Christopher Bostwick and Felicia Maxfield indicate the stomach on the 'Thin Man' as part of Sullivan schoolteacher James Holmes' Grade 7 science class on healthy eating.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Sullivan School seventh-graders spent their Thursday afternoon at the supermarket learning about how to shop and eat in a more healthy way.
The students of James Holmes' science class took a trip down to the Big Y for a lesson in healthy eating and shopping.
"In the seventh grade we do the body systems," Holmes said. "We have done the skeletal system, the muscle system, and now we are getting into how the rest of the body works, and before we get into the digestive system, we have to talk about how to eat healthy."
The students perused the Big Y aisles and were shown the proper way to shop as well as what benefits certain foods have toward their health.
Students were introduced to the idea of perimeter shopping. Perimeter shopping is shopping along the edges of the market where the fresh food is normally kept.
"We learned about the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables around the edges of the market, and then we went to look through the aisles," Ayrian Quinones, 12, said. "We learned that canned fruits are less nutritious than regular fruits, and that canned veggies with salt are not as nutritious."
Holmes explained that most people do not know of perimeter shopping, and the importance of avoiding processed food.
"Not everyone knows how to shop," he said. "A lot of people run right to the middle of the market and right to the processed food."
This trip was part of a larger push to make students more aware of the food they consume on a daily basis and show them the skills needed to live a healthier lifestyle.
"We pretty much learned today about stuff that a lot of people here shopping right now don’t know about," Reece Racette, 13, a student from Holmes' class. "It's a good opportunity to learn how to really shop in a healthy way."
Holmes sees science class as an all-encompassing study.
"I want the kids to know that the human body systems are all tied together," he said. "If you don't eat healthy your bones are going to react, and if you don’t eat healthy your muscles are going to react."
Holmes hopes that student will take the new knowledge they learned into account and at least know how food effects their bodies.
"At the end of seventh grade they are going to know how to take care of themselves better, and they will be able to make informed decisions," he said. "If they still want to eat processed food that is not good for them, they at least know what they are doing."