Grade 5 and 6 students paid a lot closer attention than might have been expected on Friday morning as they watched a pair of student from the local high school prepare a healthy stir fry.
The program is called 3 Up, 2 Down, and it is part of the In Motion program that has been running across Wellington County for several years. Other efforts were about exercise but this one is different. Grade 5 and 6 teacher John Scott said the Elora Public School students are something of a pilot program, and officials hope it can be spread to all the schools in the county.
The 3 Up part of the program urges student to increase their sleep, their eating of fruits and vegetables, and their exercise.
The 2 Down portion is to decrease their screen time and their sugar intake.
Teachers, members of Public Health, a township Parks and Recreation intern, and other officials were on hand as food school students Zakk Bottomley, grade 12 and Mercedes Lefrancois, grade 10, sent marvellous aromas of beef stir fry around the classroom.
Intern Hannah Jack said the idea is to try to get the program in all the schools in the county.
Scott said it is surprising how the students took to the cooking lessons.
The previous day, they had a lesson on how to make a healthy salad dressing. He noted that if students cut up their own vegetables, they tend to eat them.
Students were given the recipe and some of the ingredients to take home so they could help teach their family to cook the stir fry.
Public Health’s Joan Heath said the program includes doctors, teachers, health officials are working on 3 Up, 2 Down.
Scott said he hopes the program not only spreads to other schools, but also to community groups and Sports teams.
“For people to change their habits, they have to be connected to it,” he said.
