What’s on My Plate?

Overview

Lesson 9 focuses on assessing personal dietary habits alongside physical activity and sedentary time. Students complete a week-long diary, analyse patterns, and use a simple self-assessment strategy to plan one positive change for the week ahead.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• assess their food choices and physical activity/sedentary behaviours using a personal diary
• compare their patterns across the week to health and wellbeing goals
• identify one realistic positive change they can start next week
• practise respectful pair support while completing a dietary audit

Success criteria

Students can:

• summarise at least 2 patterns from their diary (e.g. snack timing, sugary drinks, low activity days, long screen time)
• state one strength (what they do well) and one area to improve
• propose one specific change for next week and explain how it supports health and wellbeing
• use evidence from their diary (not guesses) when justifying their decisions

Curriculum links

• Health and Physical Education: Students design and justify strategies to increase physical activity levels to achieve health and wellbeing outcomes, including monitoring a personal activity plan and reducing sedentary behaviours
• Health and Physical Education: Students plan and implement strategies, using health resources, to enhance their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing, including considering actions that affect mood and mental wellbeing
• Health and Physical Education: Students participate in physical activities designed to improve fitness and wellbeing to investigate the impact of regular participation on health, fitness and wellbeing - Health and Physical Education: Students use health information to support effective choices by analysing personal patterns and adjusting strategies (connected through the lesson’s focus on self-monitoring and goal-setting aligned to curriculum intent)

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook. Teacher writes: “What does your week show?” and displays two example patterns (e.g. “skipped breakfast 2 times”, “Saturday had the most activity”). Students quick-write one observation from their diary.
2. 5–12 min · I Do: self-assessment method. Teacher models a short “evidence check” using a sample diary:

• What did I record?
• What pattern do I notice?
• What might be the impact on energy, mood, or sleep? Students underline one piece of evidence in their own diary that they plan to use today.

3. 12–25 min · We Do: pair dietary audit. Students work in pairs (assigned by teacher). Each pair completes a “Diet + Movement Audit” sheet:

• Food: 2 best choices (e.g. water, vegetables, balanced snacks)
• Food: 1 frequent “swap target” (e.g. sugary drink, ultra-processed snack)
• Movement: 2 active moments (walk, sport, PE, play)
• Sedentary: 1 long screen/quiet-time block they recorded Teacher circulates, prompting: “Point to the date/time,” and “How confident are you in your record?”

4. 25–32 min · Whole-class consolidation. Teacher leads a brief class discussion: “How do diaries help us?” Students share one pattern category (not personal details) and teacher records common categories on the board (e.g. “afternoon slump”, “weekend activity high”).
5. 32–45 min · Analyse and match strategies. Students individually choose one area to improve and draft a strategy using a simple template:

• Problem pattern (from diary): ______
• Goal for next week: ______ (specific and measurable)
• Strategy (realistic step): ______
• Support (who/what/how): ______ Teacher suggests examples: replacing sugary drinks with water; adding a 10–15 minute active break after school; reducing late-night screens by turning devices off 30 minutes earlier.

6. 45–55 min · Physical activation link (short, purposeful). Teacher runs a 10-minute “Activity Boost Circuit” using minimal equipment (e.g. stations: brisk step-ups, jumping jacks, shuttle touches, plank hold, skipping practice—modify as needed). Students complete a 1-minute reflection after: “How did this affect me?” and connect it to their diary’s movement patterns.
7. 55–60 min · Exit ticket. Students submit: “One positive change for upcoming week is ____ because ____ (using diary evidence).”

Resources

• Week diary copies (completed homework or class packet)
• Pair “Diet + Movement Audit” sheet
• Student personal strategy template
• Short “Activity Boost Circuit” equipment (cones, timer, mats optional)
• Pens/highlighters
• Exit ticket slips or digital form (no hyperlinks)

Assessment

• Teacher observation during pair audit: students citing diary evidence and using respectful language
• Strategy template check: clear problem pattern, realistic goal, specific step
• Exit ticket: identifies one positive change with a reason grounded in diary data

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters for the audit and strategy template (e.g. “I noticed… on…”, “A better choice I made was…”)
• Support: allow students to choose from a shortlist of common swaps/strategies before writing their own
• Extension: invite students to include a second “backup strategy” if their first goal is missed (e.g. “If I can’t do the after-school walk, I’ll do a 10-minute activity at home.”)
• SEN/EAL: offer visuals on the board for evidence check steps; allow oral responses for the audit if needed (teacher records briefly)

Extension (optional)

None.