Smart Label Sleuths: Making Healthy Food Choices with Text Evidence ✨ cross-curricular

Teacher: TeacherAI | Grade: 4 | Subject: Reading/ELA, Health Education | Duration: 45 minutes

📝 Description: Students analyze nutrition labels and health product advertisements using text evidence to write recommendations for healthy food choices.

Standards

4.W.9 (Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research)
4.W.9a (Apply grade 4 Reading standards to literature)
4.W.9b (Apply grade 4 Reading standards to informational texts)
HE.4.3.6 (Interpret visual and numerical representations to understand health products)
HE.4.3.7 (Write about a health-related product that supports a health decision)

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Identify and cite specific text evidence from nutrition labels to support health claims
Interpret numerical data on food labels to compare nutritional value
Analyze visual elements in health product advertisements for persuasive techniques
Write a recommendation paragraph using text evidence from multiple sources
Compare information from literary and informational texts about healthy eating habits

Supplies Needed

Tablets or Chromebooks
White paper
Pencils
Chart paper
Sample nutrition labels (cereal boxes work well)
Health product advertisements (printed or digital)

Lesson Structure

Opening (5 minutes)

Display two cereal boxes with different nutritional values. Ask: "If you could only choose one cereal for breakfast every day, which would you pick and why?" Record student responses on chart paper. Explain that today they'll learn to use text evidence like detectives to make smart health choices.

Main Activity (35 minutes)

Step-by-step instructions:

Text Evidence Mini-Lesson (8 minutes): Show a nutrition label on the board. Model finding specific evidence: "I can see this cereal has 12 grams of sugar per serving. This tells me..." Demonstrate how to quote exact numbers and words as evidence. Have students practice identifying one piece of evidence with a partner.
Label Analysis Practice (10 minutes): Give pairs of students two different nutrition labels. Using the Evidence Collection Chart, have them find and record specific text evidence about sugar content, fiber, vitamins, and serving size. Circulate to check that they're citing exact numbers and text.
Advertisement Investigation (8 minutes): Show health product ads (granola bars, yogurt, etc.). Have students identify visual elements (colors, pictures, fonts) and text claims ("All natural!" "High in protein!"). Students record these on their charts as different types of evidence.
Digital Research Component (6 minutes): Using tablets, students look up one additional nutrition label online for a similar product. They add this evidence to their collection chart, comparing numerical data between products.
Writing the Recommendation (3 minutes): Students write a paragraph recommending one product, using at least three pieces of specific text evidence from their charts. Provide sentence starters: "Based on the nutrition label, I recommend... because it contains..." and "The evidence shows..."

Closing (5 minutes)

Have 2-3 students share their recommendations and the specific evidence they used. Create a class anchor chart titled "How to Use Text Evidence for Health Decisions."

Quick Check: Ask students: "What's one piece of numerical evidence you'd look for on a food label?" "How is using evidence different from just giving your opinion?" "Name one visual element that might try to persuade you in an advertisement."

Formative Assessment

During the lesson, look for:

Students citing specific numbers and text rather than making general statements
Accurate interpretation of numerical data on labels (comparing serving sizes, percentages)
Written recommendations that include at least three pieces of concrete evidence

Differentiation Strategies

Support for Struggling Students:

Provide highlighters to mark evidence directly on printed labels
Give sentence frames: "The label shows ____ grams of ____" and "This means ____"
Pair with stronger readers during partner activities

Challenge for Advanced Learners:

Compare 3-4 products instead of 2, creating a ranking system with justification
Research the health effects of specific ingredients mentioned on labels
Analyze how advertisements target different age groups using different evidence

ELL/ELD Support:

Pre-teach key vocabulary: nutrition, serving size, percentage, ingredients
Provide visual vocabulary cards showing nutrition label parts
Allow native language discussion before sharing in English

Printable Materials

Evidence Collection Chart

Product Name	Numerical Evidence (exact numbers from label)	Text Evidence (exact words from package)	Visual Evidence (colors, pictures, design)
Product 1: _________________	Sugar: _____ grams Fiber: _____ grams Protein: _____ grams Serving size: _______	Claims I see: ____________________ ____________________ ____________________	What I notice: ____________________ ____________________ ____________________
Product 2: _________________	Sugar: _____ grams Fiber: _____ grams Protein: _____ grams Serving size: _______	Claims I see: ____________________ ____________________ ____________________	What I notice: ____________________ ____________________ ____________________
My Recommendation: I recommend _________________ because the evidence shows _________________________________

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