The Cat and the Fat

When students in Mr. Mike’s sixth grade class at Gilpin K-8 were asked about what they would like to change at their school, students were ready to speak up about their school lunches. Not only were students concerned with the food that was served at lunch, but the portions that their growing sixth grade bodies received.

They were determined to get to the bottom of this. They began to think about who determines the school lunch menu and how they determined the size for the each portion. Their research began to lead to the Denver Public School (DPS) system. Students contacted an expert from DPS and discovered that the portions for school lunches are preset by national health and nutrition standards.

Students pushed forward. After watching a clip from the documentary film "Supersize Me," students realized that the real issue was nutrition. What about helping their peers make better choices when it came to what they were eating?

The class broke up into two different committees. Hard at work, the committees wrote and performed a play entitled "The Cat and the Fat" and developed lesson plans on nutrition for teachers to use in their classrooms.

The play was a funny way to show the difference between healthy and unhealthy snacks. The play received rave reviews at the Youth Summit’s annual Speak Out competition!