U.S. Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition Service • July 2012 • FNS-439-B • USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 8 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

VOYAGE:

NUTRITION

THE QUEST TO BE OUR BEST

Supplies: 

Notebooks, pens, pencils, laptops or computers 

(optional), Student Printables: Learn the Label 

and Snacks for Your Journey.

Standards:*

Students will...

Math

•	 Investigate patterns of association in bivariate

data. (8.SP)

•	Solve real-world and mathematical problems

involving the four operations with rational

numbers. (7.NS.3)

English Language Arts

•	 Conduct short research projects to answer

a question, drawing on several sources and

generating additional related, focused questions

for further research and investigation. (8.W.7)

•	Present claims and findings, emphasizing

salient points in a focused, coherent manner 

with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and 

examples. (8.SL.4)

*Sources: Science education standards: National Academy of 

Sciences, Math and English Language Arts education standards: 

Common Core.

Time required: 

Three 40-minute sessions

Sample timing:

First Session – Investigate

Second Session – Challenge: Understand 

the Label

Third Session – Evaluate and Reflect

Questions for This Trek

1.	 What snack options are available at

my school?

2.	 Why choose healthier snacks?

How do I know if a snack is a 

healthy choice?

3.	 How do I read a Nutrition Facts label?

Subject Focus: Math 

Lesson Overview:

The reality is that by middle school, kids are making their own

dietary choices, especially when it comes to between-meal

snacks. How can we give them the tools to make the best

possible decisions? In this lesson, students will learn how to

evaluate the snack options at school based upon the Nutrition

Facts label and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They will

use mathematical analyses to evaluate the most nutritious snacks

available at school and to think critically about how the school

could offer healthier snacking choices. 

By the end of the lesson, students will better understand what

constitutes a healthy snack and will have made a direct impact on

their school environment.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to:

•	Analyze the nutrition information on food labels to compare

products.

•	Make healthier food and beverage choices.

•	Develop strategies for making healthier choices at school.

•	Describe strategies a person can use to reduce the amount of

empty calories consumed.

TREK 2 Grade 8

Backpack Full of Snacks!

1 of 3
U.S. Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition Service • July 2012 • FNS-439-B • USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 8 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

	 foods and any added sugars.) Are Spicy Cheese-Flavored

Puffs a healthy choice? Why or why not?

Share: Remind students that all packaged foods and 

beverages include a Nutrition Facts label. Then, explain

that they can find nutrition information for foods and

beverages that don’t come with a Nutrition Facts label, 

such as fresh fruits and vegetables, at Food-a-Pedia

(http://www.choosemyplate.com/foodapedia).

4. What are the Five Food Groups? Explain to students

that the Nutrition Facts label is not the only way to

evaluate whether a snack is a smart choice. Students

should also consider how a snack contributes to a healthy

diet. Explain that five food groups form the building

blocks of a healthy diet: Fruits, Vegetables, Protein Foods,

Grains, and Dairy.

Students can see a daily food plan that indicates how

much food they need from each food group each day at

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/supertracker.

	 Discuss how snack choices might provide foods from the

five food groups (for example: a snack of strawberries

and fat-free yogurt provides foods from the Fruit and Dairy

groups, respectively). Note that some

snacks contain only fats and added

sugars and do not contribute to any food

group (for example: candy, soda, and sports drinks).

Investigate

Instructional Steps

1

1. What snack options are available at my school?

	 Ask students where they can purchase snacks at school

(for example: cafeteria, vending machines, or school

store). Divide students into teams and challenge each

team to document the snacks available at one of these

sources. Students might take pictures of each snack and 

add them to a class blog or journal. Or, they might record

the names of each snack in their notebooks.

2. What’s the impact of choosing certain snacks? How 

do I know if a snack is the right choice for me?

	 Discuss the impact of choosing certain snacks. For

example, of the snacks students documented, which

do they think will help them stay healthy, learn, and be

their best? Ask students to share their reasoning. Explain

that evaluating the ingredients list, the Nutrition Facts 

label found on packaged foods and beverages, and

MyPlate (found at http://www.choosemyplate.gov) 

can help them discover the answers to these questions

and decide whether or not a particular snack is a smart 

choice for them.

3. How do I read a Nutrition Facts label? Distribute

the Student Printable: Learn the Label. Give small

groups 15 minutes to complete the activity. Then

discuss students’ responses to the questions as a class,

evaluating the different terms found on the Nutrition Facts

label. Explain that the Nutrition Facts label does not show

the amount of 

added sugars or 

whole grains in a 

food product. To 

identify these, the

ingredients list on 

the food package 

must be used 

instead. (Note 

to teachers: The 

Nutrition Facts 

label lists only total

sugars, which 

includes both the 

naturally occurring

sugars found in 

many healthy

Continue

TREK2Grade 8 Backpack Full of Snacks! / 2 of 3

a. Grains; not a whole-grain snack

b. 1 ounce (28 grams/about 18 pieces)

c. 3

d. 180

e. 540 (c x d)

f. 450 (d x 2.5)

g. 22 grams (11 g x 2)

h. 45 grams (15 g x 3)

i. 3% (2% x 1.5)

j. 250 milligrams; 750 mg (250 mg x 3)

k. 0 grams; 4 g. (Note to teachers:

When trans fat is below 0.5 grams 

per serving, it is labeled as having

0 grams.)

l. 10%; no

m. No

n. No

Learn the Label Answer Key

The Five Food Groups and a few examples of each.*

Fruits

Apples, grapefruits, lemons, limes, blueberries, watermelon, 

bananas, kiwi fruit, papaya, oranges, 100% fruit juice.

Vegetables

Tomatoes, black beans, spinach, avocados, beets, carrots,

plantains, lettuce, mushrooms, corn, potatoes.

Protein Foods

Meats (beef, pork, lamb), poultry (chicken, turkey), eggs, beans

and peas (black beans, chickpeas, lentils), processed soy

products (tofu, veggie burgers), nuts and seeds (almonds, peanut

butter, sesame seeds), seafood (cod, salmon, shrimp, tuna).

Grains

Whole grains (brown rice, oatmeal, whole-wheat bread/pasta/

cereal/tortillas, popcorn), refined grains (white rice, white

bread, flour tortillas, pretzels, cornbread, corn flakes).

Dairy

Milk, cheese (cheddar, American, cottage cheese), yogurt,

calcium-fortified soymilk (soy beverage).

*Not a complete list. Visit http://www.choosemyplate.gov

for more.

MyPlate’s Five Food Groups
U.S. Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition Service • July 2012 • FNS-439-B • USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 8 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

	 Some foods within the various food groups are also higher in solid fats

and added sugars (for example, cookies in the Grains group). These

foods provide extra calories. Calories that our bodies don’t use are

stored as fat.

2 Challenge: Understand the Label 

5. Explore the snacks that are available at school. Revisit the

snacks each team documented at the beginning of the lesson. Invite

teams to evaluate the Nutrition Facts label on each of the snacks they

found. (If the Nutrition Facts label for the snack isn’t available, students

can research nutrition information at Food-a-Pedia

(http://www.choosemyplate.gov/foodapedia). Have teams use

each snack’s Nutrition Facts label (and ingredients list, to spot added

sugars and whole grains), along with the five food groups at

http://www.choosemyplate.gov to complete the activity on the

Snacks for Your Journey printable, then share their reasoning with 

the class. 

•	What patterns do students notice from this activity?

•	Do higher calorie snacks also tend to be higher in saturated fat and

added sugars?

•	What foods or beverages are high in saturated fat or added sugars?

•	 Are most snacks from the Grains food group whole grains?

•	 How does each snack contribute to the five food groups? Are all of

the food groups represented?

	 Invite students to make posters featuring charts or graphs comparing

two or more snack products (for example: the saturated fat and

calories per serving in two similar products). Display the posters along

with the snack packaging and Nutrition Facts label in the hallway or

school cafeteria for others to learn from.

6. Consider: Do snack options need to be improved at school?

After evaluating the snacks available at school using the Nutrition

Facts labels and the five food groups, what do students think about

the choices offered? Are there enough snacks that can help students

to do their best? Why or why not? For each of the food sources at

school (cafeteria, vending machines, school store), are each of the

food groups represented? In particular, are fruits, vegetables, whole

Evaluate

8. Journal lesson outcomes. Have

students reflect in their journals about

the project. Did they inspire change?

What improvements were made? What

barriers still exist? Do students have any

ideas for what they can do next? How

will their learning influence their own 

eating? What change do students still

wish to see?

Extension Ideas

•	 Have students share their success stories about improving school

snacks with local media by writing a press release.

•	 Invite a chef, Cooperative Extension agent, or local dietitian into

the classroom to teach students how to prepare simple, healthy

snacks. 

3

4

7. Share knowledge with peers. Based 

upon their research, invite students to

create a piece of visual communication

that will inspire their peers to make 

healthier snack choices. For example,

this might be an interactive nutrition

label to teach others how to use it, a 

3-D continuum of healthy to not-sohealthy snacks with nutrition labels and

packaging, a snack recipe book, or a 

video blog/investigative piece to share

online.

Ref lect

End of Trek

TREK2Grade 8 Backpack Full of Snacks! / 3 of 3

grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy

products available? If students only ate

snack foods during the day, would they

get the foods they need to grow and

be their best? What recommendations

would students make to improve the

snack options available at school and

to encourage their classmates to make 

better choices?
TREK2 Grade 8

NUTRITION

THE QUEST TO BE OUR BEST

VOYAGE

Not all fats are bad! Fat is

a necessary nutrient for

your body to grow and

remain healthy. But certain

fats like saturated and 

trans fat can increase 

blood cholesterol and 

the risk for heart disease.

The Truth 

About Fat

1. Identify How This Snack Fits on MyPlate:

a. 	Does this snack fit into a food group? Which one(s)? ___________________________________________

2. Check Serving Size and Calories:

b.	What is the serving size? _________________________________________________________________

c.	How many servings are in the package? ____________________________________________________

d.	How many calories are in a single serving? __________________________________________________

e.	How many calories are in the whole package? _______________________________________________

f.	 How many calories are in 2.5 oz.? __________________________________________________________

Learn the 

Label

MyPlate and the Nutrition Facts label can help you in your quest to do your best. Use this label for Spicy CheeseFlavored Puffs to answer the questions below. You’ll need to do a bit of math, so use your notebooks for extra space.

Serving Size 1oz (28g/about 18 pieces)

Servings Per Package about 3

Amount Per Serving

Calories 180 Calories from Fat 100

 % Daily Value*

Total Fat 11g 17%

 Saturated Fat 2.0g 10%

 Trans Fat 0g 

Cholesterol 0%

Sodium 250mg 10%

Total Carbohydrate 15g 5%

 Dietary Fiber less than 1g 2%

 Sugars 0g 

Proteins 1g 

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 0% • Iron 2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. 

Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on 

your calorie needs:

 Calories: 2,000 2,500

Total Fat Less than 65g 80g

 Saturated Fat Less than 20g 25g

Cholesterol Less than 300mg 300mg

Sodium Less than 2,400mg 2,400mg

Total Carbohydrate 300g 375g

 Dietary Fiber 25g 30g

2 Amount of 

Calories

3 Limit These 

Nutrients

5 Percent (%) 

Daily Value

For educational purposes only. This label does not meet the labeling 

requirements described in 21 Code of Federal Regulations 101.9.

4 Get Enough 

of These 

Nutrients

1 Serving 

Size

6 Footnote 

With Daily 

Values (DVs)

Sample Nutrition Label: 

Spicy Cheese-Flavored Puffs

Ingredients: Enriched Corn Meal, Vegetable Oil, Spicy Seasoning,

Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Sunflower Oil,

Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Corn Syrup

Solids, and Salt.

5. Ask: Is this food right for me? Why or why not?

What snack could I choose instead? _____________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

3. Explore What’s Inside:

The label helps you choose those snacks that are lower in saturated fat and sodium and that have 0 grams

of trans fat. If a food has a % Daily Value that is 5 percent or lower in a specific nutrient, it is considered “low” in

that nutrient. Practice label-reading to see what’s inside each serving of Spicy Cheese-Flavored Puffs!

g. 	How many grams of total fat are there in two servings? _______________________________________

h. 	How many grams of total carbohydrates are there in the whole package? ______________________

i.	 What is the % Daily Value of dietary fiber in one and a half servings? ___________________________

j. 	How many milligrams of sodium are in one serving? _______ In the whole package?_______________

k. 	How many grams of trans fat are in one serving? ____ Grams of saturated fat in two servings?_____

l. What is the % Daily Value of saturated fat in one serving? ____ Is this snack “low” in saturated fat? ____

4. Use the Ingredients List: 

m. Choose grains that are whole-grain rich. If the word “whole” is before the first

ingredient listed, then it’s whole grain. Is this snack whole-grain rich? ____________

n. Choose snacks that are low in added sugars (such as: high-fructose corn syrup, sugar,

brown sugar, corn syrup, fructose, honey, molasses, anhydrous dextrose, and crystal

dextrose). Does this snack include added sugars in the first three ingredients? 	 	

_____________________________

Tip! Ingredients are listed in order of amounts by weight. So, for example, if sugar is 

listed as the first ingredient, the snack contains more sugar than any other ingredient!
TREK2Grade 8

NUTRITION

THE QUEST TO BE OUR BEST

VOYAGE

Serving Size 1 oz (28g/about 18 pieces)

Servings Per Container about 3

Amount Per Serving

Calories 180 Calories from Fat 100

 % Daily Value*

Total Fat 11g 17%

 Saturated Fat 2.0g 10%

 Trans Fat 0g 

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 250mg 10%

Total Carbohydrate 15g 5%

 Dietary Fiber less than 1g 2%

 Sugars 0g 

Proteins 1g 

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 0% • Iron 2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. 

Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on 

your calorie needs:

 Calories: 2,000 2,500

Total Fat Less than 65g 80g

 Saturated Fat Less than 20g 25g

Cholesterol Less than 300mg 300mg

Sodium Less than 2,400mg 2,400mg

Total Carbohydrate 300g 375g

 Dietary Fiber 25g 30g 

Calories per gram:

Fat 9 • Carbohydrate 4 • Protein 4

Energizing Snacking Tips:

• 	 Pick snacks that help you get foods from each food group.

• 	 Choose foods that won’t weigh you down with a lot of extra

calories from added sugars and solid fats.

• Pick some snacks that are not “prepackaged,” like fresh fruits.

Power-up Snacks:

• Fresh fruit like apples, pineapple, tangerines, bananas.

• 	 Baby carrots with low-fat dip.

• 	 Fat-free yogurt.

• 	 Baked whole-grain chips with salsa.

• 	 Nuts and raisin mix.

Snacks for Your Journey (page 1 of 2)

Hint: Use the Nutrition Facts label and the five

food groups to evaluate your options! If the

Nutrition Facts label for a snack isn’t available,

you can research its nutrition information at

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/foodapedia.

Look for snacks that:

•	 Contribute to at least one of the five food groups

•	 Are low in saturated fat (5% DV or less)

•	 Contain 0 grams of trans fat

•	 Contain less than 200mg of sodium per package

•	 Have a whole grain as the first ingredient (if it’s a

grain product, such as corn chips, crackers, or 

cookies)

•	 Are low in added sugars (a form of sugar is not

one of the first three ingredients)

You are going on an important journey. You can only take up to

500 grams of snacks in your backpack—and they have to be obtained

from your school! You’ll want to choose the healthiest snacks so that

you can keep up your energy level and do your best on your mission.

The sources of our snacks (for example: vending machine, school store, cafeteria): 

 

 

 

 

 

What 

snacks 

would you 

bring?

• Sodas and sports, 

energy, and fruit drinks

• Candy, ice cream, 

cookies, and cakes

Too Sweet= 

Extra Calories 

Without Extra 

Nutrition Remember: 

The information on the Nutrition 

Facts label is based upon one

serving. If there are multiple servings 

in a package, be sure to do the math!
TREK2Grade 8

NUTRITION

THE QUEST TO BE OUR BEST

VOYAGE

Snack name

Weight in 

grams per 

package

Calories

per 

package

Food group

% Daily Value 

for 

Saturated Fat

per package

Grams of 

Trans Fat 

per package

Milligrams of 

Sodium per 

package

Added Sugars 

in first three 

ingredients

Sample: Spicy CheeseFlavored Puffs 84g 540 Grains; not a 

whole grain

30%

(too high) 0g 750mg(too high)

None. (corn syrup 

solids shown at end 

of ingredients list)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Total: 500 

grams

Snacks for Your Journey (page 2 of 2)