Thursday, February 2, 2017

Tackling Nutrition with the Truesdell Trojans, Part I




This winter, DC SCORES is partnering with Common Threads to bring a curriculum on healthy eating and living to seven schools for six weeks as Winter SCORES programming. You can see updates from the schools by searching #WinterSCORES on Twitter and Instagram. Specifically, we're following the progress of Truesdell Education Campus. Follow along below.

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Written by Dahlia Chaudhury
Communications Intern

The afternoon started with students trickling into the classroom and being assigned tables to share for the day’s activities. They began by doing a short reading in The Kitchen Times, a “newspaper” that focused on nutrition. Once all the students were in, seated, and quiet, the lesson began.

The writing coach, Emily Adams, asked the students what they know about proteins.

“They give you muscles!” came from the back of the room.

The lesson for the day was on the three different types of proteins, and the students learned to differentiate pretty quickly.

Their next task was to play a card game with the people at their tables. The cards all had different examples of proteins, such as chicken or soy beans, and when students got four of a kind of one type of protein, they had to shout “protein!”



Soon the room was filled with shouts of “protein!” but not all those who called out had the correct four-of-a-kind.

“Beans and chicken aren’t the same!” shouted one boy.

The snack of the day was a fun one; the students received cheese sticks and a small bunch of grapes. They were also given a knife and a skewer to make their own grape and cheese kabobs. KABOBS! Students cut their cheese into varying sizes and popped them onto their skewer alternating with grapes. The finished product was a big hit, and many said they would definitely be recreating the snack at home.




Since this was my first time taking part in a Winter SCORES program, I asked around to see what they had been learning thus far to fill myself in.

When asked what the best snack they had made this season was, April said, “I forgot what it’s called, but it was greek yogurt, coconut, honey, and lime with strawberries. You could really taste the coconut because it was shredded.”

April also told me she was excited to know more about nutrition labels because “then when we go home or go to the store, we don’t get all the junk...if we just eat junk food we won’t be able to play as well in our soccer games.”

The lesson will definitely assist the Trojans as they prepare for the upcoming spring soccer season, when healthy proteins are, no doubt, a must have.

As the day wrapped up, the students finished their snacks and cleaned their spaces. The student with the cleanest space and sitting the quietest received the full bag of extra grapes. The quick 45 minutes of programming was over, and it was time for the students to go home.

Winter SCORES is keeping the students on track for their soccer season and teaching them essential nutritional knowledge so that they may live happier, healthier lives.

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