Health & Education By: Grace Phillips by Grace Phillips

Healthy Eating

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:57:31 UTC

This article on Can cooking and gardening at school inspire better nutrition from Health News NPR that examines Healthy Eating Habits for children. Weaving food and cooking into the curriculum again is so important for a hands-on experience for students in the classroom. It has been a staple in U.S. schools for decades, so with this decline in nutrition in our schools could really help drive schools back on this path. The statement of the application in the classroom to teaching health through a social studies gardening lesson would be a great way to get our students involved in something they may not have ever tried before. A quote from the article, “teaching nutrition without a kitchen is a bit like swimming lessons without a pool”. If schools truly got back into this idea of integrating cooking and healthy eating habits back into the curriculum it could really make a whole new movement across all schools in the country. It would be a very rewarding process to see students plant a garden and overtime be able to see how it all turned out throughout the school year. Teachers could implement this idea weekly into lessons about social studies and have a day picked out of the week strictly to nutrition or the garden the students have made. It is also very essential teachers know about this because it could become a great classroom community activity for the whole class to work together on.

Personal Health & Wellness

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:57:49 UTC

This article on More Schools are Offering Student Mental Health Days from Education Week that examines Students' Personal Health and Wellness. State Lawmakers in New York are considering a bill to allow mental health days to K-12 students to take mental health days. If it passes they will be joining tons of other states that already allow students to take excused absences to look after their well being in school. Mental health has become more and more important in our schools than it ever has before. It is even a supported idea by psychologists that mental health should be treated like physical health. Teachers can teach this through a lot of different ways in the classroom such as during morning meetings and having classroom discussions on how everyone is feeling. Always making sure to check on your students and how they are doing daily is very important because you may never know what students are going through outside of school. If it is not addressed enough and there are students struggling in your classroom their academics could really take a turn. Teachers can talk about personal experiences and tell the students that it is okay to need a break or a personal day when you are not your full self to learn. Everyone has those days even at younger ages. It is so essential that school districts are doing this because it could really change the dynamic of the classrooms and the teacher-student relationships.

Trauma

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:58:08 UTC

This article on The Mass Shooting Traumas Stalk America's children from elementary school to college from CNN that examines students Trauma. School shootings have become more and more common in the world we live in today. This generation of children grow up haunted by the fact and fear of school massacres cannot outgrow trauma they have been faced with. It brings parents involved who are scared to send their children to school everyday anymore. They live in fear of having to send them off to college hoping they won’t get involved in drugs but now they are more worried that the fear of a shooting could evade them. Teachers need to teach this to students and make sure that they are prepared if this were to ever happen. The school district always has plans in place but making sure your students are on the same page is so important as well. It is essential that your students feel welcome and safe in your classroom at all times. Being able to talk and open up to you about things that they are going through. It can be really scary for elementary students to have to go through this or even learning about this topic so having them know that there are services out there if they ever want to talk to counselors or different individuals about it that nobody is alone. Teachers can provide many different ways to instill this into the classroom to not make their students feel as worried about the potentials of this occurring.

Preventing Alcohol & Drug use

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:58:28 UTC

This article on More reported substance use among adolescents from the National Institute on Drug Abuse that examines Preventing Drug and Alcohol Abuse. It is crucial for our students to know about how dangerous drugs are and the effect they can have over you. In this article it says around the time of the pandemic in 2020-2021 they have decreased dramatically. The most commonly found use among younger ages are reported use of alcohol, nicotine vaping, and cannabis. Overdose is also a bigger cause of death to younger ages in the past years as well. Teachers need to be able to truly teach this health topic to students because of how bad addiction can get and that there is always help out there for students to make safe decisions. A quote that stood out to me is “It is absolutely crucial to educate young people that pills purchased via social media, given to someone by a friend, or obtained from an unknown source may contain deadly fentanyl.” Preaching to students that you may never know what is inside that pill and how it can take your life that easily by trying it once. Since in elementary school the next step is middle school it is important to go over it before they get into older grades where it could be seen more. Teachers can show the class videos on this topic and different education presentations on why they should always stay away from drugs.

Physical Activity

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:59:05 UTC

This article on How Physical activity can promote learning and wellbeing from Science Daily that examines students Physical Activity. Physical Education in school can improve classroom performance by a huge amount, especially in mathematics. Researchers have shown that improved coordination and perceptual-motor skills, required in various team sports through phys Ed. in schools have led to increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factors in our circulation and, thus, improvements in cognitive performance. It is so important that children get time throughout the day for brain breaks or recess, just something fun and different than just stimulating their brains through learning. They need to move their bodies daily not be stuck in chairs through the school day. Teachers need to know how essential physical activities are for children at this young age and being able to spend little parts of the day doing so are critical. Teaching this topic can be so easy through transition periods, going on nature walks at school etc.

Mental & Emotional Health

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:59:26 UTC

The article about Kids Mental Health is in Crisis on American Psychological Foundation examines Mental and Emotional health our students may go through. It is crucial that we recognize students' mental and emotional health through our schools. Academics is always important and all but if the mental health of our students is not there then it can contribute to a lot of stress or anxiety to these young children. Social media being a big factor too those developmental changes drive young people to seek attention and approval from peers. Causing negative messages and bullying to arise. Psychologists are also building training programs to help teachers and other school staff create supportive classrooms and aid students who are in distress. Teachers need to be able to implement this into the classroom to help students daily on this topic. It is one of the most important things that we need to teach our students and protect them from getting to that point. Bullying is not okay, period online or in school. Making sure that there are consequences in place that if this does happen is also important. Students should never have to go through something like this alone. There are so many people that are here for them to talk to or go through if they are experiencing these things. All school districts should have a bullying prevention program so making sure that we follow that and use it constantly is key.

Grief & Loss

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 17:59:51 UTC

This article about Dozens dead from the Maui Wildfires on ABC News examines students, family and friends Grief or Loss. Devastating wildfires that erupted on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 8 have claimed the lives of at least 97 people while dozens more remain missing, according to authorities. They spread hour by hour across the island and the struggle of residents to survive was heartbreaking. It was one of the hardest things that the island has ever gone through. This article talked about a man named Franklin Trejos, 68, who died in the historic town of Lahaina on Aug. 8 after a wildfire broke out, his friend Shannon Weber-Bogar confirmed to ABC News. He was a big animal lover and nature free spirit adventurer. Talking about a global topic like this in school is important for students to see and learn about different tragic events that are happening around them. Students don't always watch the news or know what is even happening around our town so being able to educate them on something like this in our morning meetings could really open up their eyes to things. Dealing with grief of loved ones or a loss of even a pet can be so hard for students to go through at their age. Especially because everyone deals with this topic differently. Having open conversations in class with your students about this could be very beneficial for students to let out some emotions or how they are feeling that day. It lets everyone feel loved and safe knowing that they have a safe classroom environment to open up to about something that might be going on outside of school.

Preventing Tabacco use

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 18:00:11 UTC

This article about How to Protect Kids from Tobacco Product use and exposure on Healthy Children.org examines Preventing Tobacco use to students. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of disease and death for U.S. adults—and 90% of tobacco users began using the substance before age 18, when the body and brain are especially vulnerable to addiction. It is scary to think that the indirect harms of tobacco or nicotine use and tobacco smoke exposure are well-documented that require urgent action to protect children, who can be harmed by exposure even before birth. One of the most healthy things a child can do to prepare for their future life is to not get involved in using either nicotine or tobacco products. Since the students will be getting older and into older grades they could be affected by peer pressure so talking about this topic through elementary school ages could truly help prevent them from trying it. Teachers could do this through having a doctor come in as a guest speaker and talk about why it can be so harming to our bodies. Even showing them different videos or presentations about it as visual representations could really put into their heads how bad it is for our health. It is essential for teachers to take this topic seriously and implement something into their classroom about it at some point throughout the year. The more we can put into early intervention to prevent use of these products to our students the better off they will be in their future lives.

Current Events:

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 18:43:04 UTC

Can cooking and gardening at school help better healthy eating habits
How Physical Activity can promote learning & wellbeing in schools
Preventing Tobacco use at younger ages
School shooting trauma
Children's stress and mental health struggles in school
Personal mental health days in schools to better wellness of students
Wildfires and loss of lives in Hawaii
Preventing drug abuse at young ages

APA Resources

gracephillips1021_ — 2023-11-10 18:45:11 UTC