Lesson 13: Vegetables

What is a vegetable?
Where do vegetables belong on MyPlate?
How do vegetables help our bodies?
What happens when we cook vegetables?
What is different about homemade vs. boxed mashed potatoes?

Vegetable
MyPlate
Healthy
Vitamins
Fiber
Raw
Cooked
Bake
Boil
Fry
Steam
Scratch (homemade)
Convenience (boxed/instant)
Soft
Crunchy
Savory

National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Education:
14.0 – Nutrition & Wellness
14.1 Identify healthy food choices.
14.3 Prepare foods safely and appropriately.

Vocabulary building through visuals and read-aloud text.
Sequencing recipe steps.
Comparing “more/less” (salt, sugar, cost, time).
Simple comprehension through guided questions.

Identify Vegetables (DOK 1)
Purpose: Name and recognize vegetables.
Activity: Picture cards, real veggies, color sorting.
MyPlate Sorting (DOK 2)
Purpose: Understand vegetables as part of balanced meals.
Activity: Students place vegetables in correct MyPlate section.
Cooking & Comparing (DOK 2–3)
Purpose: Notice changes with cooking.
Activity: Compare raw carrots vs. cooked carrots.
Scratch vs. Convenience Mashed Potatoes (DOK 3–4)
Purpose: Evaluate choices.
Activity: Compare taste, texture, effort, cost, and time.
Use simple questions like:
“Which is softer?”
“Which took longer?”
“Which did you like?”

Examine the role of vegetables in various cultural traditions and as staple foods in different diets.
Explore the roadblocks that prevent people from consuming more vegetables.
Highlight vegetables from students’ cultures.
Discuss grocery stores, gardens, school meals, farmers’ markets.
Show that frozen and canned vegetables can be healthy too.

Canned or frozen vegetables are bad.
Vegetables only go on the side.
Vegetables always taste the same.

For struggling students: Provide additional visual aids, simplified instructions, and one-on-one guidance during lab activities.
Examples: Visual recipes with pictures
Step-by-step visual schedules
Peer helpers
Hand-over-hand modeling when needed
Choice boards for tasting
Repetition, small steps, extra time

Formative: Observations during lab activities, participation in discussions, and feedback during the cooking process.Observation checklists, matching games, MyPlate sorting mats, and exit question: “Point to a vegetable”.

Summative: Evaluation of the prepared finished dishes, verbal reflection on vegetable preparation, cooking methods and nutrition.

Participation in cooking labs

Scratch vs. boxed potato comparison
Simple reflection: “My favorite vegetable is ____.”

Materials: Ingredients, cutting boards, knives, measuring cups and spoons, frying pans, baking trays, mixing bowls, graters, and MyPlate posters & mats.

Resources: Visual aids on vegetable types, knife cuts and cooking techniques, and videos of vegetable preparation.