Fifth Graders Learn about Making Healthy Choices

Pizza, tacos and sushi, oh my!

Todd Fifth graders got more than they bargained for when they recently attended a presentation about the sugar content in food.

After writing persuasive essays in class about whether or not chocolate milk should be served at schools, students in Erin Wilson and Maria Angarola’s classes (as well as in the other fifth grade classes) met with Briarcliff’s Director of Food Services Candida Canfield, who presented them with bottles of popular drinks and discussed the amount of sugar in them.

Ms. Canfield began the presentation by saying that everything that is manufactured has a nutrition label and that the only thing that does not have a label is naturally-occurring food, such as fruits and veggies and fresh meat.

“Reading labels is important if you want to see how much protein a drink contains, for example, or if you want to check the sugar content in it,” Ms. Canfield said. “You need to look at the total sugar, which is measured in grams.”

Students had the chance to examine various bottles of drinks, as well as small plastic containers that had the corresponding amounts of sugars in those drinks, which were placed on the table at the Todd K-2 cafeteria.

“Sugar has many names, but it is still sugar,” Ms. Canfield said. “Honey and agave are still sugar.”

Students had to guess which drink had the highest amount of sugar and which had the lowest amount.

They found out that apple juice contains the highest amount of sugar, which is naturally-occurring sugar, at 23 grams per serving.

“All of these drinks and others will be available to you at the middle school next year,” Ms. Canfield said. “So you will have to make choices about what you choose to drink.”

Students also learned out that in middle school ice cream is available every day. That got them curious about what other foods they could expect in middle school.

“There is pizza every day, a full deli to make your own sandwich, salads and fruit salads and whole fruit,” Ms. Canfield said.

“We have sushi once a month, and a lot of Tex-Mex food like tacos and burritos. We keep rotating the menu,” Ms. Canfield continued.

The words “sushi” and tacos” elicited many “ooohs and aaahs,” as students were excited to find out what awaits them next fall at the middle school.

“Now you need to go home and tell your parents that you will make healthy choices about your food and also smart choices about your drinks,” Ms. Angarola said. “But you might want to reserve certain days in the month for extra treats.”