No more Mac and Cheese?! You don't say! Childhood obesity is taking the country by storm, and I am not one to sit back and let that happen. I teach 7th and 8th grade Family & Consumer Science classes. I try to spend a great deal of time learning about healthy eating and lifestyles. As an elective teacher, I have the ability to spend a lot of time with hands-on learning.
Many students today don't know where their food comes from. If it isn't out of a package, they perceive it as gross, or tasting bad. Even in an agricultural based town, there is a gap between our town's history, and our student's realities. As a result, we have created a society of unhealthy youth, that for the first time in history, are predicted NOT to outlive their parents. Scary? I should say so! And core classes don't have time to dedicate to nutrition like I do in my classroom, at a time when kids still have a chance to change their habits and make better choices.
I want to show students from start to finish how to produce healthy food that can taste great, and doesn't require a lot of time to make, while learning the roots of what they eat. This can easily be done by growing food right in our classroom. With on the counter herbs and vegetable gardens, each team of students can produce different crops. We can rate how quickly they grow, how much water they need, etc. until they are ready to harvest.
During harvest, students will create recipes and prepare dishes that use the food they grew to share with the class. The eventual goal is to start a garden on campus that can be harvested for mini food festival and cross curricular activities. But fear not! When we get to that point, the equipment we want now will not go to waste. We can use to it to begin the growing process during winter months when the outside temperature won't allow us to grow outside, and we can transfer plants back to the garden in the early spring.
Obesity in America is going to destroy our youth. I lot of that comes from not knowing what they are eating, or how much to eat. Not enough time is spent on proper nutrition and eating lifestyle. This is your chance to help contribute to the process so kids can establish a healthy relationship to food and as a result, create stronger, happier kids that will be or future.
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