Skip to main content
California Department of Education Logo

Healthy Choices, Healthy Me! Curriculum

Nutrition education lessons that help children learn the basic skills to identify healthy food choices and understand more about agriculture and our food system.

Description

This curriculum engages students by providing opportunities to personalize health and nutrition concepts. In the first grade program, students learn basic skills to identify healthy choices for eating and physical activity. The second grade program is built around The Market Mystery, a story about agriculture and how food gets from the farm to the grocery store. It aligns with the most popular and widely used textbooks adopted by the state for language arts, math, and science.

What’s Inside

Teacher guide with cafeteria connections, student workbooks, and a box of multicultural food pictures; MyPlate food poster; materials storage box; cafeteria connections activity; and The Market Mystery storybook.

Activity Highlight

Activity 5 for second grade, What’s for Breakfast, features pictures of common breakfast foods that students select to create a healthy breakfast. Students work in pairs to combine food pictures into what they believe is a healthy breakfast. Students read part of The Market Mystery story to analyze what the family in the storybook ate. Students complete their workbooks to select foods that would be part of a healthy breakfast, and they discuss the reasons for their food choices.

  • Key Content Areas: Afterschool, Cafeteria Connections, Integrated Subjects, MyPlate, and Parent/Family Involvement

  • Originator of Resources: Dairy Council of California

  • User of Resource: Teachers

  • Audience: Grades 1–2

  • Languages: English and Spanish

  • Number of lessons: 10 lessons

  • Amount of time per lesson: 30–60 minutes

  • Format: Hard copy, and some downloadable lessons and activities

Resource

To access the curriculum, visit the Dairy Council of California Healthy Choices, Healthy Me! First Grade web page External link opens in new window or tab. or Healthy Choices, Healthy Me! Second Grade web page External link opens in new window or tab.. To order the lessons, select the Order Now box on the right side of the web page.

Contacts

For questions regarding this curriculum, visit the Dairy Council of California Contact Us web page External link opens in new window or tab..

Questions:   Nutrition Services Division | 800-952-5609
Last Reviewed: Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Related Content
Recently Posted in Nutrition
  • REQUIRED: 2025–26 FFVP Orientation Trainings (added 15-Aug-2025)
    The CDE NSD requires all 2025–26 FFVP grantees to complete the mandatory FFVP Orientation Online Training Series before implementing the FFVP. The training series must be completed by no later than Monday, September 15, 2025, at 5 p.m. PST.
  • Action Required: Excess Net Cash Resources (added 12-Aug-2025)
    Provides information to program operators about excess net cash resources, the budget agreement process, and long-term noncompliance.
  • SNP Reimbursement Rates for 2025-26 (added 12-Aug-2025)
    This web page provides the School Nutrition Programs (SNP) reimbursement rates for the 2025-26 school year.
  • 2024 Turnip the Beet Award Winners (added 12-Aug-2025)
    The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division would like to congratulate 21 California school districts for receiving a 2024 Turnip the Beet Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service.
  • May 27, 2025 Tuesday at 2 Town Hall Resources (added 12-Aug-2025)
    The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD) hosted the monthly Tuesday @ 2 School Nutrition Town Hall webinar May 27, 2025.

  • June 24, 2025 Tuesday at 2 Town Hall Resources (added 12-Aug-2025)
    The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD) hosted the monthly Tuesday @ 2 School Nutrition Town Hall webinar June 24, 2025.
  • Chef Ann Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship (added 12-Aug-2025)
    The Chef Ann Foundation is accepting applications for the 2026 Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship Program. This fellowship supports the development of school food leaders who can support a sustainable program centered around scratch-cooked meals.
  • Webinar: Tuesday at 2 School Nutrition Town Hall (added 04-Aug-2025)
    School Nutrition Town Hall webinar for School Nutrition Program Operators and Food Service Directors.
  • CNAC Minutes for the November 2, 2023 Meeting (added 31-Jul-2025)
    Meeting minutes for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Child Nutrition Advisory Council (CNAC) on November 2, 2023.
  • Next Steps: 2025–26 FFVP Grant Recipients (added 30-Jul-2025)
    On July 28, 2025, the CDE NSD awarded and posted the FFVP first allocation grant recipients and funding allocations for School Year 2025–26 on the CDE FFVP Funding Results web page. The FFVP first allocation is July 1, 2025–September 30, 2025.