Unit Information and Overview for Teachers
Canteen Crusade.
What does it mean to have a healthy, balanced diet and why is this so important?
This Iquest involves 10 learning tasks that scaffold a two-part rich task. The learning tasks progress from lower-order to higher-order thinking. Please see the assessment page for more information.
Our Integrated Unit "Canteen Crusade" has been designed for students in Years 3 & 4, progressing towards VELS Level 3.
It aims to develop students' inquiry skills, while addressing what it means to have a healthy, balanced diet. Students will have the opportunity to appraise their own eating habits (particularly within their lunch boxes), as well as researching the Healthy Eating Plate and auditing the school's Canteen Menu.
Furthermore, they will build on their persuasive writing techniques as they create a Campaign directed at their target audience (students, teachers or the wider school community) to convince them of the importance of healthy eating. Using this information, students will design and implement a new healthy Canteen menu for their school.
To celebrate their learning, the class will visit the Queen Victoria Market to further their understanding of the link between healthy eating and sustainable food production.
Please see the assessment page for details on understandings and skills that students work towards throughout this unit.
Please note that this Unit can be modified to scaffold and extend students progressing towards Level 2 or 4.
Our Integrated Unit "Canteen Crusade" has been designed for students in Years 3 & 4, progressing towards VELS Level 3.
It aims to develop students' inquiry skills, while addressing what it means to have a healthy, balanced diet. Students will have the opportunity to appraise their own eating habits (particularly within their lunch boxes), as well as researching the Healthy Eating Plate and auditing the school's Canteen Menu.
Furthermore, they will build on their persuasive writing techniques as they create a Campaign directed at their target audience (students, teachers or the wider school community) to convince them of the importance of healthy eating. Using this information, students will design and implement a new healthy Canteen menu for their school.
To celebrate their learning, the class will visit the Queen Victoria Market to further their understanding of the link between healthy eating and sustainable food production.
Please see the assessment page for details on understandings and skills that students work towards throughout this unit.
Please note that this Unit can be modified to scaffold and extend students progressing towards Level 2 or 4.
Key Questions
1. What is healthy food and where does it come from (grown / packaged / factory produced)?
2. What is a balanced diet? Why do we need one and what will happen if we don’t consume a balanced diet?
3. Healthy food in our class- where in the world did it come from (comparison of different cultures foods / healthy eating habits)?
4. Does our school eat healthy food (Canteen Audit)?
5. What can we do to make our school healthier? (as a class, produce a survey to be distributed to all other classes in the school asking them what they would like to see on our improved healthy eating canteen list)
6. How can we action and share our new ideas and get the whole school and wider community involved? (Campaign)
7. How should we use the survey results to create an improved healthy menu? (Design menu to be implemented at conclusion of the Unit)
8. How can we grow our own healthy food? (Researching and designing a vegie garden ** consider the menu!**)
10. How has our newly acquired knowledge of healthy eating impacted on our lives and that of our school community? (Reflection)
2. What is a balanced diet? Why do we need one and what will happen if we don’t consume a balanced diet?
3. Healthy food in our class- where in the world did it come from (comparison of different cultures foods / healthy eating habits)?
4. Does our school eat healthy food (Canteen Audit)?
5. What can we do to make our school healthier? (as a class, produce a survey to be distributed to all other classes in the school asking them what they would like to see on our improved healthy eating canteen list)
6. How can we action and share our new ideas and get the whole school and wider community involved? (Campaign)
7. How should we use the survey results to create an improved healthy menu? (Design menu to be implemented at conclusion of the Unit)
8. How can we grow our own healthy food? (Researching and designing a vegie garden ** consider the menu!**)
10. How has our newly acquired knowledge of healthy eating impacted on our lives and that of our school community? (Reflection)
Curriculum Information:
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) and the Australian Curriculum for Level 3 have been the guiding frameworks for our Unit. Below is an overview of the Strands and Learning Objectives that can be found within the Learning Activities and Rich Task. You can also follow these links to learn more about the authentic assessment for this Unit, and more information on the skills and desired results.
VELS:
http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/level3.html
Civics & Citizenship:
Students work to develop, with teacher assistance, an action plan to address an issue of concern such as the care of elderly people or litter in the yard. In our Unit, the action plan is to implement a new healthy eating menu for the school canteen.
Community Engagement:
They work with other students to identify a local issue and plan possible actions to achieve a desired outcome. They describe the benefits of action at the local level and the democratic aspects of the process. Here, the Healthy Eating Campaign that the students will create (aimed at a specific target) meets this curriculum brief.
Health & Physical Education:
Students explore how the school and community contribute to the health of its members, both through the impact of its physical and social environments and through the services and facilities it provides.
Students develop their understanding of the need for variety and frequency of food intake in active and healthy lives,
and the availability of low cost healthy snacks or lunches, while reflect on the importance of healthy eating and participation in physical activity for their physical, social and emotional health.
Interdisciplinary Learning (Communication):
Students explore a range of aural, written and visual communication forms such as the Internet, film, texts and music which illustrate a variety of perspectives on a range of topics and ideas. They learn how to identify the main message, develop their own interpretation, and provide evidence to support it. They explore reasons for other interpretations not being the same as theirs and learn to respect the right of others to express opinions.
Interdisciplinary Learning (Investigating and Design):
At Level 3 students, individually and in teams, generate ideas based on a design brief, demonstrating understanding that designs may need to meet a range of different requirements. They use words, labelled sketches and models to communicate the details of their designs, and clarify ideas when asked. They identify simple systems components and common materials/ingredients and explain the characteristics and properties that make them suitable for use in products. Students think ahead about the order of their work and list basic steps to make the product or system they have designed.
AUSVELS:
http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Level3
Students identify the range of groups to which they, their family members and their class belong. They begin to appreciate the similarities and differences between individuals and groups, including the language, cultural and religious groups which make up the Australian nation.
Students begin to participate in a range of class and school activities such as recycling, taking responsibility for class resources, and marking local and national celebrations and commemorations. They explore the purpose and benefits of school, community and national events. Students investigate the ways individuals, families, groups and communities can work to improve their environment.
VELS:
http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/level3.html
Civics & Citizenship:
Students work to develop, with teacher assistance, an action plan to address an issue of concern such as the care of elderly people or litter in the yard. In our Unit, the action plan is to implement a new healthy eating menu for the school canteen.
Community Engagement:
They work with other students to identify a local issue and plan possible actions to achieve a desired outcome. They describe the benefits of action at the local level and the democratic aspects of the process. Here, the Healthy Eating Campaign that the students will create (aimed at a specific target) meets this curriculum brief.
Health & Physical Education:
Students explore how the school and community contribute to the health of its members, both through the impact of its physical and social environments and through the services and facilities it provides.
Students develop their understanding of the need for variety and frequency of food intake in active and healthy lives,
and the availability of low cost healthy snacks or lunches, while reflect on the importance of healthy eating and participation in physical activity for their physical, social and emotional health.
Interdisciplinary Learning (Communication):
Students explore a range of aural, written and visual communication forms such as the Internet, film, texts and music which illustrate a variety of perspectives on a range of topics and ideas. They learn how to identify the main message, develop their own interpretation, and provide evidence to support it. They explore reasons for other interpretations not being the same as theirs and learn to respect the right of others to express opinions.
Interdisciplinary Learning (Investigating and Design):
At Level 3 students, individually and in teams, generate ideas based on a design brief, demonstrating understanding that designs may need to meet a range of different requirements. They use words, labelled sketches and models to communicate the details of their designs, and clarify ideas when asked. They identify simple systems components and common materials/ingredients and explain the characteristics and properties that make them suitable for use in products. Students think ahead about the order of their work and list basic steps to make the product or system they have designed.
AUSVELS:
http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Level3
Students identify the range of groups to which they, their family members and their class belong. They begin to appreciate the similarities and differences between individuals and groups, including the language, cultural and religious groups which make up the Australian nation.
Students begin to participate in a range of class and school activities such as recycling, taking responsibility for class resources, and marking local and national celebrations and commemorations. They explore the purpose and benefits of school, community and national events. Students investigate the ways individuals, families, groups and communities can work to improve their environment.