CET Teachers Fuse Their Passion as Educators and Take an Interdisciplinary Approach to Create New Learning Experiences for Students

Let’s play a game. Guess the word connected to each of these questions: What makes up a healthy plate? How do you say vegetables in Spanish? Who is Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, and what is he known for? 

The answer? Nutrition!

At the elementary level, nutrition education typically comes from the classroom teacher. But with the district’s increased focus on bringing interdisciplinary learning opportunities to students, CET Physical Education teacher Suzanne Leslie spearheaded a nutrition-focused collaboration with Art teacher Brie Lafuente and Spanish teacher Lisa Percocco to expand the learning opportunity. The trio created a project that adds a layered instructional dimension, putting learning in the hands and minds of students. “There are many ways to teach about nutrition beyond basic instruction on the five food groups and making well-balanced choices,” said Ms. Leslie. “Tapping into differentiated learning pathways creates more opportunity for students to not only retain the information, it allows for flexibility and choice in how they learn.”

Through an interconnected and holistic approach, incorporating movement, game-play, art, and language, CET students learned the five major food groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, protein, and dairy), each food group’s assigned colors, the types of food belonging to each category and the significance of food and nature in art. 

During physical education classes, Ms. Leslie had the students play a game called Hungry Hungry Hippos where they propelled themselves on scooters to collect food which they then placed in the five different food groups. Students also learned about nutrition labels and played a game where they performed exercises relating to a specific nutrient fact on the label they collected. Joining Ms. Leslie’s class, Senora Percocco taught the different types of food groups and colors in Spanish. Students now know how to say vegetables in Spanish - verduras!

In Ms. Lafuente’s classes, students learned that food is often the focal point of art and  can be used in highly creative ways. She introduced work by the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo best known for his imaginative portraits made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, fish, and other naturally healthy foods. Looking closely at the artist's portraits, students named all the fruits, vegetables, and herbs they could see. In one portrait, they found over twenty different kinds of food. Embracing their own creativity, students made food portraits with realistic sketches of food items using color, lines, shapes, and unique details to represent facial features.

CET Principal Kerri Bianchi appreciates the creativity shown by the three teachers. “This nutrition project is another fabulous example of how iTad (Innovative Teaching Across Disciplines) takes teaching a singular topic and expands it to a new level,” said Ms. Bianchi. “In this case, there may be a student who is not particularly interested in nutrition and food groups, but lights up when they create art. Now that student has gone from disengaged to engaged and will think about nutrition in a whole new way. They’re also much more likely to recall what they learned. That is the magic of the approach these teachers are taking.”

For teachers, there are several measurements to gauge student interest and assess success. The ones that typically come to mind might be test scores or signs of improvement. If you ask Ms. Leslie for her perspective, it’s when students take initiative to learn more. “After we finished the unit, one of my third-grade students, Gabby, gave me the greatest gift a teacher can receive,” she said. “On her own, she created a PowerPoint presentation using all the information she learned throughout the unit. I shared it with the entire school because I was so impressed by it.”

that typically come to mind might be test scores or signs of improvement. If you ask Ms. Leslie what her answer would be, it’s when students take the initiative to take learning further. “After we finished the unit, one of my third-grade students, Gabby, gave me the greatest gift a teacher can receive,” she said. “On her own, she created a PowerPoint presentation using all the information she learned throughout the unit. I shared it with the entire school because I was so impressed by it.”