Measles

Measles continues to circulate in Huron and Perth. For information about measles, community exposure locations, and how to protect yourself and others, visit the Measles page. 

Food and Nutrition Curriculum

When teaching children and youth about food and nutrition, it's important to ensure that lessons are age-appropriate and that they support students in developing a healthy relationship with food and with their body. Messages about food should be positive and focus on opportunities to learn about food using the five senses (see, smell, touch, hear and taste). Activities that expose students to a variety of foods and provide hands-on opportunities to grow, cook, and taste food are encouraged.

To support students to build a positive relationship with food, in a diet- and weight -obsessed world, we encourage educators to:

  • Avoid talking about “good and bad” foods.
  • Avoid food tracking and calorie counting.
  • Avoid weighing students or calculating BMI.

Also see Mental Health and Well Being page for Body Image content.

For ideas on how to teach about food in the classroom, visit the following websites:

  • All About Food Allergy | ready-to-use curriculum-linked program by Food Allergy Canada (grades 4-6) 
  • BrightBites | educator resources written and maintained by Ontario Dietitians in Public Health members (grades K-8) (newly updated)
  • Educator resources | Nutrition Education & Consulting
  • Food Explorers kit: The Rainbow Food Explorers (RFE) toolkit is a grab and go curriculum kit for K to grade 3. Find interactive activities for age-appropriate teaching and learning about food. Request the RFE kit on our School Health Request page
  • Food is Science | resources by Sustain Ontario to help educators teach food literacy curriculum teach the Science & Technology food literacy curriculum (grades 3-9) 
  • Healthy Relationship with Food | promoting healthy relationship with food at school, tips for teachers by Alberta Health Services
  • Let’s Eat! | BE REAL’s research-informed curriculum is freely available to educators after they have completed the free online training videos and quiz for teachers. The materials are divided up into two 50 minutes lessons for students. (grades 6-12) 
  • Let’s Get Cookin’! | training for educators, along with lesson outlines and recipes, to provide hands-on food literacy lessons. (grades 5-8+)
  • Ophea (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association) | lesson plans, activities and resources filtered by healthy eating
  • TeachFoodFirst: an educator's toolkit for exploring Canada's Food Guide | lesson plans and activities for teaching Canada’s Food Guide from Healthy Schools BC (grades K-8) 
  • Teaching Canada’s food guide | toolkit developed for educators to teach Canada's Food Guide from Health Canada (grades K-6)  

Mini-meals for school nutrition breaks | ideas, recipes and tips for packing food for the school day

Contact Us

Huron Perth Public Health

Huron Office
77722B London Road, RR #5, Clinton, ON
N0M 1L0

Perth Office
653 West Gore St., Stratford ON N5A 1L4
Toll-free 1-888-221-2133
askhpph@hpph.ca

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