Integrating Academics and Nutrition

Course Description

This module presents ideas for seamless integration of nutrition education with the core academic standards. Participants learn how to use children’s books with healthy themes to support nutrition competencies, mathematics, and science skills. Literature-based activities include classifying and categorizing various foods, comparing and contrasting nutritional food values, and using fractions and measurement in food recipes. The content of this training focuses on integrating academics and nutrition in school age classrooms, however, the information is applicable to nutrition education in all Child Nutrition Programs.

• Course Number: 515
• Training Length: 30 minutes
• Certificate: Available at the end of the training
• Target Audience: Teachers, Child Care Providers, Nutrition or Wellness Coordinators, Food Service Directors, and Expanded Learning Program staff
• Mandatory: No
• Cost: Free
• Date Recorded: December 2017

Online Course

Begin the Recipe for Success: Integrating Academics and Nutrition course.

Referenced Resources

The following resources are referred to throughout this online course:

California Department of Education's (CDE) Vitamin C Comparison Experiment web page.

Crediting

• Crediting: 0.5 hours

• Key Area: Nutrition (1000)
  • Training Topic: Nutrition Education (1200)
    
    
    • Learning Objective: Integrate nutrition education curriculum with School Nutrition Programs, using the cafeteria as a learning environment (include Team Nutrition resources) (1220)

For more information on crediting, access the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) web document Professional Standards Learning Objectives (PDF)

Additional Information

• Find a list of children books that plant a seed of healthy living through healthy themes and subjects on the Super Kids Nutrition, Book Review Corner web page .
  
  
• Learn how to convert fractions into cooking by using different math techniques provided on the Our Everyday Life How to Convert Fractions with Cooking web page .
  
  
• For more information regarding science projects that incorporate nutrition and health, visit the Science Made Simple Science Projects about Nutrition and Health web page .

Curricular Resources

• For more information on how to plan, implement, and evaluate instructional strategies for a comprehensive nutrition education program download the California Department of Education (CDE) California Nutrition Education Resource Guide.
  
  
• Are you looking for curriculum that makes the connection between local food systems, garden-based learning, school meal programs, and healthy student eating behaviors? Contact the University of California CalFresh Nutrition Education Program about the Eating Healthy from Farm to Fork Series .
  
  
• Find strategies for how to establish a school garden and examples of how school gardens help promote healthy lifestyles, community, and social development, environmental service, and academic achievement on the Collective School Gardens Network Gardens for Learning web page .
  
  
• Do you need resources to help you connect nutrition and health throughout the school environment? Discover free interactive and online resources to support your efforts in the classroom, at home, in the cafeteria, and beyond on the Dairy Council of California Schools web page .
  
  
• Download the CDE Nutrition to Grow On curriculum for free. Each lesson is complemented with a gardening activity that uses students' observation, research, and critical-thinking skills. Students learn how to evaluate product information, read food labels, grow plants from seeds, and distinguish between stems, roots, leaves, and fruits.

Contact Us

If you have technical difficulties or questions regarding the course content, please contact the Education and Nutrition Policy Unit by email at NutritionEducation@cde.ca.gov.