Nutrition Lessons in New Hampton

By Melanie Stewart, FFI AmeriCorps

New Hampton Elementary School students are learning about nutrition.  Lessons were tailored to be informational and engaging for each grade level.

First grade students learned the importance of eating a balanced diet and being physically active through an introduction to MyPlate. Students picked activity cards with different food items, named which food group it belonged to, did the corresponding activity, such as hopping on one foot or dancing.

Second grade classes "tasted a rainbow" of fruits and vegetables after learning how eating different colors helps our bodies. Students made a rainbow of fruits and veggies to sample. One student said, "I've never had a yellow pepper before, but I liked it!"

Third graders sampled brownies baked with black beans. All students said they liked them before learning what the secret ingredient was, and almost all said they would try them again. After the taste test, students learned the importance of balance, variety, and moderation by reading Shel Silverstein poem's "Food?"

Fourth grade science classes learned the difference between whole grains and not-whole grains ("refined grains") by reading food labels and packaging. There were many great questions such as "what does ‘organic' mean?" and "what is the difference between ‘dietary fiber' and ‘insoluble fiber'?"

Tag: schoolwellness