John Hopkins Elementary - Mrs. Walker 2nd grade class

In Mrs. Walker’s Second Grade Class, we decided to learn how to read food labels in order to educate ourselves and our parents on making healthy food choices so we can live a healthier lifestyle.

In class, we learned that a person’s outer appearance does not determine if they are healthy. You can look physically fit and still have problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. We also learned that food is the fuel the body uses to function. When we eat bad food, bad things can happen to the body; and when we eat good food, the body can perform at its best. We realized that we don’t always eat good food when we go home from school because we like to eat greasy fast food and sugary snacks. Even though we don’t buy the food that we eat at home, we can determine which foods are healthy and educate our parents on making better food choices by reading the food labels.

Reading food labels is important in maintaining good health. By studying food labels, we can learn what to eat in order to receive good nutrition. For example, a food label can tell you what vitamins the food contains and how much fat, salt, and calories are in the food. If we pay attention to the information on food labels, we can make sure that our families eat the correct amounts of nutrients. We can also avoid overeating, avoid eating unhealthy foods, and avoid eating foods that we are allergic to.

In order to ensure that our class will read labels to make a healthier lifestyle, our teacher will teach us how to read each part of the food label and why it is important. We will take what we learn in class and educate our parents on how to make healthy food choices. We will create newsletters that highlight healthy meals and snacks and include recipes that are “kid friendly” so we can help prepare healthy food with our parents and increase quality family time. We will read the food labels when we go grocery shopping and suggest healthy alternatives to our parents such as a granola bar instead of cookies. Our teacher even agreed to give awards to us each time we write about a healthy food choice that we encourage our parents to make.

We would like to thank First Lady Michelle Obama for challenging us to think about ways to live a healthier lifestyle because the small steps we make as children will make a great impact on our future health as adults.

Mrs. Walker 2nd grade class
John Hopkins Elementary

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