This activity serves as a fine motor skill/logical thinking assignment. You will need:
*K= what you know, W = what you would like to know, L = what you have learned. After completing each unit segment, or as a culmination to the entire curriculum unit, go back to the L and record the children’s responses. The use of the K-W-L format serves as a helpful method of monitoring students’ understanding of learned subject matter.
*pictorial magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Home Journal, Family Circle or circulars from major grocery stores
*an oversized (18” x 20”) laminated poster board broken down into three columns labeled Plant/Animal/Other.
Have your children cut out a minimum of 10 approximately 3” x 4” pictures of foods they enjoy eating. This cutting exercise can be used as a homework assignment. I often include a note to enlighten parents that allowing their young ones to participate in such paper-cutting activities aids in the development of handwriting skills.
Laminate the cut out pictures for reuse purposes. Use teacher tack, available at any office supply store, to affix pictures to the poster board categories. Conduct the food classification segment as a whole group classroom exercise. Using the oversized laminated poster board, have your students sort each food into one of the three categories.
(Be ready for a good laugh. One of my students cut out a picture of a bag of peanuts. When asked to think about the origin of this food, he and several others exclaimed, “Peanuts come from a peanut tree… the supermarket… the circus.” Such responses would go under “Other.” At this point, record all student responses. As the unit progresses and food origins are accurately established, revisit the chart to make necessary corrections and picture/category adjustments.)