Healthy Food Web Lesson Plan

Level: Grades 2 to 3

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 1-2 hours

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This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students consider the role of snack foods in a healthy diet. The teacher then guides them on a tour of popular sites aimed at children, where the class identifies and classifies the advertising encountered there and looks at how the food products being advertised fit – or don’t fit – in the food groups found in the Canada Food Guide. Students then play the game Co-Co’s AdverSmarts to understand some of the techniques used by online food marketers and then create their own mock website promoting a healthy diet.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • begin to develop an understanding of the commercial objectives of immersive online environments, specifically those characteristic of food products’ websites
  • identify the purpose and the intended audience of these types of websites and describe how audiences might respond
  • recognize and identify the advertising and marketing elements and characteristics associated with commercial websites
  • identify overt and implied messages of websites that market to children their age
  • utilize their information to simulate the creation of a media text
  • demonstrate an awareness of the types of foods needed to maintain a healthy body
  • identify the nutritional quality of foods advertised in online spaces aimed at children

Home and School Connection

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit