Lindsey's Final Reflection

Childhood obesity and nutrition is a growing issue in schools today. As future teachers, we need to make sure that students AND parents are well educated on the importance of healthy eating and excercising. Students need to be help accountable for their food choices and they should understand the differences between foods and why foods are healthy and unhealthy.

For my service learbing project I taught my classroom of first graders about what it means to eat healthy. I read them "Inside The Human Body." This is "Magic School Bus" book and they absolutely love them. The books discussed digestions and the heart as well as other parts of the body that need food to make energy. I also obtained a food pyramid from the Horace Mann school nurse. This paper also had eating and excercising tips for students as well as parents. I made copies for each student to look at and to take home after we finished our lesson. We discussed each group within the food pyramid and which foods go in which category. After discussing the food pyramid and why we need all types of healthy foods, we discussed how imporant exercising is. I asked each student to share a type of excercise that they enjoy doing. I recieved answers from playing basketball to walking. Asking this questions really prompted students to think about their daily lives and what they consider to be excercise. I gave each student a piece of "food paper." I instructed them to write about their favorite type of food, why it is their favorite, and what part of the food pyramid it belongs in. This was another great way for students to make personal connections to the material I was teaching. We all shared our writing at the class rug when we were finished. The students really enjoyed this activity.It felt great to complete this service learning project. I think my students really took something away from it and that made all of my work worth it.

I would even like to have my students do service learning themselves in a classroom.I think that service learning is most definitely a useful teaching strategy because it gets the students involved. I think it is important for students to do things other than writing letters and simply researching a topic or current event. When they take action and complete a service learning project they are going even deeper and really obtaining a personal connection to the issue. It allows them to become passionate and involved in something that they normally would oversee. By completing a service learning project, they would feel as if their efforts and hard work were being put to good use. Simply writing a book report or making a poster feels so unimportant to students. I would like to complete service learning in my classroom from the very beginning of my teaching career AND I would encourage my students to do the same as well. I hope that my service learning in my own classroom someday would allow students to take something  that means something to them and go out and complete their own service learning to keep the ball rolling!

The students really enjoyed this activity.It felt great to complete this service learning project. I think my students really took something away from it and that made all of my work worth it. This is what changed my attitude about the service learning project as a whole. I now feel as though it has a purpose to serve my students. I would suggest to future curriculum block students that they should pick a date to complete their service learning project immediately. With all of the other work going on in the life of a block student, it is easy to forget a project such as the service learning. As hesitant as I was about completing this service learning project, I really enjoyed it in the end. It was great to see how much my students enjoyed learning about the food pyramid. I was surprised to see how many of them didn't even know what a food pyramid was. But now, they do!

Jessica's Reflection

Obesity is an enormous problem in our society and it is only going to get worse.  I believe that to truly make a change and stop the swelling waist lines we must start by educating the children.  If we can encourage them to create healthy eating and exercising habits at a young age they will continue with them for the rest of their lives, as well as influencing their own children to be healthy.  I originally picked this topic because I thought that nutrition was the only factor influencing obesity.  Although I still think that it is a major factor, I also believe that a lack of physical activity is leading to the growing epidemic.

In my field placement at River Valley Charter School the children have to bring lunch from home everyday.  From what I have observed they all bring healthy lunches with fruits and vegetables.  Some do eat junk food snacks but for the most part they all eat very healthy.  If this is the case at home, which I'm assuming it is since their parents pack their lunches, why are some children still overweight?  In my opinion it is a lack of exercise and physical activity.  If these children just went outside to play I feel like it would make a huge difference.

For my service learning project I worked with the children in my class.  In Newburyport there is the clipper city rail trail, which is an amazing walking, jogging, or biking path that runs through Newburyport and ends at the Merrimack River.  My cooperating teacher wanted to set up a partnership with the rail trail in which the students could contribute to it's upkeep every year.  I helped contact the people in charge of the trail and set up a day on which the children could clean some of the litter off the trail.  I then walked with the class to the trail and helped them in the clean up day.  It was amazing.  They were all so excited to make the path beautiful for the people who wanted to use it and loved being able to contribute to it's upkeep.  Many said that they used the trail with their families and enjoyed walking along it.

After completing this service learning it was awesome to see how much the children loved keeping the trail beautiful.  I found it fascinating that so many of them walked along it with their families and used to to exercise and get outdoors.  Helping the class create a beautiful place in the community for people to exercise was an amazing experience.

Cassandra's Reflection

Obesity is a major epidemic in our country. I believe that much of it has to do with the convenience of "junk foods" and lack of education on healthy eating habits. Never the less, it is an issue. Before this blog I had no idea of how severe this issue really was. For my service learning project I wanted to do something to impact the future generation. So for my project I decided to do a lesson on nutrition with my group of first graders. I read them the story, "How Did That Get In My Lunchbox?" and taught them about important nutrients they need to ensure that they stay healthy. After reading the book and teaching them about nutrients, the children participated in a variety of activites. I found an online interactive game for them to play which focused on "nutrient superheroes." The game presented several scenarios, and asked the children to choose an appropriate nutrient super hero to help in the situation. For example, one scenario was about a child who broke the bones in his arm. It then asked the children to choose which nutrient super hero would help to build stronger bones. The answer was Captain Calcium. Following this online activity students were given a worksheet with a plate on it in which they would create a healthy meal with five items. Students seemed to love the activity and the teacher even wrote down the website I used for future refrence.

Doing this service learning project felt awesome! I truly felt that I was making some type of differnce. I think that the first step to change is to educate people, of all ages, on the issue. I think that helping the children to understand that foods play an important job in keeping us healthy might  influence their eating habits. I do feel as though service learning projects are useful teaching strategies because it allows the students to build a passion for the topic. By sharing their thoughts and knowledge with others it helps to build the sense of compassion and interest that the student running the service lerning project feels. I do think that I would continue to do this service learning project with my future students because it is such an important issue. Many children do not understand what constitiutes a healthy meal and it is something that all individuals should know no matter how small they are!

I think that to make this assignment better you should aware students straight from the begining of the semester to plan a day to get their service learning done. Once they know their topic, they should plan their service learning. I think that the planning of service learning would be a great initial assignment. I feel as though many of us felt rushed to complete our service learning which detracts away from its value.

Lindsey's Reflection

Childhood obesity is a serious matter in schools today. In order to change this issue in a positive way, we need to educate students on what it means to be obese and how they can eat healthier to feel healthier. However, even before doing this, I think it is important that parents are aware of the issues at hand as well. It all begins at home. There is only so much we can do as teachers. Parents are going to feed their children what they want. But we can limit the things that we give students for snacks, and hot lunches. Encouraging students to eat healthy will hopefully follow them home as well. The Horace Mann School does a tremendous job encouraging students to eat fruit for snack time and I even see the teachers eating healthy as well. I have yet to see a teacher eating cookies or candy in front of a student and I think that is great. Students are going to model their teacher and by seeing their teachers eating healthy, they are more likely to model this behavior and eat healthy as well.

For my service learning project, I am going to complete a contact binder including organizations that help schools provide their students with information about healthy eating. I am still searching for organizations but I am going to reach out to the school nurse at Horace Mann to inform her of my service learning project and see what she has to offer me. There are many posters around the school and I hope that she will be able to steer me in the right direction about which organizations I will find the most helpful and willing to speak with me about my service learning project. I would also like to read a children's book to my class about healthy eating habits. I think that is something they would enjoy rather than being lectured about the topic. I want to make a difference in a fun but productive way. And by making a difference in my own field placement, it makes it even more personal for me. Posted below is a link to a website about book that encourage healthy eating. I think this website could be beneficial for many of us as future teachers.

http://extension.missouri.edu/fnep/childrensbooks.htm

I want to spread the word in the best way possible. I think we can make a big difference even in just our own field placements. We have to start somewhere and I am hoping that this is a good starting point for all of us.

Jessica's Reflection

Since beginning this blog and researching childhood nutrition and obesity I have learned a lot about it.  Although I think that the Healthy Kids Act is a great way to try and fight the growing epidemic of obesity in our country, I don't think that it will completely change the problem.  I believe that more adults and parents need to be educated on the issue so that they can help their children choose healthy  foods.  I also think that in order to fight obesity we must emphasize healthy lifestyles, not just healthy eating.  There is so many factors that play into why children are obese that we must make an effort to target all of them.  I believe that physical activity and exercise is a major way to combat the epidemic.  Too many kids today are spending their afternoons and weekends inside playing video games.  They no longer go outside to play and run around.  I personally believe that this plays into the obesity epidemic just as much as the prevalence of unhealthy foods in our society.

In our elementary schools children should be taught about the value of being healthy.  I think that there could be a complete unit that deals with nutrition, healthy food choices, and exercise.  This unit could speak to all subjects and may only need to be a week long.  It could also be something that is school wide and that everyone participates in together.  Thus, it would promote community among all the children and encourage healthier living.  The topics discussed could be how fruits and vegetables are grown, such as organic or on farms that use pesticides for science.  For math children could do research to determine how many hours a week children in their class spend outside or doing sports and then make a graph of it.  They also could read stories on healthy lifestyles and learn about the food pyramid and how to read a nutrition label.  Another topic that could be related to this is also malnutrition and how that is just as dangerous as obesity.  There are so many different ways that you could incorporate this into the curriculum that it seems silly not to take the time to teach our children how to live healthier lives.

For my service learning project I am actually going to be working with the students in the classroom that I am in.  Every year they do some sort of service learning project.  This year the teacher would like to set up a relationship between the River Valley Charter School and the Newburyport Rail Trail.  For my project I am going to make the phone calls to the women who is responsible for all volunteering with the Rail Trail.  Then, we are going to teacher the students about what exactly the Rail Trail is, what it's history is, and where people plan to bring it in the future.  For our actual service we are going to volunteer to clean up litter along the trail or plant flowers or shrubbery along the trail.  This will make the area more enjoyable for people who want to walk, run, bike, or bring their pets along the path.

If I was to do a service learning project along with this topic with elementary school students I would do something very similar to this.  Working on cleaning the trail will make it a more pleasant place for people to exercise and get some outdoor physical activity.  This promotes a healthy lifestyle and healthy living.  Another project that you could do with elementary school students would be to volunteer at a farm helping with the fresh vegetables.  This project would show students where produce comes from and what kind of healthy foods you can grow in your backyard.

Here is the link for information on the Rail Trail...
Clipper City Rail Trail

Cassandra's Reflection

I have learned alot about our current event topic on childhood nutrition and obesity. Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in our country. In 1980, seven percent of the children aged 6 to 11 were obese and in 2008,  twenty percent of children aged 6 to 11 were obese. In 2008, more than one third of the children and adolescents were obese. To be considered obese one must, have a Body Mass Index over 30. Being obese can result in a variety of issues for younger children. These children can suffer from cardiovascular problems, joint problems, high blood pressure, and social problems. The Healthy Kids Act was passed in 2010. Under this act, physical activity requirements and nutritional standards were created. The children would have access to healthier foods within the school. This act was a step in the right direction in attempts to trying to decrease childhood obesity.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

Nutrition and the presence of obesity is a topic that children should be aware of. Children should be taught about how eating certain foods will help their body function properly. They should also understand that not eating healthily can take a huge toll on their bodies. Children should be taught ways to stay active as a means of trying to prevent obesity. Children stay inside too often playing video games, they need to be taught creative exericse activities that they will enjoy doing! This issue can be presented to children by discussing the prevalence of obesity as well as malnutrition in the United States and other countries. I think it would be a great idea for children to be aware of the two extremes of being unhealthy.

 

A great service learning project to do with the children is having them go to a farm to see where  vegetables grow. By showing them the vegetables, and by explaining to them how eating these vegetables would improve their health, it would provide students with an excellent educational experience. Also you might be able to teach the children about nutrition and then have them go teach their families about what they have learned. Another service learning opportunitty could be having the childen hold a healthy snack "Veggie Sale" opposed to a "Bake Sale," and the proceeds could go to the local Boys and Girls club to support healthy lifestyles of children.

For my service learning project I will be going to the Boys and Girls Club to help teach the children about nutrition and exercise.

Jessica's Take Action

In order to take action I chose to sign a petition that will include local, organic food in school lunches.  This will not only give the kids a healthy, natural lunch but will also reduce the amount of unhealthy packaged food that they are fed.  It will also promote local agriculture and allow the schools to become a little more "green."  Signing this petition felt very empowering.  It is amazing how doing something so small can make you feel like you are a part of something much larger.

Doing something like signing a petition for something you believe strongly about has a lot to do with democratic values.  It is using your right to speak up for something you believe in and allowing your voice to be heard.  By signing a petition you are also trying to make a change in something.  You are using yuor right to have a say in the government and making you voice heard.

I believe that teaching about social justice is very important.  Children need to know about what is happening in the world around them.  It is also importat for kids to grow up understanding that they can make changes if they feel strongly about something.  If people are educated about social justice at a young age they will have a true understanding of what is happening.  They will also be able to make an educated opinion about the issue and not just have a biased view.  By teaching social justice in schools you will have a society that is educated and aware about what is happening in the world.

I think that the quote is sending a powerful message.  The purpose of social justice is to have the people voicing their opinions and concerns to make changes to the government and help other people in some way.  Thus, teaching social studies and social justice is imperative to education.  It will raise a generation that has compassion and understanding for others but is also aware of what is happening in the world around them.