Rigor, Relevance, & Relationships

Encourage Students to Model Behavior for Good Health

Healthy lifestyles are contagious. FACS students can be positive influences at home and at school when they demonstrate and encourage healthy habits. Here are some tips to help your students become healthy role models:

Be Active

Encourage students to be active at least 30 minutes each day. Walking is a simple and inexpensive way to stay active and show others that you're serious about getting daily physical activity. If your students have access to pedometers, set a goal for the total distance your class will trek over a month or a semester.

Encourage Healthy Food Choices

If your students are applying what you've taught them about food labels, portion sizes, and the effects of healthy eating, then there's a good chance others outside the FACS classroom will take notice of what your students are eating for lunch or for snacks. You can't overestimate the power of positive peer pressure.

Start a Class Compost Pile

If you lack access to outdoor space for composting, you can start a small indoor compost pile using an old aquarium. Save the scraps from your culinary labs and ask students to bring scraps from lunch. And if you give a lesson on vermicomposting (or composting with worms), word of this project will likely spread quickly around school.

Even if you lack the facilities for starting a class compost pile, encourage students to start composting at home. Not only will their family members take notice and hopefully contribute to reducing food waste, but the ultimate goal of a compost pile is to grow a garden. Encourage students to show off and share the fruits and vegetables they grow.

Join or Start a Community Garden

Gardening doesn't have to be a solitary exercise. Many public parks offer access to community gardens, and if you help your students establish their own plots, you and others at your school could reap the benefits of their next harvest! The American Community Gardening Association offers assistance in finding your closest community garden and provides resources for starting your own.

Buy Local

Produce that's locally in season generally tastes better, is more nutrient-rich, and costs less than fruits or vegetables shipped from far away. When you buy locally grown food, you're also helping the environment.

Ask students to make a list of produce grown in your region during each season. If possible, organize a trip to your local farmers' market to see these fresh foods firsthand and to talk with growers about what it takes to plant, sow, and sell each crop.

back to top