Introduction 

Students in today’s schools are unsure of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. The trick to healthy living is making small changes...taking more steps, adding fruit to your cereal, having an extra glass of water...these are just a few ways you can start living healthy without drastic changes. It isn't easy to eat healthy meals and snacks in today's world of fast-food restaurants, high calorie foods such as frozen prepared foods, confectionery and pre-packaged foods. Government studies show that more and more Americans are not eating healthy and are becoming overweight or obese. Even young children are weighing more than ever before. Children who put on excess weight often eat an unhealthy diet and do not participate in daily physical activity of 30 minutes or more. In fact, one in four American children are becoming overweight or obese. According to the American Obesity Association, about 28 percent of U.S. men, 34 percent of U.S. women, and 15 percent of children and adolescents are considered obese. 

Task

The school’s cafeteria staff wants to "beef" up their menu and has asked your class to prepare a three day menu at your school. They also want you to develop a PowerPoint presentation that explains the importance of a proper diet with exercise which will be shown during the lunch period for each grade. You will learn more about planning healthy meals by viewing videos on the food pyramid and playing games that will help you further understand how to plan a balanced diet.

 

Process

 

Now it is time for some health learning fun! You will have seven different tasks to complete as part of the Web Quest. Below are the descriptions of each task:

Kids and Exercise (Task #1):

Exercising regularly can really help you stay fit and healthy. List five reasons why exercise is good for you and five ways to be safe while exercising. List some of your favorite exercises. Create an illustration of your favorite. 

 

Explore the World of Nutrition (Task # 2):

 

In small groups of two or three use magazine pictures, grocery ads, or computer clip art pictures to create three nutritious meals. On paper plates make one of each: breakfast, lunch and dinner. (The plates should be marked to represent each meal of the day.) Using the food section, have the groups locate nutritious items with which to "make" breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Students should clip names and pictures of these food items, and paste them on the appropriate plates. 

 

Food Pyramid and Food Groups (Task # 3):

 

In small groups, visit the USDA's food pyramid site. Under the animation tab on the right side of the page, please view the video on the food pyramid for a review. After watching the video, play the Blast Off game. Each team member should take a turn playing the game. This game helps learn which food groups are important in the planning of a healthy, balanced meal. Use the meal planner on the page to create a menu, which offers healthy eating tips and meal ideas for an entire day, print out, and hand out to the class.

 

Do not Get Caught Dirty Handed (Task # 4):

 

It is very important to keep your hands clean to help prevent the spread of germs. Nobody likes to be sick. Learn how to control the spread of germs and diseases by visiting the following site. Watch the videos on hand washing before taking the hand-washing quiz at: http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/JustForKids/Handwashing_Quiz.aspx

 

Chew on This! Your Teeth and You (Task # 5):

 

You have been chosen to watch a comic strip about the importance of personal hygiene as part of a healthy lifestyle. This information will be part of the Web Quest. Remember that it is up to you to be informed about the importance of keeping your teeth clean as part of a healthy lifestyle. Perhaps the following question will be helpful to you while doing your research. When you are finished, create a small poster using WORD or another word processing program and image or clipart that gives advice about the importance of cleaning your teeth. Print it when you are finished. 

 

Nutrition Sleuth (Task # 6):

 

Before making your PowerPoint "Healthy Fit Kid" be a Nutrition Sleuth and solve the case! This will help you know what is important to include in your presentation.

 

How to create a PowerPoint (Task #7):

 

Unsure of how to create a PowerPoint presentation? Creating a PowerPoint presentation is easy if you know how. This will help you get started and will answer any questions that you may have.

 

Let us begin…

 

Resources

The resources are given on the Resource Track of the Webquest.  All the URLs are listed, although if any websites are not active or the links are broken, please inform your class facilitator. 

  

Evaluation

 

Students will be evaluated by a nutrition rubric which assesses their knowledge of nutrition, meal creation and PowerPoint presentation. Students will also create a class drama presentation giving two scenarios where one student is making healthy choices while the other is not. This will be viewed by other students who will have to answer a questionnaire following the presentation to see how it influenced them into making changes in their nutritional choices.

 

Conclusion

Upon completion of this web quest, you will have learned about healthy eating and living. You have designed a menu for the cafeteria, as well as designed a PowerPoint presentation to inform your peers. You have learned about the food guide pyramid.  It is used to help you make wise food choices throughout the day. You have also learned about how to add exercise into your daily schedule and learned about how important it is to take good care of your teeth. You are now better equipped to make choices to ensure healthy living.