** Find past Teaching Centers below. **
Click on the tabs above to access key points, classroom discussion questions, extension activity ideas, resources, and more for each feature article in this issue.
A button at right links to our Digital Edition, which makes it easy to use the magazine on computers, interactive whiteboards, and projectors. This month's edition debuts some exciting new bonus features. Pop-up highlights and thinking questions help students engage with the text and make it easy for you to call attention to key messages. In the column at right you'll also find links to a printable teacher's guide for this issue, our 2011-12 Planning Calendar, our Current Health blogs, and our archives.
In This Issue
Your Choices: Energy Drinks: What's the Buzz?
Your Body: Going with the Flow
Your World: Nothing Fresh in Sight
Your Relationships: Animal Influence
Online Exclusives
• Our 2011-12 planning calendar helps you plan lessons for the whole school year.
• Our 2010-11 index can help you keep track of your favorite Current Health Kids articles or find a useful article you missed.
• Great news! Now all the reproducible worksheets for each issue—including the bonus reading comprehension worksheets, one for each feature article—are together in one place, within your Teacher's Guide. Access these worksheets and more online at right under "Printable Teacher's Guide" at right.
Write to us at chkids@weeklyreader.com.
In Health,
Alicia Zadrozny, Editor
Past Teaching Centers
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
Energy Drinks:What’s the Buzz?
(p. 6) 1040L
Key Points
• Experts do not recommend energy drinks for kids. The drinks can cause irregular heartbeats, anxiety, and other conditions.
• Energy drinks are often confused with sports drinks. Young athletes can safely consume sports drinks in small amounts.
• Kids can get extra fuel for their activities from more nutritious sources.
Think and Discuss
Energy drinks are often packaged in bright, attractive, and enticing ways. Why might that be the case?
Extension Activity
Talk with students about healthy ways to boost energy. Have them make lists of the pros and cons of energy drinks and sports drinks. Then help them see that healthy foods also boost energy and have practically no drawbacks.
Resource
• Physicians’ report on energy drinks:children.webmd.com/news/20110214/report-finds-energy-drinks-are-risky-for-kids
Going With the Flow
(p. 9) 960L
Key Points
• Kidney stones are a growing problem for many kids. But they are preventable.
• While often caused by genetics, kidney stones can form when people eat foods high in salt and don’t get enough hydration or calcium.
• Kidney stones often pass through the urinary system on their own. More serious cases are treated with lithotripsy, a process that uses shock waves to break apart kidney stones.
Think and Discuss
How easy or hard would it be for you to follow the recommendations for preventing kidney stones? What might help you stick with them?
Extension Activity
Some states are part of the “kidney stone belt”—areas where people are more likely to develop stones. Doctors think that is because of high temperatures and humidity that cause dehydration. Discuss how a person’s health can be affected by where he or she lives. Ask students: What problems are common in your area? How might they be prevented?
Resources
• World Kidney Day:www.worldkidneyday.org
• National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Quiz:www.kidney.org/kidneydisease/kidneyquiz.cfm
Nothing Fresh in Sight?
(p. 12) 990L
Key Points
• A food desert is an area without easy access to affordable, nutritious foods. Food deserts often exist in poor, urban areas where there are more corner stores and bodegas than grocery stores.
• There are many programs across the nation that were created to make healthy food accessible and affordable to kids and their families.
• Even with limited food options, a kid can learn to make the best choices he or she can in a situation.
Think and Discuss
Use the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Environment Atlas (www.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas) to determine whether any part of your local area is considered a food desert. What are the food options like in your neighborhood? How far does your family go to get groceries?
Extension Activity
Have students tour a local neighborhood. They should note the availability of both healthy and unhealthy foods as well as the opportunities for exercise that exist in the neighborhood. Ask students how the local environment might be improved.
Resources
• Organizations that work for food justice in food deserts: www.justfood.org/food-justice/resources and www.urbanfarming.org
Animal Influence
(p. 16) 930L
Key Points
• Pets are very beneficial to the mental health of many people. Pets and therapy animals can help slow a person’s heart rate and lessen the release of stress hormones. They also can help increase serotonin, a brain chemical that induces happy feelings.
• There are animals that are specially trained to deal with people in clinical settings. Those therapy animals are known to help treat various physical and emotional conditions.
• Kids do not have to be ill to benefit from animal interaction. Pets can help kids feel better as they encounter everyday stress and sadness.
Think and Discuss
How do you feel after you spend time with an animal, whether it is your pet or someone else’s?
Extension Activity
Have students research and prepare reports on a day in the life of a therapy animal.
Resources
• Pick the right pet for you: www.animal.discovery.com/pet-planet/pet-picker
• More information about therapy animals: www.pennysfromheavenfoundation.org
