Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes - Introduction
20 minutes - Part A: How Much Sugar?
20 minutes - Part B: Sugar and My Body
30 minutes - Part C: Sugar Ninjas
10 minutes - Reflection

Introduction

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by leading a group discussion about sugar. Use this focus question:

Why do we eat food?

List some of the responses from the students, and include these key points about why we eat food:

Food gives us the energy to fuel our bodies.
We need energy for our bodies.
Foods have lots of different things in them, including power-packed nutrients (like vitamin C, fats and proteins).

Step 2.

As a whole class view the following clip.

Why should we eat sweet and sugary foods less often? - Happy Eating Project (https://youtu.be/BBzDEW0w7ds)

Step 3.

Encourage the students to think about the ideas shown in the clip. Lead a quick classroom discussion about sugar in foods, highlighting:

Sugar can be hidden in lots of different foods and drinks
Too much sugar can cause tooth decay, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and other preventable diseases
What are the natural sugars? You find them in fruit or in the fats in milk or cheese. These foods provided minerals and vitamins to help keep your body healthy. To fuel our bodies we need to eat different types of food to get all of the nutrients our bodies need for each day.

PART A: How Much Sugar?

Step 1.

As a whole class watch the clip:

Healthy stories for kids | Sneaky Sugar Cubes - Bee Healthy Stories (https://youtu.be/7pxU61XbEhg)

Step 2.

Using this image from the Tasmanian Health Service or this image from the Australian Healthy Food Guide (you'll use these images later in the lesson, so don't show the students the images just yet!), organise a selection of common foods that are a mixture of foods with added sugars and fresh fruit and vegetables. Let the students know that some of the items have added sugar in them and others contain natural sugars. Their task is to guess if an item contains added sugars, and how many teaspoons of added sugar could be found in a single serving of the item. Show the students a teaspoon so they have a visual reference for size.

One by one, hold up each item, asking the students if they think the item has added sugar. If they do, how many teaspoons do they think are involved in a serving (not the entire product)?

Choose a student to share with the class the number of teaspoons of added sugar they think a serving of the item has hidden in it. Use a sticky note to write down the number that the student predicts, and place the sticky note on the item. Choose another student to guess until all of the products have a sticky note attached.

Step 3.

Reveal how much sugar each item has in a serving (if it contains added sugars), and compare to the sticky note attached to each product. Sort the items by the amounts of added sugar.

Step 4.

Spoon out the sugar added to each product into separate ziplock bags. Count out each of the teaspoons and place the bags in front of each object to visually show the amount of sugar in each item.

The amount of added sugar contained in a serving of each item is generally: water (0 tsp), juice (7.5 tsp), soft drink (7.5-16 tsp), milk (1 tsp).

Ask the students - are they surprised by the amount of hidden sugar?

Step 5:

Inform students that you will be making a classroom display to show how much added sugar is in each product.

Show the students the Sugar poster to reveal the amount of added sugar in other items.

PART B: Sugar and My Body

Step 1.

Start by sharing these facts about kidneys with your students. If you have completed any of the previous lessons in this unit, you may only need to revise these facts.

You have two kidneys in your body, which clean your blood. Kidneys can clean and filter all of the blood in your body in about 4 minutes.
When the kidneys clean our blood, they take out nutrients and minerals from your blood and balance your body liquids to ensure we stay adequately hydrated and contain the correct levels of salts in our body. The extra liquid is turned into your wee (urine).
If you have a lot of added sugar in the food you eat, your kidney has to work harder to clean the blood. This can make it difficult for your body to function and stay healthy.
Note: Highlight to your students that we all have bodies of all shapes and sizes. The focus is on making positive, healthy choices, rather than making anyone feel bad for their weight or what they eat.

Step 2.

Discuss with the whole class that the sugars we need to keep an eye out for are the sneaky added sugars in processed foods and drinks (foods and drinks that come in a package can contain these). Fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, taste sweet but contain natural sugars and lots of other healthy things like fibre and vitamins that keep us strong and healthy, making them an important part of our diet.

To demonstrate this, show the students two halves of an orange. Point out that the fleshy part of the orange holds the fibre. Inside, the juice has vitamin C, potassium, calcium, water and natural sugars called fructose. Oranges, eaten fresh as whole fruit, have a lot of extra health benefits.

Step 3.

Share this resource to show the nutrition facts of oranges (https://www.verywellfit.com/oranges-nutrition-facts-calories-and-health-benefits-4119322).

It is important that we are aware of the natural sugars in healthy food, e.g. fruit, and the added sugars that aren’t so good for us, e.g. in chocolate, sugary drinks, or junk food.

PART C: Sugar Ninjas

Step 1.

Provide each student with a paper plate or plate worksheet. The students are to draw in the foods that they would include in their plate, using the examples given on the worksheet.

Step 2.

Explain to students that there is a certain amount of natural sugar that can be eaten as part of a healthy diet every day. Fresh fruit is a great example of where we find natural sugars in our foods. Other foods have sugar added to them to make them sweeter and too much added sugar is unhealthy. This added sugar is like a ninja, sneaking into our food unnoticed.

On average, we eat 14-16 teaspoons of added sugar a day. Teenagers eat as much as 20. According to advice from the World Health Organisation, we should be looking to cut our added sugar intake by half, down to less than 6 teaspoons of added sugar.

Step 3.

Share the poster below with your students, noting the added sugar in each item. Ask the students to look at the posters: How much sugar is in your favourite foods?

https://www.healthyfoodguide.com.au/sites/default/files/uploads/sugar-in-breakfast-cereal.jpg

Step 4.

Now return to the paper plates that students drew. Ask students:

How can we cut our sugar by half?
Can they cut the sugar ninjas from their plates? Which items may have sneaky added sugar?
Also ask students to think about what they could swap for healthier, less sugary products.

Share some of these great ideas with the students to offer inspiration:

Water instead of juice
Popcorn instead of chips
Fresh fruit instead of fruit leathers (roll-ups)
Real fruit, not fruit cups
Grapes instead of lollies
Dips and vegetable sticks instead of chips

Reflection

Regroup the students to find out: What items did you put in your plate?

Discuss which foods are low in sugar, and why. Finally, hang up the students' work as a display.

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Build the students’ knowledge of the difference between sugars. These clips clearly explain the difference between sugars.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

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

SugarByHalf - Sugar and My Body

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