Eating fruits and veggies is a healthy, green choice! These freggies (fruits and vegetables) have faces with silly grins.

• 1.

  Together, read books on healthy foods, such as Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables From A to Z by Lois Ehlert. Discuss familiar fruits and veggies. Snack on a variety of goodies, choosing local produce if possible, to compare their colors, tastes, and textures.

• 2.

  With children, look at portraits of children and adults such as the "Mona Lisa" painted by Leonard da Vinci. Notice the people’s facial expressions. Try imitating some of their looks. What fun!

• 3.

  Display fresh produce for children to touch and use as reference for their drawings. Show prints of fine art still life paintings, such as Emma Jane Cady’s "Fruit in a Glass Compote" to inspire their creativity.

• 4.

  On Crayola Color Wonder™ Paper, children draw and color one or more imaginative fruits or veggies with Color Wonder Markers. Suggest that they add a face with eyes, nose, and mouth to create a freggie portrait.

• 5.

  Ask children to draw a border around the picture to frame the fruit or vegetable portrait.

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• SCI: Analyze a representation of a particular habitat showing the locations and shapes of both land and water features of that habitat and communicate how the land and water support animals and plants.
• VA: Use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.
• VA: Use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell; Spriggles Motivational Books for Children: Health & Nutrition by Jeff Gottlieb & Martha Gottlieb
• How are fruits and vegetables part of a healthy diet? Students work in teams to investigate what eating healthy means and how eating fruit and vegetables help to keep them healthy. What other foods are also good for them? What foods are not good for children to eat? Organize a presentation for classmates. Students discuss what they do eat each day and how they may want to alter their eating habits.
• Students work in small groups to write an original one-act play consisting of fruit and vegetable characters that are trying to eat right and be healthy. Students should be prepared to perform for classmates. Create costumes using recycled materials.