Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™

How Big is a Serving?

Materials
• Gather the items needed for each food group station:

• Box of ready-to-eat cereal (flakes or round cereal)
• clear bowls
• Dry measuring cups (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup)
• Optional: Grain Group sign

• Bag of baby carrots
• 2 napkins
• Dry measuring cups (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup)
• Optional: Vegetable Group sign

• Three apples (one the size of a tennis ball; one larger; one smaller)
• Tennis ball
• Optional: Fruit Group sign

• Milk (Quart)
• 2 clear drinking glasses
• Liquid measuring cups
• Optional: Milk Group sign

• VHS tape
• Audiotape cassette
• Pair of dice
• Optional: Meat Group sign
• Set up the stations with the appropriate food items on a table.
• Optional: Identify each area with a food group sign.
• Copy the chart below on the board or an overhead transparency:

	Grain	Vegetable	Fruit	Milk	Meat
Estimated amount
Actual amount
Recommended serving size
Comparisons and Observations

Suggested Instructional Strategy
1. Open by having students copy the chart in their Nutrition Journals.

2. Ask:

• Who prepares their own breakfast, snacks or other meals?
• Who has helped with cooking or baking?

3. Show both sets of measuring cups. Ask:

• What are these used for?
• Why do I have two different kinds of measuring cups? One is for measuring dry foods and one is for measuring liquids.
• Who has used a measuring cup? What did you use it for?
• How else do we measure foods besides cups? Ounces; pounds; number of items; size of the food
• Who has ever looked at the Nutrition Label on a food package, like a box of cereal or crackers?
• Can anyone tell us what is on that label? It tells us about nutrients in the food and what counts as a serving.
• How can we be sure we're getting the nutrients we need? Accept all reasonable answers.

4. Explain that one way to make sure we get the nutrients we need is by eating the number of servings we need from the Five Food Groups. We also need to make sure that we get the right amount of food in each serving.

5. Tell students that today they're going to do a fun lab to learn more about serving sizes.

6. Complete the Five Food Group Stations

Grain Group Station

• You need four volunteers.
• Choose a volunteer to pour a bowl of cereal as if he/she were pouring it for breakfast at home.
• Have the first volunteer show the bowl to the class.
• Questions/directions:
• How much cereal do you estimate is in this bowl? Accept all answers: One cup? Two cups? Half a cup? 3 ounces? A fist full?
• Have students record the estimated volume in the "Estimated Amount" section of their chart. Record your estimate on the chalkboard.
• Do you think the bowl represents one serving of cereal, more than one serving, or less than one serving?
• How do you think we measure cereal? In cups or in ounces?
• Choose a second volunteer to measure the cereal using dry measuring cups and show it to the class. On the class chart, record the amount in the row marked "Actual Amount." Have students record it in their Nutrition Journals. Have the second volunteer pour the cereal back into the bowl.
• Choose a third volunteer to show the other students the nutrition panel on the side of the cereal box.
• Explain that most food packages have nutrition information. This helps people understand the size of a recommended serving and the nutrients that are in each serving for a food item.
• Have the third volunteer read aloud the serving size and have students record it in the "Recommended Serving Size" section of their charts.
• Choose a fourth volunteer to measure the recommended serving size and pour it into the second bowl and show it to the class to help them visualize a serving size.
• Have students compare the difference between the two bowls.
• Give students a moment to record their findings in the "Comparisons and Observations" section on the Nutrition Journalss chart.
• Ask:
• Was the recommended serving size larger or smaller than what our first volunteer poured?
• Were you surprised by the estimated amount vs. the actual amount? If so, why?
• How does the actual serving size compare to the amount you might actually eat for breakfast?

Vegetable Group Station

• You need four volunteers.
• Choose a volunteer to select the amount of baby carrots he/she would choose for a serving, place the carrots on a napkin and show them to the class.
• Questions/directions:
• How many carrots do you estimate are on the napkin? Accept all answers: 10 carrots, 1 cup, 4 ounces, a handful, etc.
• Have students record their estimates in the "Estimated Amount" section of the chart.
• How do you think we measure baby carrots? By counting the individual carrots.
• Choose a second volunteer to count the baby carrots. Share the results and record the information on the class chart. Have students record the information in their journals' "Actual Amount" section. Ask the second volunteer to place the carrots back on the first napkin.
• Tell students that a serving of baby carrots is about 14 carrots, depending on how big or small they are. Remind students that the package label helps them identify the exact serving size. A general guideline for a serving of vegetables is one-half cup; however, some Vegetable Group foods are measured in ounces, some in cups, and some by pieces.
• Choose a third volunteer to read the package label aloud. Record the actual serving size in the "Recommended Serving Size" section of the chart.
• Choose a fourth volunteer to measure the correct amount of baby carrots in a serving, using the measuring cup and/or counting, and place the carrots on the second napkin.
• Compare the difference and help students visualize a one-half cup serving of baby carrots.
• Give students a moment to record their findings in the "Comparisons and Observations" section of the chart.
• Ask:
• Was the recommended serving size larger or smaller than what was served at first?
• Was the recommended serving size larger or smaller than you thought it would be?
• What surprised you about this station activity?

Fruit Group Station

• You will need two volunteers for the Fruit Group Station.
• Ask the first volunteer to choose the apple he/she thinks is a serving and show it to the class.
• Questions/directions:
• What do you think is a serving size for an apple? Accept all answers: 1 apple, 1 cup, 3 ounces, etc.
• Do you think this apple represents one serving? Accept all answers.
• Have students record their responses in the "Estimated Amount" row of the chart.
• Explain to students that apples are measured by size (small, medium or large), and that one medium apple equals one serving.
• Write "1 medium apple" on the chart's "Recommended Serving Size" line. Have students do the same in their Nutrition Journals.
• An easy way to visualize the size of a medium apple is to visualize a tennis ball.
• Choose a second volunteer to use the tennis ball to determine which of the three apples is the closest in size to one serving.
• Ask: What size is the apple our first volunteer chose? Have students write the apple size on the "Actual Amount" line of the chart.
• Give students a moment to record their findings in the "Comparisons and Observations" section of the chart in their Nutrition Journals.
• Ask:
• Was the "recommended serving size" larger or smaller than the apple that was selected at first?
• What, if anything, surprised you about this activity?
• Explain that a serving of fruit is also equal to a half cup. When eating sliced fruit, canned fruit, or frozen fruit, use a measuring cup to determine the size of a serving. Whole fruit like apples, pears, bananas, and oranges are measured by size. One medium size fruit is equal to one serving.

Milk Group Station

• How much milk do you estimate is in the glass? Accept all answers: 1 cup, 1 glass, 8 ounces, etc.
• Record the estimate in the "Estimated Amount" section of chart.
• How do you think we measure milk? In cups using a liquid measuring cup.

• Was the "recommended serving size" larger or smaller than what was served at first?
• What, if anything, surprised you about this station activity?

Meat Group Station

• If the object selected were a piece of meat, what would you estimate is its size? Accept all answers: 2 ounces, 1 cup, etc.
• Have students record in the "Estimated Amount" section of the chart the item they think best represents one serving of meat, and what size they think is one serving.
• How do you think we measure meat? In ounces

• If the volunteer selected the two dice, the actual amount of meat would be one-quarter of an ounce.
• If the volunteer selected the audiotape cassette, the actual amount of meat would be 2-1/8 ounces.
• If the volunteer selected the VHS tape, the actual amount of meat would be approximately 8-1/2ounces.

• Was the "recommended serving size" larger or smaller than what was selected at first? What, if anything, surprised you about this station activity?