Life Skills: Nutrition Facts Math Percentages, Ratios, Rates

Healthy eating is a key life skill! Do you want to teach your class how to accurately read a nutrition facts label and determine the healthy and less healthy aspects of the food choices they make? Do you want to find a way to apply the math skills you have been teaching in your middle school classroom (percentages, rates, ratios) to a real-life engaging situation? This is the lesson for you!

This ready-to-print lesson for students in 5th to 8th grades includes an eye-catching one-page handout to teach students the basic vocabulary and terms included on nutrition facts labels:

- absolute amount in grams or mg or mcg & percent of Recommended Daily Intake (RDI)

- suggested serving size (grams)

- calories

- fat, protein, carbohydrates

- sodium

- vitamins and minerals

There are three different worksheets to allow students practice the following life skills:

• Determining the number of servings in a package (you mean I'm not supposed to eat the whole tub of ice cream in one sitting!?).

• Calculating the amount of nutrients and calories they would get if they ate several servings (which we often do!).

• Comparing sugars that are naturally occurring vs. added.

• Using simple percent calculations to determine the Recommended Daily Intake of vitamins.

• Comparing two similar foods (frozen yogurt vs ice cream) to see which is a healthier choice and why.

And more!

What's Included: 6 Page PDF

Ready to Print and Use!

- Title Page and Teacher Instructions

- Student Handout: The Basics of Nutrition Facts Labels

- Potato Chip Nutrition Facts Label (with Math Questions)

- Dried Apricots Nutrition Facts Label (with Math Questions)

- Ice Cream vs. Frozen Yogurt Nutrition Facts Labels (with Math Questions)

- Complete Answer Key

If you like this lesson, check out other grocery lessons in my store:

Grocery Shopping Price Comparisons

Grocery Shopping on a Budget

Grocery Game