About to bite into one of the healthy treats offered by PSU Extension speaker Mrs. Kim Woodford, first grade student Selene Heck participates in the Healthy Choices program offered for kindergarten through second grade students during the last weeks of October.

Mrs. Elizabeth Grow’s first grade students eagerly raise their hands to answer riddles regarding what healthy snacks they can eat. Woodford’s presentation gave students  the opportunity to participate by showing what they already knew about nutrition.

Kim Woodford, a member of Penn State’s Nutrition Education Department, cuts the veggie pizza she prepared for Mrs. Grow’s class. “We were so lucky to have Kim Woodford from the Penn State Health Network come and teach our first grade students all about making healthy eating choices!” Mrs. Grow said.

Kindergarten student Greyson Orndorff checks to see how clean his hands are before washing them. After seeing how many germs appeared under the “Glitterbug” blacklight device, students in the class washed their hands while singing the ABC song.

While washing their hands, the kindergarten students were reminded to wash hard to reach places like the backs of their hands and underneath their fingernails. Kindergarten student Jaxon Seabolt examined his hands after washing. Mrs. Mary McGinley, kindergarten teacher, said “Overall, this program was very beneficial in teaching the students proper hand washing with the upcoming flu season.”

In Woodford’s “Snack Smart” presentation to second grade students, she showed a fat model to the class and explained how unhealthy snacks can lead to excess body fat. Woodford treated the class to cinnamon-sugar popcorn made with an air-popper. Second grade teacher Mrs. Kelly Devine said, “This is very important for the students to learn because so often they associate snacking with cookies or chips.  Today they learned that healthy snacks can taste great while also helping their bodies.”

After being amazed by the air-popper demonstration, students were able to participate in an adapted game of Headbands. In order to correctly guess which snack was featured on their headband cards, students gave descriptions about the pictured snacks. Second grader Blake Snyder said, “My favorite parts were the popcorn and the Headbands game.  I learned to be healthy and to only eat sugar once in a while.”