Bbuurr!  What a winter we had!   Because of all of the snow we had in January, we need to make up our snow days by extending our school days from 7:45 am to 8:00 pm for three days.  Since students will be at school that long, the cafeteria workers will need to make the entire school dinner as well as breakfast and lunch, and that's where you come in.  Your job is to help create a three day school menu that is well-balanced and healthy for the three extended school days.  So put your hair nets and oven mitts on because off to the kitchen we go!!!

• You will work in small cooperative teams of three.  Your teacher will assign you with two other students and will let you pick a number (1, 2 or 3) from a hat.  Each number has an important role in the team:

1.  Chef/cook – This team member will decide what foods will be served on the three extended school days.  Your job is to decide what food group each food goes under.

2.  Nutritionist  - This team member will be in charge of creating the three day menu and will oversee that each meal is well-balanced and that each day contains all of the servings following the Food Guide Pyramid.

3.  Prep cook – This team member will be in charge of clipping pictures of all of the meals that the Nutritionist and Chef agreed on from grocery ads, clipart, or other resources. 

• Your main task is to assist the cafeteria staff and help them create a three day menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the three extended days, keeping in mind that they are well-balanced meals that follow the servings of the Food Guide Pyramid.

• As a team, you will create an organized poster (diorama) presenting the nine healthy meals that you created (3 breakfast, 3 lunches, 3 dinners).

• Remember, you are working as a TEAM so make sure you work cooperatively! 

Individually, all of the team members must follow all of the directions and view the following websites in order to begin your tasks:

• Click on the food pyramid and print out the Food Guide Pyramid coloring page.  Each team member must color the worksheet and turn into your teacher.

• Click on the tomatoes  below and visit "Pyramid Pointers" and read about the Food Guide Pyramid (you will need to click the "Nuts about Nutrition" link and then "Pyramid Pointers").  Make sure you understand all of the different serving numbers that are required for each day.

• Click on the television below and watch the "5 A Day" video on nutrition.

• Click on the carrots below to play “Kellogg's Trivia Trail” to check your understanding on the difference between the six food groups.

• Click on the plate to play the "Make Your Plate Proud" game to check your understanding of balanced meals for a full day (you will need to click the "Nuts about Nutrition" link and then "Make Your Plate Proud").

Now that you have all looked at the five different websites, you are ready to design your healthy meals for the school.  Find your job below and follow the directions carefully:

• Chef – Your job is to make a list of different foods that you would like to use in your menu and to put them in the right category according to the Food Guide Pyramid (grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats, fats).  Use the "Chef's Shopping List" worksheet to help you decide what foods you would like to serve (you can get a copy of this worksheet from your teacher).  Keep in mind that students like a variety of foods and not the same things every day.

• Nutritionist – Your job is to take the list of foods ("Chef's Shopping List" worksheet) that the Chef has completed and to create three well-balanced meals a day keeping in mind that you are using the correct number of servings from the Food Guide Pyramid.  You will need to use the "Nutritionist Planning Worksheet" to plan out the three day school menu and turn in with your finished group project (you can get a copy of this worksheet from your teacher)

• Prep Cook – By using the information from the Chef and Nutritionist, your job is to clip pictures from grocery ads or find clipart to create a “paper plate” diorama of your nine different meals.  It would be a good idea to use the completed "Nutritionist Planning Worksheet" at this time.  You will need to get nine paper plates from your teacher (one for each meal).  Glue your clippings/clipart onto the plates to create your meals.  Be sure to label each paper plate on the back with the name of the meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and what day number.  Example:  Breakfast Day 1, Lunch Day 1, Dinner Day 1

Together, your team will now need to put your nine plates of food into an organized fashion.  You will need to get a piece of poster board from your teacher and glue the plates on neatly so that it is easy to follow.  You can use the following graph as a guideline.
 

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

The following two rubrics will be used to evaluate each group.  You will need to get a copy of the self/group rubric from your teacher.