GREENFIELD — A curriculum developed by a local leadership group, aimed at teaching kids to make healthier choices and preventing childhood obesity, is now being implemented at Greenfield-Central Schools.
Last year, a Leadership Hancock County team worked to develop a curriculum for second-grade gym teachers to instruct the 5210 principle, which is: five servings of fruit and vegetables a day; a limit of two hours of recreational screen time per day; one hour of moderate physical activity per day and zero sugary drinks per day. Part of the concept included providing incentives to students who participate in and complete the program.
The group from the tuition-supported leadership academy included Angela Flench, Indiana Department of Transportation; Christy Harpold, Greenfield-Central Schools; Dr. Jason Hua, Jane Pauley Community Health Center; and Adam Wilhelm, Hancock Regional Hospital.
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This semester, Harpold is working with members of Hancock Regional Hospital’s Healthy 365 team to bring the six-week lesson plan to second-graders at J.B. Stephens Elementary School in Greenfield. About 110 students have been included in the pilot program, which started with a pre-test given Oct. 1. The first day of the program was Oct. 22, when Healthy 365 officials explained the program and handed out water bottles to the participants during their gym classes.
Harpold said second grade is a good time for teachers to help kids learn that eating and living healthy isn’t too hard to do and that the program can help.
“It’s a great age for them to start forming their own habits,” Harpold said. “Second-graders have a lot of guidance from their parents still, but they can encourage their family to make good choices.”
J.B. Stephens Elementary gym teacher Erin Stevens said she likes the program and is more than happy to implement it in her classes. She was already visiting the Healthy 365 website, behealthy365.com, for nutritional information she could include in her classes, she said.
She said the response from students so far has been overwhelmingly positive, especially in regard to the incentives, from the water bottles they received this week to the promise of a fitness tracker for anyone who completes the entire program.
“I think it’s very beneficial to all the kids,” Stevens said, recalling when she taught middle-school health classes and discovered some pre-teen students didn’t recognize common fruits and vegetables. “I think it’s good to start them earlier.”
Amanda Everidge, Healthy 365 healthy community coordinator, said she would like to eventually see the program become a part of all the gym classes at Greenfield-Central Schools, but this first run is to work out the kinks and learn what does and doesn’t work with the second-graders.
During a session this week at the elementary school, Everidge and Harpold discussed different kinds of fruits and vegetables with the students. At lunchtime, the hospital’s catering service provided samples of lesser-known produce, like jicama, starfruit and dragonfruit.
Everidge and Harpold told the students that it’s OK if they don’t like the new items the first time they try them, but if they try them again, they might learn to enjoy the new flavors.
Trying new things, both those related to nutrition and those related to physical activity, are part of the pilot program, which is based on a similar effort in Maine, Everidge said. Similar programs are being implemented across the country, including the “Jump In For Healthy Kids” Central Indiana childhood obesity initiative.
Indiana has the 11th-highest childhood obesity rate in the country, at 17.5 percent of 10- to 17-year-olds, according to the State of Obesity, a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The program has built-in challenges throughout the six weeks, based on the different concepts being discussed. For the first week, the challenges were food-based, encouraging students to try a new fruit and vegetable, make a fruit salad, or make “ants on a log” as a snack.
Some of the challenges are tailored to Hancock County residents, such as visiting a Greenfield park or spending time exercising on the Pennsy Trail.
“One of the most exciting parts of this has been tailoring the program to our community,” Harpold said. “We have a great community we live in, and hopefully that gets people out and exploring.”
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5210 is a pilot program being implemented in second-grade gym classes at J.B. Stephens Elementary School. The goal is to help kids make healthier choices and avoid unhealthy ones each day. The guidelines are:
5: Eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day
2: Limit yourself to 2 hours of recreational screen time per day
1: Get one hour of physical activity or exercise each day
0: Drink zero sugary drinks each day and drink more water
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