Watertown Public Schools is dedicated to students’ health, well-being, and their ability to learn, as described on their school nutrition program webpage. Their mission is to provide high-quality, low-cost meals to their students and to make sure the students have access to both healthy meals and proper nutrition education. It is emphasized in the district’s Wellness Policy that children need healthy meals to learn. On December 2^nd, 2019, Watertown Public Schools teamed up with Framingham State University’s Coordinated Program in Dietetics and invited student dietitian, Jocelyn Garanito, to teach 2^nd grade students about the five food groups.

During this lesson, the students learned about the five food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy). Students were taught which designated group different foods belonged to and how to incorporate all five food groups into each meal. The students also participated in a fun activity called Musical Food Groups. During this activity, the names of the five food groups were posted up around the classroom. The students were then each assigned a food that belonged to one of the five groups. The students danced around to music and when the music stopped, they were told to find  the food group to which their food belonged. Once the students did this successfully, they made a meal with their peers who had foods belonging to the other four food groups.

To explore more resources that can be implemented into school lesson plans, please visit The John. C Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition  resource center.

Submitted by: Jocelyn Garanito, FSU Food and Nutrition Student Coordinated Program in Dietetics