Running head: CHOOSE MY PLATE ASSIGNMENT

Paris Rumback
PPE 310
Dr. William Hesse
April 2nd, 2016

CHOOSE MY PLATE ASSIGNMENT

MODIFIED MINI-LESSON
3
Introduction
It is a known fact the the health and well being of students is of the upmost importance in
all schools across America. Nutrition in schools is something that cannot be ignored. To increase
nutritional value, our country has created nutritional standards for schools to follow when
ordering and cooking school meals. These standards are USDA approved and follow nutritional
guidelines of students ages 5 to 18. Luckily, USDA created a food tracker that parents, students,
and teachers can use to monitor calorie intake and nutritional values of school meals everyday.
All you have to do is look at the breakfast and lunch menu, type in each item, and educate
yourself on what the students are consuming each day. Its is a great tool to use to stay updated
and be invested in childrens daily intake.
Summary
For this assignment, the average breakfast and lunch meal from Highland Lakes
Elementary school was imputed into the USDA Tracker for nutritional evaluation. By tracking
one daily meal, the tool calculated calorie intake and percentage consumption of targeted foods.
These results were then compared with the National Standards for School Meals as well as the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The results indicated what the school is doing well and what
needs to be improved in the cafeteria program at Highland Lakes. it could be seen what areas of
their food program needs to be changed. The following information includes how Highland lakes
meets these guidelines, and what areas need to be improvement upon according to the country
guidelines.
National Standards for School Meals

MODIFIED MINI-LESSON
4
The National Standards for School Meals is meant to be a guideline for all schools to
follow to serve healthy and well balanced meals to all students. As I compared Highland Lakes
cafeteria program to the National Standards, I found that for the most part, they meet most of the
nutritional criteria. However, I did find some minor discrepancies. One standard states that the
lunch must, offer fruits and vegetables as two separate meal components (Nutrition, 2012).
Highland lakes do not serve both fruits and vegetables everyday. Some days they will only serve
one vegetable with no fruit, or only one fruit with no vegetable. With that said, they do offer
both fruit and vegetable options at the salad bar; however, it is up to the student to make the
choice to pick up extra fruits and vegetables at lunch. Another standard Highland lakes do not
meet is to, offer a daily meat/meat alternate for breakfast (Nutrition, 2012). Some days, they do
meet this standard. However, other days, they do not have a meat option for breakfast. In
supplement, they serve cereal or oatmeal instead. Despite those two occasion discrepancies, I
believe that Highland Lakes does what they can to meet the standards and provide top notch
nutrition to their students.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are created to meet specific dietary guidelines. The
goal of this program is to balance calories, reduce solid fats and sugars, and to increase fruit and
vegetable intake (Nutrition 2012). As I imputed data from Highland Lakes into the data tracker I
found Highland Lakes met these guidelines in certain areas, and lacked in others. After
consuming a cafeteria breakfast and cafeteria lunch, my pretend student fell short 100 calories of
the daily goal, indicating that the calorie goal was almost met. The meat and protein goal was
met 100 percent as well. The areas that lacked included only meeting 33-50 percent of fruits and

MODIFIED MINI-LESSON
5
vegetables, and 52 percent of grains (Tracker 2016). Milk and yogurt fell slightly below the goal
at an averaged of 77 percent.
I did not create a goal for daily physical activity. My goal was to see how much a student
needed to eat without the active component considered. My observations are that if a student did
complete 1-2 hours of physical activity each day, the calorie goal would need to be raised, and
the intake of more protein, fruits and vegetables would need to be increased as well. If so, that
would put Highland Lakes scored as falling below the goal line recommended by the Dietary
Guidelines of America in all areas.
Nutritional Improvements
After careful observation, I conclude that in my school, and the schools across America
are striving to reach the health benefits and goals in every way possible. Looking at the results
from the My Tracker Tool, I believe that it can be extremely difficult to meet such high
guidelines and standards. Each student has individual needs, and when it comes to serving food,
sometimes it can be hard to meet each and every one of them. School breakfasts and lunches
have come such a long way since I was in grade school, and it is refreshing to see such
improvements in schools today. My only recommendation to Highland Lakes is to serve more
fruit and vegetable portions along with more grain options. Perhaps the school can come up with
a menu that meets all of the nutritional guidelines within one meal. As a teacher, it is important
that I advocate for my students, and protect their rights to a healthy and well balanced meal in
school.

MODIFIED MINI-LESSON
6
Reflection
It was so eye opening to read the specific breakfast and lunch guidelines and educate
myself on what need to go in the bodies of my young students. I now see the importance in a
balanced meal, and how it impacts the students in the educational setting as well as their personal
lives. I will always want whats best for my students, and I believe that having a well thought out
hot meal is one of many ways to keep my students healthy, fit, and comfortable.
I have always encouraged my students to eat a good breakfast each morning, and to not
waste food at lunch time. However, I have never educated my students on how to properly
accomplish that or why it is important. After this assignment, I have realized that I need to
implement more nutritional education in my classroom and teach my students about the
importance of following the food pyramid. A healthy diet and proper exercise is vital to the
success of my students and that is something I should not take lightly.
I am now going to be more mindful about what is being served in the cafeteria. If I see
something I dont feel is right, or believe that my students are not being properly fueled with the
food that is appropriate, then I will personally take the responsibility of advocating for the
students and try to make a change. I have no problem encouraging the cafeteria staff to make
necessary changes to the menu, and would love to cooperatively work together to make great
changes. What we do is all for the students, and they are what is most important. I never want to
lose sight of that.

MODIFIED MINI-LESSON
7

References
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010, January). Retrieved April 2, 2016, from
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2010.asp#overview
Highland Lakes Breakfast and Lunch Newsletter. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2, 2016,
from
http://dvusd.schoolwires.net/cms/lib011/AZ01901092/Centricity/shared/m
enus/M
Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. (2012).
Federal Registrar, 77(17), 4088-4089. Retrieved April 2, 2016, from
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf
SuperTracker: My Foods. My Fitness. My Health. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2, 2016, from
https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx

Criteria

Points (5) Exemplary

Introduction
SCORE:x1

ChooseMyPlate
Analysis

SCORE:
x1

Introduction was well

organized and created a plan
for the paper
One breakfast and one lunch
(or 2 restaurant options)
were evaluated
Results reflect a hypothetical
student

Points (3) Proficient

Introduction was somewhat

organized and created a plan for
the paper
Only one breakfast or lunch (or 1
restaurant option) was evaluated
Results reflected a hypothetical
student, but not enough
information was provided

Points (1) Ne

Introduction
and did not
paper
Only one br
1 restaurant
evaluated bu
Results did
hypothetical

MODIFIED MINI-LESSON
8

Application of

results and
proposed changes

SCORE:x1

Summary/Reflect
ion SCORE:
x1

Writing
SCORE:
x1

Referencing
Style

SCORE:

x1

Screen shot was included

Screen shot was included, but

incomplete

Screen shot

Contained a very detailed

application of National
Standards for School Meals
Contains very detailed
applications of Dietary
Guidelines for Americans
Contains very detailed
discussions for 3 changes to
improve nutrition
A summary of the current
state of the schools nutrition
was included
Summary of changes were
included
A detailed reflection
regarding how this teacher
knowledge of students
impacts your students inside
and outside your classroom
Proper grammar and
punctuation is used
throughout the proposal
All sentences are clear &
developed
Paper was at least 3 pages
with standard margins, font,
& text size
APA style referencing used
throughout paper and on the
reference sheet
The file document name
contains
Lastname.firstname.assign#.
course#
This rubric was attached

Contained a somewhat detailed

application of National Standards
for School Meals
Contained somewhat detailed
applications of Dietary
Guidelines for Americans
Contains somewhat detailed
discussions only 2 changes to
improve nutrition
A summary of the current state of
the school in terms of nutrition
was included
but did not align with paper
A summary of the proposed
changes was included but did not
align with paper
A general reflection of how this
data impacts your students

Contained li
application o
Standards fo
Contained li
application o
Guidelines f
Contained li
included 1 c
nutrition
A summary
of the schoo
nutrition wa
A summary
changes was
A reflection
as it relates
was missing

Most grammar and correct

punctuation is used throughout
the proposal
Most sentences are clear &
developed
Paper was 1-3 pages with
standard margins, font, and size
of text
APA style referencing mostly
used throughout the paper and on
the reference sheet with some
errors
The file name somewhat contains
the
Lastname.firstname.assignment#.
course#
This rubric was added but not at
the end

Many gramm
punctuation
throughout t
Many senten
and underde
Paper was le
length with
margins, fon
Many errors
referencing
and on the r
The file doc
not contain
Lastname.fi
.course#
This rubric w
document su