5-2-1-0 Spotlight Joni Smith
Northeast Hamilton Elementary 4th Grade Teacher Joni Smith sat down with the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative to share what their school is doing to promote 5-2-1-0 and healthy habits for their kids. The bottom line: use every resource you can, engage with community partners, and get a little creative!
Joni listed TONS of awesome activities and initiatives happening in her school district, but lots of praise and recommendations were directed at her Iowa State 4-H Extension contact for the activities they bring into the building:
Themed taste tests (including Hawaii and Cowboy) have exposed kids to new foods in fun ways.
4-H provided pedometers they used for a walking challenge and stethoscopes kids check their pulses with before and after P.E.
4-H exercise videos from Sally and Iowa State help kick off every lesson with some physical activity to get energy out of kids so they can focus on the lessons.
“Having the supplies and money from Iowa State to do the programs is big, because I don’t think some schools have the money now to throw into programs like this.” Joni said.
Outside of her Extension and Outreach activities, the staff at Northeast Hamilton have used every resource available to them to teach healthy eating and mindfulness to their students. As she taught food group lessons Joni worked with cafeteria staff to allow students to pick their lunch meals (provided they align with state requirements) so the kids can try new foods and meals they put together! She also mentioned Zoom cooking lessons, led by their school nurse, that the school used to put on with students and their parents. Participants were even sent home with the groceries needed for the lessons. To Joni, this focus on food is particularly important in a changing and increasingly busy world.
“Parents are busier than they used to be, so it’s great schools can take time out to teach kids fundamental things to give them a foundation for healthy choices. It’s important for kids to learn a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “[Without the schools lessons] what’s going to happen? Many kids don’t learn cooking skills, they’ll grow up and eat fast food everyday.”
Of course their efforts don’t stop at taste tests and food groups. To teach important physical and mental health lessons they took other routes:
6th graders are selected to be 5-2-1-0 ambassadors where they lead a dice activity with younger students. One student rolls the dice, and the class does the activity associated with that number, the activities range from jumping jacks to a mindful breathing exercise.
They make sure to participate in the Healthiest State Annual Walk every year (Woohoo!) so students can get outside and learn the importance of staying active.
5th and 6th grade students go through a program covering responsibility and how to deal with things in your life that you can’t control, giving students and early lesson in mental health and an outlet to go to about difficult things happening in already tumultuous transformational years.
At the end of the day, teaching these important lessons boils down to leveraging every resource you can, and that looks different for many schools. For Northeast Hamilton, one special resource includes a 6th grade science teacher that owns a greenhouse where students learn about planting flowers and vegetables, and even get to interact with chickens being raised nearby.
While every school district doesn’t have a greenhouse or chicken coup on standby, there are tons of organizations out there ready to lend a hand, and there are easy ways to get started with healthy food, physical activity, and mental health lessons for their kids. In a time where teachers are busier than ever, getting statewide organizations involved like ISU Extension and the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, and finding local organizations to partner with, can lead to life changing experiences for the kids in Iowa’s schools.