Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes – Introduction
15 minutes – Part A: Everyday and Occasional Foods
30 minutes – Part B: Changing the Plate
10 minutes – Part C: Bigger Numbers, Fewer Items
10 minutes – Reflection

Introduction

Hold a class discussion about the question 'Is healthier food cheaper or more expensive than less healthy food?'

Invite students to give examples of foods that they think are expensive and those which they think are cheaper. There are no right answers here - encourage discussion of supermarket pricing and how profits are made.

Part A: Everyday and Occasional Foods

In this part, students will explore Occasional and Everyday Foods. If you have already completed this earlier lesson in the unit, Canteen Canvas, you may only need to refresh students' memories about the difference between everyday and occasional foods before moving on to Part B. Otherwise, you might need to introduce the idea.

Step 1.

If you are introducing the idea of Everyday and Occasional Foods to students, start by distributing or displaying the Everyday Foods and Occasional Foods factsheet. Ask students to suggest some different foods that might fall into either category. You might also want to use the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating as a secondary reference point. Draw up a table on the board, with occasional foods in a column on the left and everyday foods in a column on the right; this table will be helpful for the next part of the lesson.

Step 2.

Ask students whether they can recognise any trends in the foods grouped under either category. For example, they might note that the Everyday Foods column includes all fruits and vegetables, while the Occasional Foods column often includes more heavily processed food with lots of added sugar. Other trends may become apparent, depending on the foods your students are discussing. For your reference, some common trends are discussed on the Everyday Foods and Occasional Foods factsheet.

Part B: Changing the Plate

Step 1.

Once students are up to speed on the difference between Everyday and Occasional Foods, organise them into groups of three or four. Ask each group to research the prices for two Everyday and two Occasional Foods - they might find prices on various supermarket websites, for instance, or in supermarket brochures that you could bring into class.

If you have already drawn up some Everyday and Occasional Foods on the board in the previous part, consider assigning students to research their prices.

Step 2.

Once the groups have completed their research, write up their findings on the board. List the Occasional Foods with their prices in a column on the left, and the Everyday Foods with their prices in a column on the right.

Step 3.

For this step, we've provided a couple of prompt foods, just to make our example clear. You might want to update their pricing to reflect current costs.

Occasional Foods: Single can of Coke, $1; a pack of Oreos, $2.
Everyday Foods: A punnet of strawberries, $2.50; a punnet of blueberries, $3.

Propose the following scenario to students:

You are at the supermarket, and your parents want to buy two packs of Oreos and four cans of Coke. How could you spend that same amount of money on food from the everyday column?

This scenario uses our example prices - you may need to adjust it if you're also adjusting those prices. Either way, demonstrate to students how they could spend that money on more everyday foods. For example, if you are using our initial pricing, two packs of Oreos and four cans of Coke cost $8 (2 x $2 + 4 x $1 = 8). You could instead spend that money on two punnets of strawberries (2 x $2.50 = $5) and a punnet of blueberries ($3).

The idea here is to get students thinking about how they or their family spends around food. Not everybody has the same amount of money, but by thinking about the relative prices between Everyday and Occasional Foods, we can equip students to think critically about how they use what they do have.

Step 4.

From here, you'll need to get a little creative. Draw up an imagined shopping list from the occasional foods column, and ask students, still in their groups, to:

a) figure out how much it would all cost, and
b) figure out how to spend that money on foods from the Everyday column instead.

Instruct students to make up a list that they would realistically like to eat. Also note that it might not be possible to make up exactly the amount spent on the Occasional Food shopping list; you could instead encourage students to see who can get the closest to that amount with their new menu. This activity should be primarily an adding activity, where students can add different amounts of different things together to reach their target. The next part of the lesson will focus more closely on multiplication.

You can repeat this activity a few different times, depending on how engaged your class are. For instance, you could create a competition with rounds, and assign points to teams based on how close they come to the original amount. In that scenario, it would be relatively easy to have three to six rounds. You could also try to stagger the difficulty of your lists: the first could involve two or three items with relatively round numbers, while later rounds could involve more difficult prices and bigger combinations, up to five or six items, or however many will test the ability of your students. Your decisions may also depend on the results that students have brought back: they may have inadvertently chosen slightly harder or easier products! Consider guiding students closely during the research phase in Step 1 if you want to shift them towards harder or easier products.

Part C: Bigger Numbers, Fewer Items

In this part, we move away from the addition focus in the previous activity, and towards multiplication. Students will be working with bigger numbers and fewer items, emphasising multiplication more heavily.

Step 1.

Ask students to select their five favourite foods from the Everyday Foods list. They should write them down in their workbooks, along with their prices.

Step 2.

Tell students that they now have a budget of $100. They need to spend it all between their five foods. Ask them to work out a spending plan that comes as close to $100 as possible. They can go a little under, but they can't go over! There isn't any extra money available.

Step 3.

Bring the lesson to a close. If you have been assigning points to students, count them up and announce the winning group. Encourage students to continue to think critically about how they could spend their own money on more Everyday Foods.

Reflection

Ask students to write a short reflection on this prompt:

How have your ideas about healthy eating and value for money changed since the beginning of this lesson?

Differentiated Learning

Extension - Invite students to discuss in pairs what they have learnt about the pricing of food and drinks from creating a shopping list. Invite students to brainstorm a list of at least 6 questions about the pricing of food and drinks. Here are some suggestions to start them off.

Why...?
How would it be different if...?
What are the reasons...?
Suppose that...?
What if...?
What if we knew...?

Invite students to review the brainstormed list and star the questions that seem most interesting. Then, select one or more of the starred questions to discuss for a few moments. End with a question: what new ideas do you have about the topic, concept or object that you didn't have before?

Provisions for Learning Support - Be mindful that some students will have less than others, and may be sensitive to questions around how their families spend the money they have. The focus here should be on pricing and the maths of moving from Occasional to Everyday Foods, rather than on individual food choices.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Taking it Further

If you would like more information about SugarByHalf or the movement to reduce our sugar intake, check out the SugarByHalf Teachers Network here.

SugarByHalf would also love to share the results of your teaching with the world! If your students are making amazing changes, consider emailing info@sugarbyhalf.com to let them know. They're excited to tell people about your success!

SugarByHalf - Cost Choices

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