 8 nutrients you chose. For the clues use their function. The Harvard website has a list of vitamins and minerals you can use to choose the ones you are going to use and the BBC website and healthykids has some of their functions. Here you have an example of a crossword:
Throughout these lessons, we have discovered
that food is much more than something we eat
when we are hungry — it is the fuel that helps our
bodies grow, move, think, heal, and stay healthy.
We explored how carbohydrates give us energy,
proteins help build and repair our bodies, fats
protect and support important functions, and
vitamins and minerals keep our systems working
properly every day. Each nutrient has an important
role, and together they help us live active
and healthy lives.
Now, it is time to bring everything together in our final class about nutrition and a healthy diet. We will learn how to make balanced food choices, understand the importance of variety and moderation, and reflect on how our eating habits affect our physical and emotional well-being. By the end, you will be able to see food not only as something delicious, but also as a powerful tool to care for yourself and your health.
Class 2: Nutrition
I will be able to identify the main vitamins and minerals, explain their functions in the human body, and describe how they contribute to maintaining good health through a balanced diet.
I will reflect on how the foods I eat help my body stay healthy and identify ways I can take better care of myself through good nutrition.
Before we start, Take this test about nutrition to check what you already know about this topic:
1. Visit the Centre for health protection website and complete the activities:
a) Draw the food pyramid in your notebook
b) Explain the shape of the pyramid using the food groups
c) What happens if we don't eat the right amount of food? (explain both cases)
Nutrition means taking in all the substances we
need to provide us with energy, and with the raw
materials for building our bodies.
These nutrients are absorbed into the blood, and
then carried all over the body to each of our cells.
The cells take in the nutrients and make use of
them, a process called assimilation.
So, let's learn more about the nutrients we need to be healthy, the factors that affect the amount of food we need and the meaning of the word "calories".
2. Listen to the audio and answer: (DUCKSTERS)
a) Why is nutrition in kids important?
b) How are the calories stored?
c) Mention the 5 food groups
d) Write one fun fact
3. Go to the Britannica website and complete:
Under the title "Empty Calories and Fast Food":
a) Explain what are empty calories or poor-nutrient foods
b) Write some examples of empty calories food
c) In the paragraph titled "Calories and energy balance" find:
in which factors depends the number of calories a person might need? explain the example
4. Visit the kids Britannica site and define what are calories?
5. Let's analyze nutritional labels. For this you must take into account the following information:
Most of the information on the label is given in percentages.
Percent daily value is most useful for seeing if a
food is high or low in nutrients:
-
A food with 5% or less of a nutrient is low in that nutrient.
-
A food with 10%–19% of a nutrient is a good source of that nutrient.
-
A food with 20% or more of a nutrient is high in that nutrient
Compare two different burgers and choose which one is a healthier choice, these are their nutritional labels. Give at least 3 reasons for your answer (compare at least 3-4 nutrients and use the information provided above to say which food is high or low in a good or a bad nutrient):
6. You are almost finished! ... this last point does not go in the notebook. It's a test to check how healthy is your diet, so take it answering according to what your eating habits are and find out if you are giving your body all the nutrients it needs:
