Five Food Groups on My Plate

2 min Magic Box hook

Before the box, one fast lap of the circle — ten seconds a child, no more:

Now the box. Hold it up. It smells of something.

Pass the apple round to be sniffed, one child at a time. “Fruit!”

4 min Teach · Fruit

Hold each fruit up, name it, take one enormous noisy pretend bite, then drop it into the fruit basket.

Littles say the one word “Fruit!” with the giant bite. Bigs say the frame: “An apple is a fruit.”

Lay the 汉字 card 果 beside the basket and say it once, together: 果 — fruit.

Teacher fails: put the banana in the milk basket — “It's yellowy-white… it must be milk!” Hold it there and look pleased. Wait. The correction shout is the loudest English of the day.

3 min Song · Five Food Groups — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Sing it twice; the second time they will already be counting on their fingers.

3 min Game · Fruit basket pass

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everyone in a circle. One real fruit starts going round.

Each child takes it in two hands, sniffs it, says “Fruit!” — Bigs say “An apple is a fruit.” — and passes it on.

Second lap: send the banana the other way at the same time, so two fruits cross. Third lap: add the grapes. Three fruits chasing each other round a circle of three-year-olds is the whole game.

A child who won't speak will still sniff and pass. Say the word for them, warmly, and keep it moving.

1 min Close

Sitting, invisible apple in both hands. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle) — only the fruit pages. Count them and name them together.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant. Shake it — a dry rattle, like something in a shell.

Reach in and take hold of the carrot by its leaves. Pull it out very slowly, grunting, like it is stuck in the ground.

Everyone pulls their own imaginary carrot out of the carpet. “Vegetable!”

4 min Teach · Vegetable

A carrot grows down, in the dark under the ground. Beans grow up, on a plant in the sun. Everyone becomes a carrot: crouch tiny, leaves (hands) on top of your head — you go round and “pull” each child up by their leaves.

Littles say “Vegetable!” and pull. Bigs say “A carrot is a vegetable.” Both go in the vegetable basket, and the 汉字 card 菜 goes down beside it.

Teacher fails: hold the carrot up by its leaves and announce, “This one grew on a TREE — right up at the very top.” Point at the ceiling. Nod. Wait for the roar.

3 min Song · Five Food Groups — chorus + Tuesday verse

Sing this one crouched down and stand up on “Pull them up”. They will not sit down again for the chorus, and that is fine.

3 min Game · Pod the beans

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The bowl in the middle, the little shell dish beside it. One real pod each.

Each child presses their pod open and drops the beans in the bowl one at a time while the whole class counts them in: “One… two… three!” The empty shell goes in the shell dish, not the floor.

Go round twice if there are pods enough. Bigs count in English and then tell you the total.

Everything you just used goes straight onto the theme shelf as Tray 3 — same bowl, same dish, same beans, all week.

1 min Close

Crouched down for the first word, up on the last. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Oliver's Vegetables (Vivian French) — name every vegetable on the page and pull each one up with him.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant. Shake it — a long soft hiss, like rain on a window. Do it again. Let them guess.

Out comes the jar. Everyone shakes their own imaginary jar. “Grain!”

4 min Teach · Grain

Three grains, side by side on the mat: the rice jar, the corn cob, the slice of bread. Bread is a grain too — tell that story in three claps: seed → flour → bread.

Littles say “Grain!” and shake. Bigs say “Corn is a grain.” The 汉字 card 米 goes down beside the basket.

Teacher fails: drop the corn cob into the fruit basket — “It's yellow and it's sweet, so it must be a fruit!” Dust off your hands, satisfied. Wait.

3 min Song · Five Food Groups — chorus + Wednesday verse

Give the rice jar to a different child each time you sing it — a shaker in the hand turns a quiet Little into a member of the band.

3 min Game · Grain hunt

Before circle, hide the grain cards — rice, corn, bread, noodles — round the room, low down where they can see them.

They hunt. Every card found comes straight back to the mat, and the finder holds it up and names it before it goes into the grain basket: “Rice!” Bigs: “Rice is a grain.”

Hide them again for a second, faster round, and let a Big do the hiding while the rest cover their eyes.

Count the cards out loud before you hide them and count them back in at the end — that is the control of error, and it stops one card living under the bookshelf until Christmas.

1 min Close

Three fingers up, one per word. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Bread, Bread, Bread (Ann Morris) — bread from all over the world. Just point and say “Grain!” on every page.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box is cold today — an ice pack has been sitting in the bottom of it. Let them all touch the outside first.

One finger each, one quick cold touch each, round the circle. Then out comes the milk. “Milk!”

4 min Teach · Milk

Pour the milk. Drink it in one long theatrical glug. Wipe the moustache off with the back of your hand. Everyone copies with an invisible cup. Then hold up the cheese: cheese is made from milk — same family, same basket.

Littles say “Milk!” and wipe the moustache. Bigs say “Milk is a dairy food.” The 汉字 card 奶 goes beside the basket.

Now the 童谣, chanted twice with the frosty spoon held up in front of you:

Teacher fails: hold up the cheese and say, “This one grew on a tree. I picked it myself.” Look at it fondly. Let them shout you down twice before you give in.

3 min Song · Five Food Groups — chorus + Thursday verse

Sing this one slowly — four loud days need one calm song, and the strong-arms move on “strong, strong bones” is the one they will do at home tonight.

3 min Game · Run it to the group

Five hoops (or five sheets of paper) on the floor, well apart, with a food-group basket sitting in each one.

Every child gets one picture card — the sorting cards and the 3-part cards from the print pack — looks at it, and runs it to the right hoop. As each one lands the whole class shouts the group: “FRUIT!” “GRAIN!”

Collect, shuffle, hand them out again, go faster. Third round: Bigs must say the sentence before they run — “Bread is a grain.”

Wrong hoop is not a mistake, it is the lesson — carry it over together and say the right group twice. Nobody is ever out.

1 min Close

Four fingers up, one per word, invisible cup for the last. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? The Milk Makers (Gail Gibbons). And leave the cold glass of water standing all day — check it together at home time. Beads all down the outside: cold air pulls the water out, and when it turns colder still it comes as frost — that is 霜降.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box comes out fat and heavy and clinking. Shake it very gently — today it must not be shaken hard, and they will notice.

Crack it on the edge of your hand into a bowl. Big gasp. “Egg!” Everyone cracks their own on the edge of their hand.

4 min Teach · The whole plate, in five moves

Everyone stands. All five words, all five gestures, twice — slow, then fast:

Now build the pyramid on the mat together: grains, vegetables and fruit along the wide bottom — lots of those — milk and eggs in the middle, and right at the tiny top, the cake and the sweets: a little.

Littles do the five moves and shout the five words. Bigs tell it back to you: “An apple is a fruit. Corn is a grain. Milk is a dairy food.”

Teacher fails: build the pyramid upside down — all the cake and sweets along the bottom, three sad vegetables balanced on the very top. Stand back and admire your work. Do not move until they fix it.

3 min Song · Friday's verse, then the WHOLE song

The finale: chorus → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday → chorus, standing all the way round the finished pyramid. They learned it one verse a morning without noticing, and this run-through is the review of the whole week.

3 min Game · Pyramid quick-fire

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” You hold up a food — a real one or a card — they shout its group. No hands up, everyone shouts.

Apple → “Fruit!” (thumbs up — eat a lot)
Rice → “Grain!” (thumbs up)
Cheese → “Milk!” (thumbs up)
Cake → “A little!” (thumbs down, everyone giggling)

Go round twice, faster the second time, then hand the pile to a Big and let them hold the foods up for the class.

1 min Close + plate finale

Hand out the “My Plate” sheets: every child draws one food into each part of their plate, and you scribe what they tell you. It goes home today with an award.

Everyone holds their plate up. Whisper → normal → shout, with all five gestures:

Got 3 spare minutes? Eating the Alphabet (Lois Ehlert) — open it anywhere, point, and let them shout the group.

The four chords

Tempo: bright and marching — this is a counting song, so keep it steady enough that they can get five fingers up in time. Am is the only new shape: one finger, second fret, top string, and it lands on “Eat them up and GROW”. If it trips you, play C there for a week; nobody will mind.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. Five fingers go up one at a time on the first line and a half — by Wednesday they will be counting the groups without being asked, which is the whole point of the week.

One verse a day — verses use only C and G7

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — Friday's finale is the whole thing top to bottom, sung standing round the food pyramid, and it doubles as your review of the entire week.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That is the whole chorus apart from one bar of Am, and Am is one finger on the top string, second fret — easier than F. The five verses are only C and G7. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down and clap the chorus instead: the class will not notice, and the finger-counting lands either way.