Short description of activity: Find all of your favorite fruits and vegetables in the rainbow.

Type of activity: Content Connection, Food and Nutrition

Minimum Time Needed for Activity: 30 minutes

Grade Level: K – 3rd

Subject Area: ELA, Math, Health, NGSS

Materials:

• Print one Eat The Rainbow Collage worksheet for each student
• Crayons and markers
• Grocery store ads, magazines, glue sticks, scissors

Set up:

1. Introduce a discussion of foods being in many different colors. Even some fruits and vegetables come in different colors.
   • If needed, specify that for this purpose we are saying what color the food is when it is ripe to eat.

Play:

1. Have students color the rainbow on the sheet (red, orange, yellow, green and blue/purple; the space to the left “under” the rainbow can be for white/beige foods if wanted).
2. Have students look through grocery ads and clip images of fruits and vegetables.
   • If you are unable to get grocery store ads, students can draw and color the vegetables and fruits instead.
3. Paste pictures of fruits and vegetables on or near the strip of rainbow of that color.
   • Fruits and vegetables should be whole foods, not processed foods (strawberry jam does not count in the red category)
4. Have students share their collages with each other. What are the similarities or differences?

Variations:

ELA/Health:

1. Use sight words, spelling or vocabulary words regarding the fruits and vegetables and color groups tasted.
   • Write a short story to use vocabulary and spelling words.
2. Have students do research to identify nutrition facts about a ½ cup serving of one or two vegetables or fruits. Compare to other food in that color or other colors.

Math/NGSS:

1. Have students create a list of fruits and vegetables in each color category for the whole class. 
   • Rank foods/colors in order of amount of times eaten, dis/liked, etc.
2. Sort fruits and vegetables according to seasonality or growing zone.
   • Which were (can be) grown in your town? Grown in the school garden?
   • Which traveled the farthest? Does one color travel farther than another?
   • Which grow on a tree, on a plant or vine, or under the ground?
3. Sort fruits and vegetables according to plant part
   • Vegetables are part of the plant that we eat: root, stem, stalk, flower, leaf.
   • Fruits are the product of a fertilized flower, and contain seeds..
4. Represent the answers using a graph or table.
   • Identify average, median, range, etc.
   • Calculate percentages
   • Can students identify trends?

Standards:

ELA Standards > Reading: Informational Text > Key Ideas and Details; Integration of Knowledge and Ideas; Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

ELA Standards > Writing > Text Types and Purposes; Research to Build and Present Knowledge;

ELA Standards > Speaking and Listening > Comprehension and Collaboration; Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Math Standards > Measurement & Data > Represent and interpret data; Geometric measurement: understand concepts of volume

Health Education Standards: 1, 3, 4

PE Standards> The physically literate individual demonstrates the knowledge and skills to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness; The physically literate individual recognizes the value of physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction.

NGSS Standards> Life Sciences> From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes