The first Healthy Teeth/ Healthy Body pilot initiative at Josiah Quincy School was completed last Friday, May 1st and it was a success! Over the course of three weeks, D16 student leaders, Anjalee Shah, Olga Raptis, Khusbu Patel, and Will Chao, working with project advisors, Nancy Marks and Kathryn Dolan, developed and carried out lessons plans about tooth decay and proper nutrition to a classroom of kindergarten students.
Reinforcing the learning material from the previous sessions, at the beginning of the last session, Nancy and Will held a fun Q&A session in which they had the students pick out individual questions from a bowl and talked about them as a class. Afterwards, the students had the opportunity to draw on poster paper all about what they had learned over the past few weeks. With help from Khusbu Patel, the children were encouraged to let their imaginations loose, and boy were these kids creative! Some students drew superhero teeth battling against their arch rivals, while others drew their favorite healthy foods to eat (see gallery). For their efforts, each student was given an arts and crafts kit that they can use at home. A $50 gift card to a local arts supply store was also presented to the teacher to use to buy any needed art supplies for the children. The drawings will be taped together to make one giant poster showcasing the imagination of these students and will be placed inside Tufts dental school (specific location TBD) for others to enjoy.
Due to the success of this initiative, the program is planned to include several other classrooms at other schools in the months of May and June. There is a planning meeting to review the curriculum on Tuesday, May 19 from 4:15-5:15 pm in the Becker Board Room.
Those interested in participating should contact D16 student leaders, Amy Albright, Olga Rapits, or Khusbu Patel.
