By: Sarina Yospin
At school this week, we have been delving deep into the world of the digestive system – to the gallbladder, and beyond! Every day has been chock-full of fascinating questions from the students, so I’m learning lots, too. In our first week of this Health and Physiology block, we studied nutrition from a few different angles.
The class with their letters to local and national legislators. Each student wrote with suggestions on improving access to good nutrition for all Americans.
From the needs of the body… What does the body need to be healthy? How does the body use different types of food? What are calories and how are they measured?
To the challenges people face in meeting those needs…What are America’s overall nutritional habits? What makes it hard to eat healthy food and lead a healthy lifestyle? How do food stamps work and how does privilege relate to health? Who makes these policies? We wrote letters to Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, Mark Dayton and Michelle Obama about some ideas the students had for how to help Americans access healthy food more easily.
This past week, we got more into the nitty-gritty of how digestion happens in the body. It has been SO FUN! We are all fascinated and mind-blown by the complexity and mystery of our inner furnaces, combusting away all the time, transforming our food into the matter of ourselves, the energy for what we do and who we are.
In the last week of our block, we will be looking into the circulatory and respiratory systems, and wrapping up with a test on Friday.
Ms. Yospin’s chalkboard drawing for the Health and Physiology block.