Lesson 1: Fruit
Duration of Days: 3
Lesson Objective
Students will be able to identify fruit.
Students will cut and prepare various fruits in various labs.
Students will: tell how fruit helps our bodies, place fruit in the MyPlate fruit group, help make simple fruit recipes,and describe how cooking changes fruit.
Where are fruits purchased? What is the “best” choice with fresh, frozen, and canned fruits? How to identify a ripe fruit? How is fruit selected, stored, and prepared?
Fruit, Fruit
MyPlate
Healthy
Vitamins
Fiber
Fresh
Frozen
Canned
Dried
Juice
Raw / Cooked
Sweet
Soft
Sour
Produce
Ripe fruit
Zest
8.5.7 Prepare various fruits, vegetables, starches, legumes, dairy products, fats, and oil using safe handling and professional preparation techniques.
14.0 – Nutrition & Wellness
14.1 Identify healthy food choices.
14.2 Recognize nutritional needs.
14.3 Participate in safe food preparation.
Foundational vocabulary and picture reading.
Comparing “more” and “less” (sugar, servings).
Simple informational text comprehension (teacher read-alouds).
Sequencing steps in recipes.
Identify Fruits (DOK 1)
Students name and point to fruits.
Sort Fruits into MyPlate (DOK 2)
Students place fruits in correct group.
Cooking & Comparing Fruits (DOK 2–3)
Students compare raw vs. cooked apples.
Healthy Choices Discussion (DOK 3–4)
Students choose between soda vs. fruit juice or apple vs. candy and explain simply.
Include fruits students actually eat at home.
Celebrate cultural fruit dishes (mango, plantain, papaya, tamarind, pineapple, berries, apples).
Discuss grocery stores, food pantries, markets, and school meals.
Emphasize affordable options (frozen/canned fruit in juice).
Fruit juice is always healthy.
Fruit snacks = fruit.
Canned fruit is bad.
More is always better.
Visual schedules and social stories
Picture cards / real fruit models
Color-coded MyPlate mats
First-Then boards
Modeling & hand-over-hand support as needed
Peer partners
Extra wait time
Allow pointing & gestures
Limited text; increased visuals
Repeated practice, small steps
Observation checklist
Picture matching
MyPlate sorting
Exit ticket: “Point to the fruit”
Participation in labs
Simple sentence frames:
“Fruit helps my ___.” & “I like ___.”
MyPlate posters & mats
Plastic fruit models or laminated photos
Real fruits (variety of colors)
Adaptive knives, bowls, spoons
Large printed simple nutrition labels
Aprons, gloves, paper towels, and Blender
Largen, Velda L., and Deborah L. Bence. Guide to Good Food. Goodheart-Willcox Company, 2010.
McGraw-Hill. Food for Today, Student Edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2010.