What's On the Menu? Project

Our current theme is "What's On the Menu?".  Last week we learned about healthy foods and the different foods groups; this week we focus on where food comes from.  We worked on a bit of a project last week that I want to share with you.

I put my class in 5 different groups based on personality and grouping students with differing abilities together.  Each group was assigned a food group.  They were first given a recording sheet to fill in: food group, how many servings a day, why is the group important for your body, examples of foods in the group.

After completing the recording sheet, students were given grocery ads, and they had to complete a collage of food in their food group on construction paper.

The last step to our project was to create a  "Gami" using the app Tellagami on our iPads.  Groups chose a speaker and created an avatar on the app.  The "speaker" then recorded her (all groups picked a girl) voice telling important facts about their food group which were agreed upon by the group.  Using this new app was definitely a highlight of the project for them!  Here is an example of a "Gami" from our project.  Warning: This took a very long time to load on my internet connection!  This example is the grains group's piece.

Working together to create their avatar before recording.

The collages and the "gami's" were put together into a simple book using Book Creator.  You can download the book on your Apple device here.

My students loved this project and are able to share the important things about their food group.  How do you keep your kiddos engaged and excited about learning in your classroom?