| Getting
Started
|
“1-2-3’s”
for Incorporating Healthy Classroom Messages
It is easy when you start small and build!
-
Model
healthy choices
-
Add
healthy options for snacks and parties
-
Provide
examples of healthy eating or physical activity
choices in everyday life
-
Use
brief activities as “filler” time. Is there
-
Five
minutes before lunch or at the end of the day?
-
A
day when kids can’t go out for recess and could
use some fun activity with movement?
-
Create
a learning center that includes a healthy message.
-
Collect
resources such as the ORGANWISE GUYS to enhance
reading along with fun activities.
-
Collect
resources to integrate physical movement and healthy
eating messages in core subjects.
-
Ideas
that are fun, hands-on and send a healthy message
are encouraged!
Imagine you are 7 years old and can choose one
of two ways to learn about weight measures.
Choice one: Read a lesson and take a written
test.
Choice two: Weigh the amount of fat and sugar
in various foods in a “mini” learning lab—talk
about weight measures and healthy choices for
foods high in fat and sugar!
-
Use
tasting when possible—kids are more willing
to “explore” and try new foods when their peers
are doing so!
-
Find
ways to connect a healthy message with others.
-
Can
a message in the classroom be repeated in music,
art, PE, the cafeteria?
-
Send
homework and information that will connect with
families.
|
Classroom
resources that make for quick activities and a great hands-on
learning lab
-
A
poster of the MyPyramid Food Guide in the classroom for
an impromptu discussion about where foods on the school
lunch menu fit. To obtain a poster, check with your Food
Service Director or a local Family and Consumer Science
Agent.
-
Empty,
clean food boxes and containers, restaurant menus, food
scales, etc for “play” activities
-
Healthy
snack ideas to send home or use in the classroom
-
Props
like parachutes or colored scarves for classroom movement
-
A
healthy eating resource cart (as funding permits—this
would make a good PTA project!) A sampling of items to
stock the cart:
-
Plastic
food models
-
Food
scale
-
“Mobile
kitchen” items such as
-
Hand mixer, blender, hot plate
-
Stainless steel mixing bowls, measuring cups and
spoons
-
Kitchen utensils – Paring knives, spoons, potato
peeler, tongs, spatulas, etc.
-
Cutting boards, preferably not wood
-
Baking pans
-
Potholders
-
Paper towels, paper plates, plastic silverware,
napkins
-
Books
with a healthy eating message such as:
-
OrganWise
Guys , Wellness Incorporated
-
Berenstain
Bears and Too Much Junk Food--S. Berenstain, Random
House, 1985
-
Bread
and Jam for Francis--, Russell Hoban, Harper & Row,
1964
-
Green
Eggs and Ham--Dr. Suess, Rigby.
-
Gregory
the Terrible Eater--Mitchell Sharmat, et al, Four
Winds Press, 1984
-
The
Very Hungry Caterpillar--Eric Carle, Philomel Books,1987
-
Magic
Schoolbus Inside the Human Body--Joanna Cole, Scholastic,
1989
-
Science
Experiments You Can Eat--Vicki Cobb, J.B. Lippencott,
Co., 1994
-
Healthy
Snacks for Kids--Penny Warner, Nitty Gritty Cookbooks.
1999
-
Audio-tapes
for music
Planning
helps make things happen! Use the following table as a worksheet
to identify ways to incorporate healthy eating messages and
movement in YOUR classroom.
| Planning for
Healthy Messages and Movement in the Classroom |
Month/ Week/ Day |
Support or Resources
needed |
| Ideas for healthy
messages |
| Ideas for "filler"
time or a learning center |
| Ideas for integrating
into core subjects |
| Ideas for linking
with others |
|
