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TC to Host "Food Day" Activities on Monday
This Monday, October 24th, is Food Day, and the College's Nutrition Education program will be conducting interactive activities on campus that are open to the entire TC community and neighborhood schools. The activities are based on a special Food Day School Curriculum, developed by TC nutrition education faculty, that has been posted online for teachers nationwide to use in their classrooms.
Food Day is a grassroots campaign by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to encourage Americans to “eat real” and to support healthy, affordable food grown in a sustainable, humane way.
The Food Day activities at TC on Monday include a Student Cooking Session at which some 20 second- and third-graders from the After-School Program at P.S./M.S. 161 in Harlem will complete a Food Day curriculum lesson. The children will meet from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in TC’s Earth Friends Room, 50 Horace Mann Hall.
Nutrition education faculty and students will also conduct interactive activities all day for the older set on the first floor of Zankel Hall.
The Food Day Curriculum, developed by Pamela Koch, Adjunct Associate Professor, and Isobel Contento, the Mary Swartz Rose Professor of Nutrition and Education, Koch and Contento, consists of five lessons designed to teach children the importance of eating fresh food; cutting back on processed foods; and advocating for a healthier community.
The curriculum, a set of hands-on lessons designed for middle school students, can be adapted for elementary and high school students. Teachers may download the lessons at http://foodday.org/participate/resources#FDCurriculum.
“Teachers should consider using this curriculum not just on Food Day, but any time in the school year,” said Contento. “Each lesson has many ideas for projects that students can do, along with numerous resources for teachers. It’s important that we teach health and nutrition in the classroom along with science, math and other subjects.”
Schools across New York City and the country are invited to celebrate Food Day in a variety of ways. There will be a full complement of activities across New York City and the region. Check out http://www.foodday.org to find activities near you. Teachers College will host Food Day activities for teachers at its campus, 525 West 120th Street.
Published Friday, Oct. 21, 2011
