March 28, 2024

Woodrow Wilson students learn on nutrition hike

The sixth grade classes at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School went on a nutritional hike on Wednesday, walking to four different restaurants in town. The students were given $5 total to spend at three of the four restaurants and kept record of the amount of money spent and the amount of calories taken in.

“I created this event and went to the city PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) and asked them if they would fund the hike, so the children weren’t asked to bring any money,” sixth-grade teacher Ina Hubbard-Heidemann said. “They decided to donate $5 for each student to do the hike.”

The field trip was part of their math class, where they are learning about budget and proportions.

“Our math curriculum talks about proportions, and included in that we talk about all the calories from fat, protein and carbohydrates,” Hubbard-Heidemann said. “We had to set up proportions to figure what percentage of the calories were from all three portions.”

The students went to McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Burger King and Subway, where nutritional information is in easy-to-access locations for the students to consider the nutritional value of the food they’re eating as well as learning how to budget $5.

“They’re surprised that they can find the nutritional information so easily on the food wrapper or in a handout in the restaurant, which means restaurants are making the nutritional information easily available,” Hubbard-Heidemann said. “They’re learning how to ledger and balance the money their spending because usually its mom or dad going in and just paying for the meal, so they’re unsure of how much everything cost. When they only have $5, they’re very careful on how much money they spend on everything.”

Hubbard-Heidemann created this field trip before she taught at Woodrow Wilson.

“I started doing this (nutritional hike) 20 years ago, and then I stopped doing it for a long time but started doing it again recently,” Hubbard-Heidemann said. “I know the kids like to learn outside of the classroom. It’s an opportunity to take our learning and apply it to real life.”

Staff writer Zach Johnson may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at zjohnson@newtondailynews.com.