Croton-Harmon Eighth-Graders Share Healthy Habits with Younger Peers

From : Eighth-grade students from Croton-Harmon’s Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School recently made trips to Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School physical education classes to share information and activities they have designed for their younger peers.

Working in small groups in their health classes, PVC students chose topics related to health and fitness to create presentations and other engaging activities that CET students can learn from and enjoy.

“We teach the [CET students] numerous facts about sleep and then ask them to apply what they’ve learned in a relay race format, seeing if they can match the questions with the answers,” eighth-grader Jacob said of his group’s offering.

Jacob added that sleep was an important topic to cover because it has become more important as he’s gotten older. “I wish someone had taught me about sleep when I was in third grade,” he said. “I want them to remember how much sleep they should get – 10 or 11 hours.”

Fellow eighth-grader Camilla and her group chose to focus on physical fitness and ways to stay active outside of school. After offering some tips to CET students – such as walking the dog, limiting video game playing and cleaning their rooms – the older students guided basketball and volleyball games.

“We also told them it’s important to exercise their minds; the brain is the most important organ,” she said. “Staying active reduces your risk of having a heart attack and many diseases like heart disease because it helps your heart pump blood to everywhere in your body.”

Photos courtesy of Croton-Harmon Schools