Lesson - Vegetables

Welcome Song

Announce Date

Theme
Ask: Who likes vegetables?  What are your favorite vegetables to eat?  Do you have any vegetables growing in your yard?

Last week we talked about fruit and how fruits grow from the flowers of fruit trees, bushes and plants. Vegetables do not come from the flowers of a plant. Vegetables are other parts of a plant, like:
(show samples for each bullet point from Vegetables.pdf and have the kids guess what each picture is and guess other types of vegetables from the same category)

• Leaves: lettuce, spinach, chard
• Roots: carrots, radishes
• Tubers (part of the roots): potatoes, yams
• Stem shoots: asparagus
• Leaf stems: celery, rhubarb
• Seeds of the plant: corn, peas and beans
• Flower buds: broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes
• Bulbs: onion, garlic

Some foods that we consider vegetables are really fruits but we consider them vegetables because they are not sweet like most fruits. These include: tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumber, snap peas, and avocados.

Just like sweet fruits, vegetables are very good for us. They help us grow and keep us healthy.

Vegetables come in lots of colors. Can you name some of them? (Green, red, purple, yellow, orange, brown, white) The more colors you eat, the healthier you’ll be!

Worksheet: Healthy (p.294-295 in Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K)

Story
Little Pea 
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
My kids love this story about a pea who hates candy.  But in order for Little Pea to get "dessert" he has to eat 5 pieces of candy.

The Carrot Seed
by Ruth Krauss
This is a short book about a boy who has faith that his carrot will grow despite what everyone around him believes.  Aaron (my son) picked this story which I decided to read in addition to Little Pea since it is short and on theme.

Spanish Vocabulary
maíz = corn
guisante = pea
tomates = tomatoes
aguacates = avocados
pimientos = peppers
frijoles = beans

Letter of the Day -V
Vegetables start with V
Worksheet: Voting for Veggies (p.55 in Scholastic Success with Kindergarten)

Number of the Day -  7
Count out 7 pieces of unpopped popcorn or dried beans (which we'll use later in the craft).
Worksheet: Circle groups of 7 (download here)

Craft
Collage on cardboard or card stock using cut out pictures of vegetables from magazines or seed catalogs, plus dried peas, corn, and various types of beans.

Closing Rhyme
(Adaption of tradition rhyme, suggested by Jean Warren)
Take turns letting the kids fill in what they are eating.  We had a small group and some of the younger ones wanted to do it again so we did this a few extra times.

One, two, three, four
[Child’s name] at the kitchen door.
Five, six, seven, eight.
Eating [vegetables] off his/her plate.

Follow up ideas
Visit a local farmer’s market or the produce section of the grocery store and see how many vegetables your child can identify.
Have your child plant some carrot seeds  in your backyard (or garden if you have one)