Lesson 02 — Protect and Regulate: Vitamins, Minerals, and Water

Learners meet the nutrients that protect and regulate the body: vitamins (a shield that protects and helps healing), minerals (calcium that builds bones, iron that carries oxygen), and water (the river that carries everything and keeps the body cool). They match foods from many regions to these jobs and record what each nutrient does.

D03 P2: Physical & Somatic Awareness D03.S3 45 minutes Draft

Objectives

D03.S3.05.01 Explain how nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water support different parts of the body.

Essential question

How do vitamins, minerals, and water protect and regulate my body?

vitaminmineralwaterprotectregulatecalciumiron

Materials

Standard materials

Protect and regulate poster · 1 A poster showing vitamins as a shield (protect against sickness and help healing), minerals as a strong bone and a blood cell (build bones and carry oxygen), and water as a river carrying everything through the body
Protect–build–carry page · 1 per learner A three-part page where learners record one vitamin, one mineral, and water with what each does
Pencils and crayons · per learner

Low-tech / no-cost

Act it out Three learners act as shield (vitamins), brick-layer (minerals), and river (water) moving among the group; no page needed
Found-object roles A leaf or fruit as a vitamin, a small stone as a mineral, and a cup of water — hold each up and name its job

Enriched / lab & device

A water-and-body diagram · 1 A chart showing that water is about 60% of a child's body and carries nutrients and waste, to make the abstract concrete
Food pictures from many regions · a small set Photos of vitamin- and mineral-rich foods — leafy greens, citrus, mango, guava, sesame, beans, fish — to sort by the nutrient they are rich in

Works in different contexts

large-group Act out the three roles as a whole class (shield, brick-layer, river), then have pairs complete the page and share one example each
multi-age Younger learners match a food to a job (protect, build, carry) while older learners name the specific nutrient (vitamin C, iron, calcium) and what it does
self-directed A learner reads the poster, completes the page, and writes one sentence each for a vitamin, a mineral, and water naming its job
level-grouped Learners ready to extend name a specific vitamin (A, C, D) or mineral (calcium, iron, iodine) and the body part it supports
outdoor-only Find or recall a local fruit, leaf, or seed and a water source, and name the vitamin, mineral, or water job each supplies

A three-part diagram. A shield labeled "vitamins — protect and heal" with small drawings of citrus, mango, and leafy greens. A strong bone and a red blood cell labeled "minerals — build bones and carry oxygen" with sesame, beans, and fish. A water drop labeled "water — carries everything and keeps you cool" with a river flowing through a body. Labels and pictures, not color alone, carry the meaning so it prints clearly in grayscale.

Lesson 2 — Protect and Regulate: Vitamins, Minerals, and Water

Summary

Learners meet the nutrients that protect and regulate the body: vitamins (a shield that protects against sickness and helps healing), minerals (calcium that builds bones and teeth, iron that carries oxygen in the blood), and water (the river that carries everything and keeps the body cool). They match foods from many regions to these jobs and record what each nutrient does.

Objectives

Explain how nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and water support different parts of the body. (D03.S3.05.01)

Connection

A village has more than builders and cooks — it has guards who protect it, repair workers who keep the walls and roads strong, and a river that carries water everywhere it is needed. Your body works the same way. Vitamins are the guards: they protect you from sickness and help cuts and scrapes heal. Minerals are the repair workers: calcium keeps your bones and teeth strong, and iron carries oxygen through your blood so your whole body can breathe. Water is the river: it carries nutrients to every cell, washes away waste, and keeps you cool when you sweat. From the mango and leafy greens to the sesame and beans to the cup of water — these are your body’s protectors and regulators.

Materials

Protect and regulate poster
Protect–build–carry page
Pencils and crayons

Preparation

Print or draw the protect and regulate poster (shield for vitamins, bone and blood cell for minerals, river/water drop for water).
Copy a protect–build–carry page for each learner.
Recall Lesson 1: carbohydrates fuel, proteins build, fats store and build — today’s nutrients protect and regulate.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). The idea to land is that vitamins protect, minerals build and regulate, and water carries — three more jobs, all needed. Keep it concrete with a shield, a builder, and a river. Use food examples from many regions (citrus, guava, mango, leafy greens, tomatoes, sesame, beans, lentils, fish, dairy or its plant alternatives) and honor every way of eating. Water is available differently in different places; frame access to clean water as a shared fairness issue, never a family’s failing. See docs/facilitation.md.

Procedure

Gather (5 min). Last time you met the nutrients that fuel and build your body. Today, the nutrients that protect and regulate it: vitamins, minerals, and water.
Meet the three helpers (10 min). Look at the poster. Vitamins are a shield: they protect you from sickness and help wounds heal — vitamin C in citrus and guava, vitamin A in mango, sweet potato, and dark leafy greens. Minerals build and regulate: calcium builds strong bones and teeth (in leafy greens, sesame, dairy, and fortified foods), and iron carries oxygen in your blood (in beans, lentils, and fish). Water is the river: your body is more than half water, and water carries nutrients in, waste out, and keeps you cool.
Act the jobs (10 min). In a group, act out the three jobs. One of you is a shield (arms up, guarding), one is a builder (stacking motions for bones), one is a river (flowing arms, carrying). Say each job aloud: protect, build, carry.
Record on your page (15 min). Draw or write one vitamin and what it protects, one mineral and what it builds or carries, and water and what it does. Use real foods you eat or know.
Close (5 min). Fuel and build (Lesson 1), protect and regulate (today) — now you know all six nutrients and the jobs they do. Next time: what happens when the body gets too little of one of them, over time.

Differentiation

Support: Provide a picture bank of foods and sentence starters (“Vitamin C helps my body ___”), and scribe as needed.
Extension: Name a specific vitamin (A, C, D) or mineral (calcium, iron, iodine) and the exact body part it supports, and one food rich in it.

Assessment

Formative (observation): Can the learner name one vitamin, one mineral, and water, and say what each does (protect, build/regulate, carry)?
Self-check: The learner checks that their page matches each nutrient to its real job and uses at least one real food.

Home connection

Find one fruit or leafy green, one bean or seed, and a glass of water at home, and tell someone what each does for the body.

Resources

Vitamins and minerals each have specific jobs — vitamin A for vision and immunity, vitamin C for healing, calcium for bones, iron for carrying oxygen — and water makes up a large share of the body and carries nutrients and waste. See the World Health Organization’s micronutrient fact sheets (https://www.who.int/health-topics/micronutrients) and its guidance on water as essential to health. These describe what nutrients do — never a judgment about any body or way of eating.