Eating habits | Curriculum, developed for students in Grades 7-9, successful in Ontario
Grade 7 to 9 students in Alberta will have a significantly different wellness program next month.
Alberta Milk has designed a “Power to Be Me” program based on a program used in Ontario to educate Grade 7 and 8 students about healthy eating.
“We know that adolescents have a much poorer quality diet than younger children. We are aware of that and we wanted to do something,” said Lee Finell, a nutrition educator at Alberta Milk and the project lead for the program.
“At the same time, we got a lot of requests from teachers at teacher conventions asking if we had anything for junior high. We couldn’t find anything that would meet the Alberta curriculum requirements and was engaging.”
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The program has different themes for each grade, and each grade lesson has four to five segments.
The number of segments that are taught depends on the amount of classroom time the teachers are able to devote to it.
The program will be taught as a part of health studies.
Finell said one of the program’s goals is to make it easier to teach health.
“We want to improve their eating habits and we want to do it in an engaging way,” said Finell.
Grade 7 students will focus on their own eating habits. They will complete activities, watch videos and participate in an online food journal. Students will be able to assess their eating habits and then find ways to improve them.
Grade 8 students are taught specific strategies to deal with roadblocks to healthy eating. They are also able to give advice to their friends on how to deal with roadblocks.
Grade 9 lessons focus on nutrients and nutrient rich food choices. They will learn how to strengthen their own healthy food choices and how to influence others.
The field tests have convinced Finell that the program will be a success.
It is free for teachers to download on www.moreaboutmilk.com under “Teacher Programs.”
“It’s going to bridge the gap between the new (high school) curriculum. I think it will be around for a long time.”
