Simply Salad Poems

1. As a whole group, ask students to generate a list of vegetables. Chart how many children have tasted each one. Discuss how different types of vegetables grow (roots, leaves, fruits, flowers, tubers) and why these foods are essential for health. Feel the surface textures and colors of several samples such as squash, eggplant, and broccoli. During the discussion, listen for descriptive words (hot, crunchy, smelly, squishy, prickly).
2. Students cover a table with recycled newspapers. On construction paper, student paint a large vegetable with Crayola® Washable Paints and Brushes. Mix colors to make it as realistic as possible. Dry overnight.
3. Invite students to add details with a Crayola Washable Marker. Show texture and layering, such at the little roots and rings around a carrot, or the layers of an onion's skin. Encourage students to use their imaginations to bring out vegetable's personality with eyes, nose, and mouth. Cut out your vegetable with Crayola Scissors.
4. Jot down descriptive words about your vegetable's personality, including adjectives from the class discussion.
5. Students compose poems about their vegetables. Display the poetry with the vegetables for Simply Salad Poems.

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: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

SCI: Analyze data to describe how humans, like all other organisms, obtain living and non-living resources from their environment.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

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

Encourage students to research one specific type of vegetable, such as those high in vitamin C or green leafy vegetables. What are the nutritional values of eating this type of vegetable? Students investigate recipes that contain these vegetables. Word process the recipe and create an original illustration to accompany the recipe. Create a booklet of healthy vegetable recipes for students to share.

Student groups compose an original poem about a selected vegetable. Students in the group should be prepared to present their poem to classmates. If possible, use recycled materials to create vegetable costumes for members of the presenting group.

Students sculpt vegetables out of Crayola Model Magic and paint them. Display them in the classroom. Attach a 2-3 sentence summary based on student research.

Students work in a small group to create a commercial that encourages classmates to eat their vegetables. Include an original song or rap in the commercial. Videotape the presentation and upload the file to a classroom computer for viewing.