43
North Elementary students enjoy a ‘FAN-tastic’ day
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Poland food service director Barb Dorbish (right) helped North fourth-grader Gia Almasy (left) check the nutrition label on two different types of goldfish snacks on Feb. 15.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .During an "Eat This, Not That" presentation with Poland food service director Barb Dorbish, fourth-grader Ally Donahue (right) munched on an apple as a healthy snack. The lesson was part of a fitness and nutrition day at North on Feb. 15.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .A group of North fourth-graders played a hot potato game on Feb. 15 with school nurse Cathy Fedor (far left). As part of a lesson on healthy eating, the student that caught the beach ball during the game was asked a healthy food trivia question.
By SARAH FOOR
Officials at North Elementary on Feb. 15 offered their students a “FAN-tastic” day, with those letters referring to their focus on fitness and nutrition.
Third- and fourth-grade students at North explored four activity areas that focused on the health of body and mind. Principal Tracy Kashak already stresses the importance of fitness with her students. “Bulldog Fitness Station” signs can be found throughout the school and offer students quick exercises that will get some blood pumping.
“Our ‘FAN-tastic’ day came to fruition because of our passion for health here. Our school nurse, Mrs. [Cathy] Fedor, teaches students about the importance of good health and we teamed up in hopes to offer students a nice basis of further education on the subject,” Kashak explained.
The health day included a class with Fedor, where she taught students about the MyPlate serving system through a healthy fruit and vegetable bingo. Students also played a hot potato game and were asked to answer trivia to win a basket of yummy fresh fruit.
“It’s all about teaching the students about health and nutrition at a young age. If they can make good choices now, it really can change the course of their lives,” Fedor said of her mission.
Poland’s food service director Barb Dorbish played a “Eat This, Not That” game with the third- and fourth-graders, teaching them how to look at nutrition labels and made smart decisions based on the information there.
The event also included a karate demonstration from Tom Richie of the Martial Arts Training Center, where Richie had the students stretch and learn a few karate moves.
To stretch out their brain muscles, the students took surveys of favorite foods among their classmates and practiced their math plotting, graphing and charting.