Pre-Kindergartners learns about nutrition from eighth graders
Gwen Austin’s eighth grade health students recently helped teach
the Pre-Kindergarten class about nutrition. The students designed two
learning activities and then shared them with Pre-K kids.
The first project was a “feely box.” The eighth graders
picked a selection of foods for the feely box including broccoli,
cooked spaghetti, and an apple, and the Pre-K students reached their
hands into the feely box and tried to identify what was in it. After
each Pre-K student guessed the food item correctly, the eighth graders
would ask whether the food is a healthy choice and where it belongs in
the nutrition pyramid.
The Pre-K students also got to go fishing for food. When they
“caught” a picture of food, the eighth graders would help
them find the right place to put it on the nutrition pyramid.
Pre-K teacher Claudia Moote had approached Austin about helping with a nutrition lesson.
“I talked to Gwen because she’s a nutritionist, and she
knows more about it than I do!” Moote said. “The eighth
graders had already studied nutrition, so they planned the lesson and
brought everything.”
“It was a good collaboration,” said Austin. “It was
good for the little ones, and for my kids, too, giving them the
opportunity to teach. If you know something well enough to teach it,
then you really know it.”
After the lesson, the eighth graders fielded questions from the younger
students about nutrition facts and encouraged them to eat broccoli
(with melted cheese on it).
During their unit on Nutrition, the Pre-K students were also treated to
a tasting party with Amy Wolfe from the Hyde County Extension Office,
who brought a variety of foods for the kids to try.
