Assessment:

Individual lessons are assigned points as part of a completed portfolio for the entire unit. I assign 200 points for the unit portfolio. These points include: 10 points for a portfolio cover, 20 points for table of contents, 20 points for the evaluation/reflection (What did you think about this unit?), 80 points for the nutrition plan, 30 points for article reviews, 20 points for personal analysis and 20 points for food analysis. Detailed breakdowns of points are included with each lesson.

This unit addresses California Health Standards in which students will demonstrate ways they can enhance and maintain their own health and well-being by:

1. making healthy food choices in a variety of settings,
2. comparing caloric values of food, and

establishing and maintaining healthy eating practices.

This unit is fairly flexible in time, depending on the resources available. It can be completed in as few as four (4) class periods with additional student time required for completion of activities. I generally spend two weeks on the unit. If internet access for students is limited, time may need to be increased to accommodate quiz taking. Ideally, the students would have access to a computer lab where many could quiz at the same time.

This unit can be adapted for a variety of classroom situations. Ideally, all students would have internet accessible computers (possibly in a lab or on a rotational basis). For the reseach portion of the activity, the teacher may have students work in cooperative groups and self-select "Research Specialists" who will retrieve and print articles for the group to review. In situations where internet access is limited to the teacher, information packets may be created by the teacher by downloading articles or nutrition information facts. Body fat analysis may also be calculated from a formula.

Health, Nutrition

This unit is designed for seventh or eighth grade students.

This is a fun and meaningful unit designed for teachers to meet health standards for nutrition education, providing students with an opportunity to evaluate their eating patterns and develop healthy patterns for their life.

Subject Area: Health

Starting Grade Level: Starting/Ending Grade Level: 7th or 8th Grade

This lesson has been utilized for classes which include students from Resource, Learning Handicapped, and Immersion classes. When classes include students with special needs, groups must be assigned by the teacher in order to support all students' success.

Searching the web for drug information in class can often result in interference from filtering software. It is more efficient to provide students with an online hot-list of resources which are appropriate and acceptable for drug research. There is a proven list included in the Web Resources section of the unit.