Upper Elementary

Menu Magic
This idea was contributed by Brenda Weston, Maple Elementary School, Hoopeston, Illinois.

Menus from local restaurants are an excellent resource to use with the Pyramid Explorations™ program. They provide practical knowledge of the Five Food Groups and provide children with an opportunity to apply the concepts learned to situations outside of the classroom.

Materials and Advance Prep
• Classroom supply of take-out menus from a local restaurant or one photocopy of a local restaurant menu for each student.

• Obtain a menu from a local restaurant and make a copy for each student or use take-out menus from a local restaurant.

What To Do
1. Give each student a menu. Practice sorting selections from the menu into the Five Food Groups. This is a good opportunity to identify Combination Foods such as tacos or pizza and sort them into Food Groups.

2. As a next step, have students practice ordering a healthy meal from the menu. Students should order a meal that includes items from all Five Food Groups. Ordering milk or chocolate milk is a great way to make sure the Milk Group is part of their meal.

3. To practice math skills, have students add up the total cost of the items they ordered; then work as groups to find the total bill for the table. If your state charges meal tax, you may want students to calculate that as well.

Going Further
To reward students for completing the Pyramid Explorations™ program, plan a field trip to a local restaurant and let students put their nutrition knowledge to work. Set guidelines for choosing food from the Five Food Groups for the meal they order, just as you did in class.

"My students and I really enjoyed this activity - we had a blast! Your easy-to-use materials are so helpful and make it fun to teach nutrition. Thanks for a great resource!"
- Brenda Weston

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