presentation about vegetables

Vegetables PowerPoint

Download this Vegetables PowerPoint and use it in class today! This PPT is great for lessons teaching the names of vegetables to kids and beginner English language learners. As always, this resource is free to use in your lessons.

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Vegetables lesson plan

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In this lesson students practice talking about different types of  vegetables . Students sing a song, make a vegetable basket craft and practice saying their likes and dislikes.

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Age: 3-7 years Time: 40 mins – 1 hour Objectives: Talking about different vegetables, saying likes and dislikes. Structures: “I like~”, “I don’t like~” Target vocabulary: farmer, farm, growing, carrots, potatoes, cabbages, onions, pumpkins, corn, radish, lettuce, basket, yummy, delicious.

Lesson materials

Flashcards:

• carrot, potato, cabbage, onion, pumpkin, corn, radish, lettuce

Printables:

• Vegetable basket craft – sheet A
• Vegetable basket craft – sheet B
• Vegetable basket worksheet
• Reader worksheet
• Mr. Farmer’s vegetables song poster
• Mr. Farmer’s vegetables
• The farmer’s vegetables

Additional materials:

• Vegetables vocab crossword
• Vegetables vocab wordsearch
• Vegetable shopping worksheet
• [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] crayons / pencils
• real vegetables OR plastic vegetables OR flashcards / pictures for the following: carrot, potato, cabbage, onion, pumpkin, corn (on the cob if possible), radish, lettuce
• paper / plastic bowls (1 per student)
• plastic spoons (1 per student)
• 1 large cooking pot and a ladle
• 1 blindfold
• construction paper / card (to glue the basket craft on)
• Blu-Tack or tape to stick flashcards on the wall
• cushions (1 per student)
• device to play the song on

This is a fun lesson which introduces some common vegetables. Students will sing a song, make a vegetable basket craft and practice saying their likes and dislikes.

Lesson procedure:

Warm up and maintenance:.

The beginning of your lesson is extremely important: this is where you set the tone of your lesson and get everyone in the right frame of mind for learning English. It is also an opportunity to check homework and review previous lessons.

Print this warm up and maintenance section

These activities can be done in the following order at the start of your lesson:

1. Welcoming Greet the students by name as they enter the classroom and gesture for them to sit down. If you have space on the floor, it’s a good idea to have a cushion for each student as this makes sitting arrangements easy to [hide_on_uk]organize[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]organise[/hide_on_us]. Try and arrange the cushions beforehand spaced out in a fan-shape around you.

2. Name tags Before class prepare some name tags (stickers or pin-on tags) with each student’s name written in lower case letters. Sit down with your students and lay out the name tags in front of you. Pick up each tag and call out the name. Try and encourage each student to put their hand up and say “yes”. Hand over the tags and help to pin / stick on. Later on as your students recognize their written names you can have each student in turn pick out their own name tag.

3. Greetings Use a glove puppet (such as a Sesame Street puppet) to greet the students. Keep him in a cloth bag. Bring out the bag, open it enough to see in and shout into the bag the puppet’s name (e.g. “Cookie Monster!”). Then move your ear to the opening to listen – nothing. Go to each student and encourage them to shout the puppet’s name into the bag – each time nothing happens. Finally, get all the students together to shout the name at the same time. This time the puppet wakes up and jumps out of the bag! The puppet then chats to each student:

Puppet (teacher): Hello, What’s your name? Student Hello. My name is…. Puppet: Goodbye / See you! Student: Goodbye / See you!

As your students learn more phrases, you can include them in the conversation, such as “How old are you? Do you like …?, Can you …?, etc.

Finally, the puppet goes back into the bag and back to sleep.

4. Sing the “Hello song” or a review song Sit in a circle and sing along to the song. Encourage students to clap along or pat their laps in time with the music. The Hello song is a good song to start the lesson with, especially as it has an accompanying Goodbye song to sing at the end of the lesson.

Lyrics for the “Hello song”

Hello, hello, Hello, hello, How are you? How are you? I’m fine, thank you, I’m fine, thank you, We’re ok, We’re ok.

Lyrics for “The Hello Song”

Hello, hello, How are you today? Hello, hello, How are you today?

I’m fine, thank you, I’m fine, thank you, I’m fine, thank you, And how about you?

Hello, hello, How are you today? I’m fine, thank you, And how about you?

Gestures for the “Hello song”

These are quite straight forward. First time you play the song do the gestures and encourage everyone to do them with you.

• Wave as you sing the “Hello, hello” parts.
• Gesture to others as you sing, “How are you today?”
• Point to yourself as you sing, “I’m fine, thank you”
• Hand gesture towards another student as you sing, “And how about you?”.

Song download

Song posters

5. Read a classroom reader again As you progress through the lessons you will start to build up a catalog of classroom readers. Kids love going back to old stories and reading through them again. Invite a student to pick a classroom reader and read through it as a class. Make the story as interactive as possible by asking questions (e.g. what [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] there are, the names of different objects, etc.) and getting students to speculate what is going to happen next in the story.

6. Homework check Check each student’s homework set in the last lesson. Ask each student some questions about their homework worksheet (e.g. “what [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] is it?”), give lots of praise, and then put some kind of mark on the homework sheet (e.g. a sticker, a stamp or draw a smiley face). Finally, tell your students to put their homework back into their bags.

7. Do “Exercise routine” activity Say the following and have your students follow your lead: “Stand up (teacher stands and so does everyone else), “Hands up / hands down” (x 3-5), “Jump” (x3-5), “Run! / Stop!” (x3-5), “Turn around! / Stop!” (x3-5), finally “Sit down”.

Throughout the course you can introduce other commands, such as “Hop”, “Star Jump”, “Wiggle”, “Crouch” and so on.

Extra activity: Once your students have got to know these exercises you can play “Teacher says” using these actions.

How to play … Teacher says:

This is basically the game ‘Simon says’ but using the words “Teacher says” instead. The teacher tells the students to do an action and they do as asked (e.g. “Teacher says … jump 3 times”). The teacher keeps on giving instructions with different actions using “Teacher says …”. At some point the teacher gives a command without using the phrase “Teacher says” (e.g. “Hop 5 times”) and the students must not do that action – they have to stay still. Any students that do the action have to sit out for the rest of the game. The last student standing is the winner.

8. Name writing practice If your students cannot write their names yet, this is a great activity. For really young ones, don’t worry if their effort is a scrawly mess – always encourage and praise.

You will need to prepare a writing sheet for each student before class with their name written in dots for them to practice tracing their names (also prepare one for yourself so you can model the task). You can either make these yourself (hand draw the dots for each name) or use a font typed into a Word document – we like to use the “National First Font Dotted” font (you can download it for free here: http://www.fontspace.com/roger-white/national-first-font-dotted ).

Prepare the sheets something like this:

Make a few extra copies of each student’s name writing sheet so you can use them in future lesson or for homework.

When everyone has finished writing their names, get each student to hold up their sheet so you and everyone can see. Give lots of praise to each student.

9. Review past lessons Reviewing past lessons is very important – students need constant practice of new vocab, structures, songs, games and so on. Always review parts of your last lesson as well as some parts from other previous lessons. You can spend 5-10 minutes reviewing – it’s fine to recycle games and activities from your past lessons to review as kids enjoy playing familiar games (although be careful not to play a game to death!).

Note: You can also include review activities in the main body of your lesson. Kids can have short attention spans so it’s good to be able to pull out lots of activities during different stages of the lesson.

Other ideas to include in your warm up:

What’s in the bag? This is a great activity to do at the beginning of your lessons. Fill a large cloth bag with items from your previous lessons (e.g. plastic fruit, animals, etc.). You can also throw in a few other objects (e.g. a pencil, a plastic bottle, a plastic cup – anything lying around (and safe!)). Show the bag to your students and shake it to rattle the objects inside. Pull out different objects, teach/elicit their names, have students hold and pass the objects around. You can even have students pull objects out of the bag. Pull out 1 or 2 objects per student. Finally, place the objects around the classroom and have each student retrieve each object as you call out its name and put it back in the bag.

Knock-knock This can be used at the beginning of each class. Teach the students to knock on the door before entering the classroom. There are 2 variations for the next step:

• When the student knocks, teacher says, “Who’s there?”. The student replies, “It’s (Koji)” and then the teacher says, “Come in (Koji)”.
• When the student knocks the teacher must guess who it is, “Is that (Koji)?”. The student replies yes or no – if no, the teacher continues guessing. Having your students develop their own knocking styles makes this even more fun.

Spin the bottle Sit students in a circle with a bottle in the middle. Teacher spins the bottle. When it stops spinning the student it is pointing at has to answer a question. If the answer is correct then that student can spin the bottle. For example, How are you? What’s your name? What is this? (show an object or flashcard) Do you like _ ?, etc.

Talk about the weather (do after you have taught the weather lesson plan).

• Prepare a weather board . Before the first class prepare a piece of cardboard and cover it with felt – you are going to pin this to the wall. If you can, try and get blue felt (to represent the sky). Write at the top in large letters, “How’s the weather today?”. Below the write “Today it’s”. Cut out weather pictures (such as our weather flashcards) and stick some velcro on the back. Arrange the weather pictures around the edge of the board and then put the board on the wall of your classroom. You can now use this weather board at the beginning of every lesson.
• Sing “The weather song” . Sing the song together doing all of the gestures.
• Look outside . Get everyone to look outside by saying, “How’s the weather? Look outside”. Elicit the weather for that day.
• Put the weather pictures on the weather board . Invite some students to come up and put the weather pictures on the board. Make sure these students say the word as they put the card on the board.

New learning and practice:

1. Play “Find the vegetables” If possible, before class buy one of each of the following vegetables (and other kinds if you like): a carrot, a potato, a cabbage, an onion, a pumpkin, corn (on the cob if possible), a radish, a lettuce. If you can’t bring vegetables into class, other options are: plastic vegetables (sometimes available at dollar [hide_on_uk]stores[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]shops[/hide_on_us] and toy [hide_on_uk]stores[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]shops[/hide_on_us]), vegetable flashcards, vegetable photos cut out of free supermarket magazines. Also, bring in a basket for the vegetables.

Before your students enter your classroom hide the vegetables all around the room – in draws, behind books, under things, etc. Once you are ready to begin the main part of your lesson, have everyone sit down and say to your students, “Let’s look for some vegetables!”.

Then stand up and demonstrate that you are searching for something. Find one of the vegetables (e.g. under a cushion) and show your thrill in doing so. Take it over to the basket and drop it in saying, “Put it in the basket”. Then get everyone to hunt around the room until all of the vegetables have been found and placed in the basket.

2. Teach vegetable vocabulary Hold up the first vegetable and chorus the word three times (e.g. “carrot, carrot, carrot”). Then pass the vegetable around the class, each student saying the name as they pass it. Do this for all of the vegetables.

3. Play “The missing vegetable” and “Blindfold touch” Line all the vegetables up on a desk. Say, “Close your eyes” and get everyone to cover and close their eyes. Take away one of the vegetables and hide it behind your back – everyone must open their eyes and shout out the missing vegetable. Play this until all of the vegetable vocabulary has been practiced.

Keep the vegetables lined up on the desk. Take out a blindfold and model the activity – put on the blindfold then touch and feel one of the vegetables. Look confused and say the wrong word (e.g. touch a cabbage and say, “Is it a carrot?”). Get the students to help you until you guess correctly. Then blindfold one student, turn him/her around 3 times and help him/her to go to the desk and touch/feel one vegetable and say what it is. Give all of the students a turn.

4. Play “Musical pass the vegetables” Sit everyone in a circle, put on some music, and have everyone pass all of the vegetables around the circle (in the same direction). So the music will be playing and all of your vegetables will be going around the circle. Suddenly stop the music – the students holding the vegetables must shout out the name of the vegetable they are holding. The last person to shout out the correct word is out (and also remove their vegetable). Keep playing, with each round the last person going out. This should end with just 2 students passing two vegetables back and forth. It’s a really fun game!

5. Read classroom reader “The farmer’s vegetables” Before class, download and print off the reader “The farmer’s vegetables”. As you go through each page, point to the pictures and elicit each key word, and also make sure everyone is aware if the rabbit hiding in each picture, for example:

Teacher: What is this? Students: Corn! Teacher: And what’s missing? Students: Carrots! Teacher: And who’s hiding here? Students: A rabbit!

Get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions (e.g. eliciting [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us], clothes and other objects) and try and get everyone to speculate why the vegetables keep disappearing.

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and read through the story one more time (without stopping for questions, etc.) as students write the order that the rabbit eats the vegetables. Then go through the answers as a class.

Alternatively, watch our  video version  of the reader (Internet connection required).

6. Sing the “The farmer’s vegetables” song Prepare for the song by taking out the flashcards of the vegetables. Show each one in the order of the song (so carrot first, potato next, etc.) and stick each one on the walls of the classroom. Try and get it so that the cards are evenly distributed around the walls (still in the order of the song) so you will have to turn 360 degrees to look at all of the cards. Alternatively, you can use the song poster.

Get everyone to stand up and dance, sing and point to the vegetables, as described in Gestures below. You can play the song 2 or three times.

Lyrics for “The farmer’s vegetables”

Chorus: Oh, Mr. farmer, what are you growing? On your farm, on your farm. Oh, Mr. farmer, tell us what you’re growing, On your farm, on your farm.

Verse 1: I am growing carrots, carrots, I am growing potatoes, potatoes, I am growing cabbages, cabbages, I am growing onions, onions.

Verse 2: I am growing pumpkins, pumpkins, I am growing corn, corn, I am growing radish, radish, I am growing lettuce, lettuce.

Gestures for “The farmer’s vegetables”

Before playing the song, put flashcards of the vegetables all around the walls of the classroom (in the same order of the song). Then start the song and do the following gestures:

• During the chorus have everyone do the cowboy dance – thumbs in belt hoops and kicking your legs out in time with the music.
• For the verses point to each of the vegetable flashcards on the wall.

7. Do the “Vegetable basket craft” Use the following craft sheets:

Before class, print off enough craft sheets for each student as well as yourself and cut out the basket and vegetable pictures. Give the cut-outs to each student and then get everyone to follow you as you [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] in the vegetables and the basket – as you are doing this chat with your students, asking questions such as, “What [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] shall we use for the potato?”, “Do you like cabbage?”, “What’s your [hide_on_uk]favorite[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]favourite[/hide_on_us] vegetable?”, etc.

When everything has been [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] in, glue the baskets to construction paper and get the students to put in their vegetables (have them say the names of the vegetables as they do so).

An alternative is to print off just one large basket and get everyone to put their [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] vegetables into the “class basket”.

8. Play “Let’s make vegetable soup” To finish off the lesson we are going make some imaginary vegetable soup. You need a large cooking pot, ladle and some plastic/paper bowls and spoons.

Say, “I’m hungry. Let’s make some soup!” (while rubbing your empty stomach). Take out the large pot and say, “Let’s cook vegetable soup! We need some vegetables”. Model by taking one of your vegetable cut-outs from your craft basket – say, “Yummy, I like (radish)” and put it into the pot and stir. Then say, “Hmm. We need some more vegetables”. Invite each student to take some of their vegetables from their craft basket and put into the pot, saying, “Yummy, I like ~”. Keep stirring – you can also invite students to give the soup a stir.

Finally, say, “The soup is ready!”. Get everyone to hold out their bowls and ladle in some imaginary soup. If some students refuse, this is fine – try and get them to say, “I don’t like vegetable soup”. Then say, “Let’s eat!”.

Make lots of slurping noises and say things like “Yummy!” and “Delicious!” and encourage everyone else to do the same. You can even offer seconds! Finish off by getting everyone to retrieve their vegetable cut-outs from the pot and put back into their baskets.

Assign homework: “Vegetable basket” worksheet

Print this wrap up section

1. Assign homework Each week give out a homework worksheet for your students to take home. Hold up the homework worksheet and model how to do it. Give out the worksheets and say, “Put your homework in your bags” and help them to do so – this is important as they will probably want to start [hide_on_uk]coloring[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colouring[/hide_on_us] them right away.

If possible, encourage the parents to help out as much as possible with their child’s homework – it is a great way to have your students practice the target language outside of class.

2. Say goodbye to glove puppet Take out the bag again and get everyone to wake up the glove puppet by shouting its name into the bag (e.g. “Cookie Monster!”). Bring out the puppet and go through the same routine – go to each student and say hello, ask their name and the say goodbye / see you. Then put the puppet back in the bag (back to sleep).

3. Sing the “Goodbye song” The “Goodbye song” is a great way to sign off the class. Sit together in a circle and sing and clap along. You can also use a different song, especially if your students love a particular song.

Lyrics for the “Goodbye song”

Goodbye, goodbye, See you again. Goodbye, goodbye, See you again.

It’s time to go, It’s time to go, It’s time to go, See you next time.

Goodbye, goodbye, See you again. It’s time to go, See you next time.

Gestures for the “Goodbye song”

• Wave as you sing the “Goodbye, goodbye” parts.
• Hold your hand above your eyes (as you would when you are looking into the distance and keeping the sun out of your eyes) and look at another student as you sing, “See you again”.
• Tap watch (or imaginary watch) and then point to the door as you sing, “It’s time to go”.
• Point towards another student as you sing, “See you next time”.

4. Do “Quick check” and say goodbye Time to leave the class. Make sure everything is put away and the students have gathered their belongings. Have them line up at the door and place yourself between the door and the students. For each student check one new word or phrase, for example:

• hold up an object or flashcard (such as a [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] or fruit) and ask, “What’s this?”
• say an action for the student to do (e.g. “Roar like a lion”, “Jump 5 times”, etc.)
• ask a question from the lesson (e.g. “How old are you?”, “Do you like bananas?”, “Can you play chess?”, etc.).
• for very young students you can hold up one of the worksheets you did in the lesson and ask them to touch an object (e.g. “Touch the melon”).

When they give you the correct answer say goodbye and let them leave. If their answer is wrong, have them go back to the end of the line – they will have to try again once they reach the front!

Other lessons

• Intro lesson (ages 3-7)
• Intro lessonsss (ages 8-12)

Actions, verbs & tenses:

• Can – for ability
• Morning routines
• Daily routines & times of the day
• Actions – Present continuous
• Future plans using “going to”
• Past tense activities – Regular verbs
• Past tense activities – Irregular verbs: Part 1
• Past tense activities – Irregular verbs: Part 2

Adjectives:

• Describing people
• Describing things
• Comparing things (Comparative adjectives)
• Comparing things (Superlative adjectives)
• Adverbs of frequency
• Farm animals
• Pets & possessions
• Zoo animals
• Parts of the body
• Measuring parts of the body
• Classroom objects
• Classroom stationery
• [hide_on_uk]Colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Colours[/hide_on_us]

Directions:

• Directions: left / right / forward / back

Feelings & emotions:

• Feelings & emotions

Health & sickness:

• Health & sickness

Holidays & festivals:

• Christmas 1
• Christmas 2
• Thanksgiving

Likes, dislikes & favorites:

Likes, dislikes & favourites:

• Likes & dislikes
• [hide_on_uk]Favorites[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]Favourites[/hide_on_us] and asking why

Nature & Our world:

• Numbers 1-10
• Numbers 1-20

Places & where we live:

• Places & where we live
• Places in my town
• Rooms of a house

Prepositions of location:

• Prepositions of location
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Subject pronouns
• Shopping & money

Time, days, months, seasons:

• Telling the time
• Days of the week
• Months of the year
• Time frequency

Transport & travel:

• Transport and travel
• Wheels on the bus

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What is the nutritional value of vegetables?

What are the main types of vegetables.

• What does a potato plant look like?
• What is corn?
• Why do corn kernels pop?

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - Vegetables and Fruits
• Live Science - What's the difference between fruit and vegetables?
• University of Minnesota Extension - Vegetable
• Workforce LibreTexts - Vegetables
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• vegetable - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• vegetable - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

What is a vegetable?

In common usage, the term vegetable usually refers to the edible portions of certain herbaceous plants. These plant parts are either eaten fresh or prepared in several ways.

Most vegetables are low in calories and have a water content of over 70 percent, with only about 3.5 percent protein and less than 1 percent fat. Vegetables are good sources of minerals, especially calcium and iron, and vitamins, principally A and C. Nearly all vegetables are rich in dietary fiber and antioxidants.

What parts of plants are eaten as vegetables?

The root, stem, leaf and leafstalk, flower, fruits, and seeds are the parts of plants that are eaten as vegetables.

Vegetables are usually classified on the basis of the part of the plant that is used for food. There are root vegetables, stem vegetables, edible tubers (underground stems), leaf and leafstalk vegetables, bulb vegetables, head or flower vegetables, fruits commonly considered vegetables by virtue of their use (cucumbers, eggplants, sweet corn), and seed vegetables (peas, beans).

News •

vegetable , in the broadest sense, any kind of plant life or plant product, namely “vegetable matter”; in common, narrow usage, the term vegetable usually refers to the fresh edible portions of certain herbaceous plants— roots , stems , leaves , flowers , fruit , or seeds . These plant parts are either eaten fresh or prepared in a number of ways, usually as a savory, rather than sweet , dish.

A brief treatment of vegetables and vegetable farming follows. For in-depth treatment of vegetable cultivation, see vegetable farming . For treatment of the nutrient composition and processing of vegetables, see vegetable processing .

Virtually all of the more important vegetables were cultivated among the ancient civilizations of either the Old or the New World and have long been noted for their nutritional importance. Most fresh vegetables are low in calories and have a water content in excess of 70 percent, with only about 3.5 percent protein and less than 1 percent fat . Vegetables are good sources of minerals, especially calcium and iron , and vitamins, principally A and C . Nearly all vegetables are rich in dietary fibre and antioxidants .

Vegetables are usually classified on the basis of the part of the plant that is used for food . The root vegetables include beets , carrots , radishes , sweet potatoes , and turnips . Stem vegetables include asparagus and kohlrabi . Among the edible tubers , or underground stems, are potatoes . The leaf and leafstalk vegetables include brussels sprouts , cabbage , celery , lettuce , rhubarb , and spinach . Among the bulb vegetables are garlic , leeks , and onions . The head, or flower, vegetables include artichokes , broccoli , and cauliflower . The fruits commonly considered vegetables by virtue of their use include cucumbers , eggplant , okra , sweet corn , squash , peppers , and tomatoes . Seed vegetables are usually legumes, such as peas and beans .

Modern vegetable farming ranges from small-scale production for local sale to vast commercial operations utilizing the latest advances in automation and technology. In addition, vegetables can be grown conventionally or using organic farming methods. Most vegetables are planted by seeding in the fields where they are to be grown, but occasionally they are germinated in a nursery or greenhouse and transplanted as seedlings to the field. During the growing season synthetic or organic herbicides , pesticides , and fungicides are commonly used to inhibit damage by weeds , insects , and diseases , respectively. Depending on the crop , harvesting operations are usually mechanized in well-developed countries, but the practice of harvesting by hand is still employed in some areas or is used in conjunction with machine operations. Another concern of the vegetable farmer is postharvest storage, which may require refrigerated facilities.

Vegetables may be washed, sorted, graded, cut, and packaged for sale as fresh products. Fresh vegetables are subject to quick aging and spoilage, but their storage life can be extended by such preservation processes as dehydration, canning , freezing, fermenting, or pickling.

Teaching About Vegetables

• Ask students to brainstorm as many vegetables as they can in one minute.  As students share, create a master list on the board.
• As a bell ringer response, ask students how many of the listed vegetables they actually eat and to explain why they do or do not eat vegetables.
• I find that many times students can name/list vegetables, but they can’t identify them if shown the actual vegetable or picture.  I share grocery store stories of how checkers often don’t know the vegetables I’m buying by sight…especially if there is no numerical code on the produce.  I have to chuckle at what they initially call the vegetables…much like this  clip  from Jamie Oliver with first graders.
• So, to test their identification knowledge of vegetables, I have them participate in two trivia games.  The first is a  SPORCLE game  and the second is from  Fun Trivia .  Have students share their scores.
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• Crayons or Colored Pencils
• Lab Supplies

Vegetable Consumption & Nutrition

• The first thing we look at is whether or not Americans are consuming enough vegetables. Students read this  article  from TIME and identify 3 key points.  Students then look at the percentage of adults eating enough vegetables from our state using this  website .  As they are looking at the numbers associated with each state, I have them find two states that are consuming more vegetables than our state along with two states that are consuming less than our state.  We discuss the results of all of this information.
• Next, students explore why we should eat vegetables by viewing this  video clip .  Students are to list and summarize the reasons in their own words.
• Students then visit the MyPlate website to learn more about vegetables, the subgroups, the suggested servings for their ages and some nutrition and health benefits. See the attachment below.

Vegetable Classifications

• Copy the cards onto card stock for durability. Cut apart the cards, shuffle and place in an envelope. Create enough envelopes for the number of small groups you have playing.
• Student groups are to match the cards by classification name, description and examples.
• Go over the correct answers.
• Students will fill in the notes grid once they have the correct answers.
• Students then use their notes to complete the Color Coded Vegetable Classification Chart (see below).

Vegetable Labs Options

• Creative Vegetable Trays –I provide students with a variety of fresh vegetables and they have to apply their knife skills when working with them to prepare a creatively shaped vegetable tray.  I show them a samples of creative vegetable trays from Pinterest and explain that they can use any vegetables they want (provided they are available), however, they must incorporate at least 5 into their design.  They may also locate and prepare a homemade dip of their choice as well.
• Vegetable Soup
• Vegetable Stir Fry

Vegetable Cooking Methods

• Dry & Moist Heat Cooking Methods & Lab

Vegetable Projects

• Student lab groups will create a Public Service Announcement titled #EATMOREVEGGIES using any recording app. Since we are 1:1 with iPads, we use iMovie. See the guide sheet and rubric below for details.  For fun and inspiration, I show this  parady.

Attachments

• MyPlate–Vegetables  (PDF)
• VegetableClassification–Cards  (PDF)
•   Vegetable Classifican Grid_Notes  (PDF)
• Color Coded Classification Chart for Vegetables (PDF)
• PSA-#EATMOREVEGGIES  (PDF)
• Digital Vegetable Bunting _ Sample_ PPT

Knife Skills Resources

• Knife Skills: A Hands On Lesson
• Alton Brown Good Eats:  American Slicer –an oldie,but goodie for demonstrating or reviewing various knife cuts!  Also available on Amazon.

Similar Lesson

• Introduction to Vegetables

Image courtesy of rakratchada torsap at Free Digital Photos.

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