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Edible Numbers

Students develop a working vocabulary regarding food, categorize foods by their sources, examine grocery ads, learn about food production, and apply what they learned by analyzing foods they eat at a particular meal.

Grades
3 – 5
Estimated Time
Five 45-minute sessions
Updated
April 9, 2024

Background

Lesson Activities

Credits

Author

Pamela Emery and Gina Hieb | California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom

Acknowledgements

The development of this lesson was funded by the California Beef Council and the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. To meet the needs of California educators and students, Edible Numbers was revised to support the curriculum Content Standards for California Public Schools and updated to include current statistics. Funding from the California Farm Bureau Federation and private donations made this revision possible.

Illustrators: Jack Armstrong, Joanne Borovoy, Karen Holtman, Pat Houk, and Ann Rogers

Layout and Design: Nina Danner

Sources

  1. http://www.agfoundation.org/resources/food-and-farm-facts-2017
  2. http://www.wisoybean.org/news/soybean_facts.php
  3. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/dairy-data/

Standards

National Content Area Standards

  • Social Studies – Economics
    • Economics Standard 2 (Grades 3-5): Decision Making
      • Objective (Grades 3-5): Make effective decisions as consumers, producers, savers, investors, and citizens.
  • Health/Nutrition
    • Health Standard 1: Comprehend functional health knowledge to enhance health.
      • 1.5.2: Describe benefits of practicing health-promoting behaviors.
    • Health Standard 3: Demonstrate health literacy by accessing valid and reliable health information, products, and services to enhance health.
      • 3.5.3: Discuss which trusted adults and resource people in the community (e.g., doctor, dentist, nurse, police officer, firefighter, faith-based leader, elders) can help a person obtain credible health information and trustworthy services.
    • Health Standard 5: Demonstrate effective decision-making skills to enhance health.
      • 5.5.6: Choose a health-promoting option that aligns with personal values when making an effective decision.
  • Science
    • 4-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
      • 4-LS1-1: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.