Harry Balfour - Arianne Jones

Healthy Living with Arianne Jones

Arianne Jones talked about three components of Healthy Living:

1. Nutrition (and Hydration)
2. Sleep
3. Exercise

We explored each of these topics and discussed the importance of good mental health then celebrated “Hats On For Mental Health Day” on May 3.   We also touched on body image and saying no to smoking and alcohol.

We are running a little behind in our Classroom Champions schedule, but I feel it is important to cover the Healthy Living topic well, as we cover one third, of the Grade Three Alberta Health Curriculum, during our discussions.

Nutrition and Hydration

Arianne Jones currently is studying nutrition.  She knows a lot about food. She talked about nature providing clues about food quality.  For example: a walnut looks like a brain, and it makes brain function better when eaten.  My students really liked that tidbit of information.  Most had tried pecans but not all were sure if they had tried a walnut.

Arianne encouraged the students to stay hydrated by drinking water or vegetable juice.  All the students in my room are encouraged to bring water bottles to school so drinking water was easy advice to follow.  They weren’t so sure about the vegetable juice.  They usually quench their thirst with fruit juice.  

Most parents discourage students in my class from drinking soda and colas. The students seemed very aware of the high amounts of sugar in soft drinks but they were dumbfounded when they learned fruit juice contains just as much sugar. They was certainly new information for them.

We discussed food groups and determined which healthy foods belonged to each category.  We made a chart, “What’s On Your Plate?’ that reflects our understanding.

Sleep

Most of my students are struggling to sleep well at this time of year.  We have exceptionally long days, the sun currently rises at 6:00 am and sets at 8:30 pm.  As each day passes, we gain more daylight.  By June 21, we will be able to watch the sunset at midnight and watch the it rise shortly after 4:00 am.  With this in mind we talked about blackout blinds which are expensive, or covering the window with aluminum, which is much cheaper.

We discussed why bedtime routines are important.  A cool, dark room, without blue light from electronics makes sleeping soundly possible.  We talked about the way sugary snacks before bedtime can cause blood sugar to spike while sleeping causing individuals to wake in the middle of the night.  

Students experience more anxiety now, then when I went to school fifty years ago.  We spent time discussing how to relax and why relaxation is so important.  Most of the students in my class agreed that reading and playing in nature were great ways to relax.  The wilderness is literally outside our doorsteps.  Quadding, camping and hiking are always available in our Grande Prairie forests.  Students are fortunate to see bear, cougar, lynx, moose, deer and elk in their back yards throughout the seasons.  

Exercise

Arianne challenged us to get 10 minutes of fun, physical exercise each day, for one month.  We started this challenge at the beginning of May and hope to show Arianne a nearly completed chart, when she comes to visit our class on May 25.  As I type, we have 18 more sleeps before her visit.  We are confident we can surpass her challenge by exercising for at least 30 minutes each day, which is a curriculum requirement in Alberta.  Our class is so excited that Arianne is coming to visit us.  Wow! Just 15 sleeps to go!

Curriculum Covered

Healthy living is a great topic of study because it meshes so nicely with our grade three Health Program of Studies, as you can see from the student learner objectives listed below:

Grade 3 - Wellness Choices

Students will make responsible and informed choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.  

Personal Health

Students will:

W-3.1 analyze the factors that affect choices for physical activity; e.g., the impact of technology/media

W-3.2 improve and practise positive health habits; e.g., lifting and carrying book bags/backpacks, maintaining good posture

W-3.3 examine that individuals grow through similar stages of development at different rates and at different times

W-3.4 recognize factors that influence unique body characteristics; e.g., genetics, body type, environment

W-3.5 apply guidelines from Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating to individual nutritional circumstances; e.g., active children eat/drink more

W-3.6 describe the importance of decision-making and refusal skills when offered inappropriate substances; e.g., drugs, tobacco, allergens

We loved investigating this topic and are planning our class visit from Arianne.  It is so exciting.  Classroom Champions is amazing and we know we are fortunate to see Arianne in person.  We cannot wait to tell you how the visit goes.  Stay tuned …..

Healthy Living Projects

This month was extremely busy.  We were preparing for our speech contest and participating in Student Vote for the BC provincial election, so we did not get our Family Challenge completed yet, but we are working on it.

We spent a good part of the month of April learning about nutrition in foods and drinks.  Using the HeartSmart resource, students learned about balanced diets, how to read nutrition labels, and why we should monitor the sodium and fats in our diet.  To apply this to our own lives, students examined nutrition labels of foods that their family eats and analyzed them for sodium, calories, and fat content.

Students then learned about why we should limit sugar and caffeine in our diets.  We examined common drinks from our lunches and compared their contents.  We discussed the difference between added sugar and natural sugars.  Once we completed this investigation, students then created posters to teach the rest of the school about how much sugar is in our lunch drinks.  They measured out the grams of sugar to display on their posters and then prepared oral presentations to share with each class in the school.  Feedback from other teachers indicated that the students did a great job sharing what they had learned and answering questions from the classes.  The posters generated a lot of interest from other students in the school.

This investigation sparked a lot of questions from my students as they wondered what the sugar, caloric, and caffeine content is in other drinks that they enjoy.  They then applied the same scientific process to examine the nutritional content of other food/drinks.  Each student developed their own question and located nutritional information from the internet to compare the foods they chose.  Some interesting food categories were:
Fast Food Burgers
Sports Drinks
School Snacks
Tim Horton's Snacks
Pizza

Students were very excited to plan a meal or physical activity for their family, although some expressed concern that they would not be able to get the whole family together at one time.  This made the challenge even more important for us.  I encouraged the students to talk to their parents and they were pleasantly surprised with the support they received.  We are still working on documenting their plans and will share some when they are finished.

Healthy Living - Classroom Champions April Update

Our challenge from Clark this month was to come up with small goals to help us live a healthier life. Students had spring break this month and decided to include their family in this healthy living goal. One student planned to get more sleep over the break, while another's goal was to hike the mountains with her mom. Students are still working on their illustrations of their goals. These pictures will be uploaded later, as students complete them.

We have begun our testing for this school year and have had conversations about eating properly for our brains to work their best and how getting enough, not too much, sleep is important, not only to do well on tests, but to be at our maximum energy level to perform anything well.

The year is winding down. We have only 17 more school days in our year, but we have our sixth grade graduation four days prior to that. I am very proud of my students. They have prepared well for middles school and I know that there are big things in their future!

Healthy Living Month in Akulivik

I can not believe April is over! It was such a short month for us. We had barely finished Leadership when our Spring Break started, and I was gone for two weeks (one for break and one to attend the CC conference!). Getting out of Akulivik takes so much work and planning, and there were some weather troubles, so we started Healthy living month last Wednesday! Now all the kids are gone for Culture Week, so our Healthy Living and We are Champions months will be very combined. We have only 4 weeks left of class!!!!!

Following up on Leadership month we finally completed our challenge! The kids worked hard to think of things they could improve to be better leaders. They also drew themselves as the type of leader they want to be (many want to be team captains!), and Malisa wants to help feed people so that they won't be hungry. I'm honoured to share my time with such great thinkers and leaders, and I love it when they surprise me like that!

Then we started healthy living month. We watched our new video with two amazing mentors and started a conversation about healthy living. I was so proud when the kids made connections to something we did months ago, but stays on our wall!

We explored some games from Ask.Listen.Learn. and started our first lesson from the site! The kids learned about the brain, and how alcohol affects both adults and kids brains.

Next up I am sending home the challenge that our mentors gave us. Parents will receive a letter explaining the challenge and asking them to send in photos of them and their kids accomplishing it! The challenge was for the students to find a healthy recipe and cook it with their family, or to get outside and get active with their family. I cannot wait to see them accomplish this challenge and get their family involved!

We will also be tracking our healthy activities for a whole week. 

I am excited to finish off the year with a bang, and am looking forward to our next video chat!

All the best from Akulivik!

Healthy Living

Playing a word game relay race

Healthy Living month is my favorite! It is so much fun, and the kids really connect to it.  This year my professional growth goal has been to include more activity in my lessons, so it all fit together quite nicely.  We have been starting out each day with Action Math.  This month we have been concentrating on the idea of practice - that the more you practice, the better you get.  They have been able to see how much more they can do now - both physically and mathematically - as we have worked each day. Most of them are up above their 1,000s counting by 10s as they do their jumping jacks! And that's the last of the challenges each morning.

Skip-Count Jumping Jacks
Champions of the Day

We have been talking about the different kinds of exercise as we do new activities, but the video from Ms. Simmonds really helped them tie things together. They had great discussions about how much sleep is needed, what kinds of foods are healthy foods and how important it is to be active.  One of the things I really appreciated is how Ms. Simmonds pointed out that it is as important to eat enough as it is not to eat too much.

Discussion time

Action Math

I was fortunate enough to have my nephews come spend the day with me this month as well.  Both of them are student athletes (one in high school, the other 8th grade), and have been diligent about learning how to be healthy.  I asked them if they would talk to my students about what it's like to be an athlete in school and how their choices affect their ability to work and participate in their sports.  The kids had tons of questions for them!

They were even willing to participate in Action Math and in our small group discussions about healthy living.

The boys working on their song

After we watched Ms. Simmonds' video, I divided the kids into boys and girls to do our monthly challenge.  They have such different ideas of what a dance should look like, it's easier for them (and more fun) when they do these kinds of things separately.  I have to admit, I was a bit worried about what they were going to come up with!  But in the end, they did a great job.  The boys are still practicing, but the girls were ready to record.

Although many of the challenges for the FAAR lessons were a bit to high a level for them, we did talk about drug and alcohol use this month several times.  We talk a lot throughout the year about brain development and why their brains work the way they do sometimes.  So that part of our discussion was pretty familiar to them.  But this is a tough topic for my kiddos each year, because many of them see both drug and alcohol abuse in their community, or they have had family members who have been victims of those who are under the influence.  It's hard for them to understand why it's okay for some people to have alcohol and others can't.  Especially when they see the results of overindulgence.  The challenges were a bit over their heads, but we wanted to participate anyway, so we adapted and created our own haiku:

Our brains - still growing

Alcohol - no good for us

Wait 'til we grow up

April Healthy Living Challenges!

This month has definitely been one that we have had a lot of "real talk" about healthy living in my room, but also the most creativity I have seen in our challenges. These projects have been SO informative for my students because they are truly starting to understand the importance of development in both their brains and bodies. It's nice to expand healthy living beyond just eating well. We have talked a lot about eating healthy, sleeping enough, and exercising since we watched +Clark Rachfal's April video.

 After showing my students the challenges from FARR and Classroom Champions, my students were PUMPED! They wanted to start right away. We watched all of the Ask, Listen, Learn videos several times to learn more about what alcohol can do to our brains. My students already had some prior knowledge, but really enjoyed getting more in depth about the topics. They learned so many new terms and even started using them in conversation!

We have already started our Research Unit, so they are pros at note taking! I was amazed to see how they even took it to the next level and some took notes in Google Docs.

 

I let my students have quite a bit of freedom of choice with this month's challenges. Their choices were varied - poetry, drama, expository writing, and one wanted to make an example vegetarian meal. I was amazed to see how hard they worked each day to complete their challenges.

 The students on the left created a rap about how alcohol can make you feel and its effects on the brain. 

Alcohol is a Hindrance
Alcohol is messing with my thoughts
that's why I'm surrounded by cops

It's like a drug,
makes you feel like a slug.

When I drink my thoughts are damaging.
I need some answers.

I feel like talking to God
in a temple, mosque, or church.
I don't have anymore time.
I don't know what's in my mind.

It's damaged my brain.
I think I'm going insane.
It's slowing me down
I'm gonna hit the ground.

Something's wrong with my breathing
I can't believe what I'm seeing.

Neuros all out of balance
Alcohol is such a hindrance.

It took my boys about two weeks to come up with the lines to their poem (rap) using the Ask, Listen, Learn videos and their own creative spin. Many rough drafts later, they were pretty proud of their creation! It was crazy to watch them try to find different beats to go with their rap. They really wanted it to be the "perfect" one! 

The students above created a play in which their friend, who went to a party, made poor decisions and how his friends taught him a new life lesson. We will be recording the rap and play next week to post for our Classroom Champions family.

I cannot wait to post the both recordings this week! 

I have enjoyed learning about Healthy Living with my students!   We watched our video from Meryl and Charlie, then we talked about ways that we could be healthier.   Each student then wrote a healthy living goal, something that they could do to live healthier.  The students suggested; Drink more water, get more sleep, get more active (walk more steps each day), less sugar and less video games.

We watched all of the AskListenLearn videos are Kids and Alcohol.  They truly loved the videos and some times we would watch them 3-4 times.  The kids got obsessed with writing lyrics for the opening song.  They all tried to outdo each other with their ideas.  One of my favorites.  (I am a big Harry Potter fan)

We also spent some time of Kids Health website Learning about making healthy choices.  Which led to lots of questions about smoking and tobacco.  This is always a hard lesson to teach, because we have so many of our family members that smoke.  It is pretty upsetting to students to learn what smoking does to your body.   We have two days worth of great discussions and questions about smoking/chew and e-cigarettes.

https://kidshealth.org/en/kids#catfit

We were also able to tie in our UNICEF project.   Unicef has sponsored a program to help students in America who are NOT getting enough exercise and students across the globe that are malnourished.   My students exercise and earn point with their Fit Bits (provided from UNICEF) and their point earn meal packets for kids across the world.   We have had several lessons about getting active and also about malnourished countries.