Food for Thought, a blog special for Healthy Food Week at Sharon School
Schools are in a unique position to provide students with opportunities to learn about and practice healthy eating behaviour. As food helps in the growth and development of our body, we decided to let the children of grade 1 know the importance of eating healthy food. As teachers, we discussed this with our primary H.M., Mrs. Anita Soman and we decided to celebrate ‘Healthy Food Week ‘ where children would eat a variety of nutrients rich food.
Our H.M. suggested why not organize a food week for the entire primary section and not limit it to grade 1. All the teachers suggested and planned healthy food for thought to be brought each day. A food chart was prepared and circulated to each class on Saturday, 14th September 2019. This had a combination of different types of food that children learn about in their EVS classes, e.g. boiled food, steamed food, fried food.
The children seemed excited to inform their parents about Healthy Food Week which would begin the following Monday. The children also felt important that their parents would prepare food especially for them with a special menu for each day.
While most children were excited to have something new and exciting in their ‘dabbas’, we wanted to get a sense of what each child thought about this initiative. In classes 4 & 5, the teachers combined this with an English writing skill task. Students were asked to write a note or a letter to their teachers expressing their opinion on Healthy Food Week.
Here are some voices from the class.
Many children welcomed the initiative and reflected on why the teacher might have introduced this initiative.
Some others were very forthright with suggestions for teachers and also empathized with their parents who had to go the extra mile to prepare separate tiffins for them.
Luckily, there were also some dissenting voices who were not in favour of a “timetable” for their food as well. Here’s what they had to say,
Contributed by
Brazilia Joseph and Anita Mathew
I love the dissenting voices as much as the enthusiastic ones.
Falling in love with new food items because everyone else is also having similar food is often seen among children, but this empathy for mothers having to slog the extra mile and noticing the power play at hand when the teachers do not adhere to the timetable set is truly a sign of critical thinking. The dislike for a set timetable with the courtesy of an apology is so refreshingly stated.
Kudos to the team for giving the children the agency to express their opinions and creating the safe space for the voices expressing a contrary opinion. So refreshing to see the criticisms being shared as much as the praise.