Healthy heart habits

Teaching Pre K-8, Feb 2000 by Swartz, Elizabeth

Helping kids make the connection between nutrition, exercise and health

Once again during February, we'll spend time studying the amazing organ that keeps our bodies working: the heart.

Somehow we need to go beyond videos, posters and even skits to get to the real "heart of the matter." Can we change the way our students care for their own bodies?

Of course, most elementary students are eating basically whatever an adult provides for them. However, many elementary students are eating what they request. Maybe we can help them to make better choices.

In my classroom, we make charts comparing what we eat in a 24-hour period with the recommendations made in the food pyramid. Then we note what groups we're missing or overloading and chart another 24 hours of supposed improvements. I often wonder if the changes ever last more than those two days.

Students can recite what vitamins and minerals our bodies get from certain foods, but does the knowledge ever go from the universal to the particular? Do they translate information from "what's good for humans" to "what's good for me"? Can we make a more personal impact on our students? Can we show them the interdependence between good nutrition, exercise and a healthy heart?

The American Heart Association provides a great deal of excellent and free information for schools including kits that contain videos about the working of the heart. The elementary kits also provide materials and information necessary for students to test, exercise and record pulse rates.

The food pyramid is available in several places, as are recommendations dealing with daily calorie requirements. It's advised, however, to warn students about the dangers of fad diets. Some additional counseling may be necessary as children decide what to remove from or add to current diets. Ren-And them to make choices that are possible given the time of year and the costs involved.

This unit can provide opportunities for cross-curriculum activities. Perhaps exercise time can be provided in the school day. The class can make charts comparing recommendations with actual practices. The unit will also provide journal topics. While three weeks isn't a long enough time to establish habits for a lifetime, it's a start. An enthusiastic group may want to continue the experiment until the end of the school year!

Elizabeth Swartz teaches third grade at Watsontown Elementary School, Watsontown, PA. She lives on a dairy farm with her husband and her two teenaged children.