CU 5.06Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains

1. 1

   Before the lesson, check the food allergies of every child in the group and remove any food that affects them.

2. 2

   Invite the child to bring the basket and lay out the header cards.

3. 3

   Hold up the apple: 'An apple is a fruit. It grows on a tree, and it holds seeds.' Show the photograph of the apple tree.

4. 4

   Hold up the carrot: 'A carrot is a vegetable. We eat its root.' Show the photograph of a carrot growing.

5. 5

   Hold up the jar of wheat and the bread: 'Wheat is a grain. Grains are the seeds of grasses. Bread is made from wheat.'

6. 6

   Sort the rest of the foods together, showing the plant photograph for each one.

7. 7

   Say: 'Every food here came from a plant.'

8. 8

   On later days, sort the picture cards and check with the control chart.

What catches the child’s eye

• A photograph of the plant each food came from, such as a carrot's leafy top
• Rice, oats, and wheat turning out to be the seeds of grasses

Extensions, easiest to hardest

1. Sort vegetables by the part of the plant we eat: root, stem, leaf, flower, seed
2. Taste a fruit or vegetable at snack time, after checking allergies
3. With the family's permission, sort the plant foods in the child's lunch
4. Find where a food grows on the Continent Globe, such as rice in Asia or corn in North America