CLIPPARD STUDENTS TAKE A BODY WALK

Tyler Terry already knew some things about his body, but he learned even more about how to be healthy after taking the "Show Me Body Walk" Tuesday.

Tyler, a second-grader at Clippard Elementary School, knew blood flows through the veins because he'd learned about it in health class.

About 350 students in kindergarten through fourth grade at the school participated in the Body Walk Tuesday. The walk is an interactive lesson on the functions and parts of the body.

Chris Lucas, Body Walk manager, said the walk teaches students about nutrition and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

"They need the basic information and are a more receptive audience," Lucas said.

Each student enters the body as a food. Tyler Terry was milk. His classmates represented meat, fruits and vegetables, grains and nutrients.

In the mouth, the foods are chewed with the teeth and then slide down the esophagus into the stomach where they are passed to the small intestine.

Inside the small intestine, which can stretch 20 feet if it is uncoiled, the foods are transformed into nutrients that travel through the blood to the heart and cells. The learning stations about bones, muscles and skin are located on the perimeter of the Body Walk shell.

Students learned about how to strengthen their bones and muscles by exercise.

The students spend about 45 minutes in the Body Walk but it takes about twice as long to set up the tunnel-like contraption.

After leaving the gymnasium at Clippard Elementary, it will travel to Scott County Central Elementary school today. Students from Hearnes Elementary also will attend the Body Walk there.

More than 140 schools in Missouri will participate in the walk this year. The Body Walk program is funded by the Governor's Council on Fitness and Health, the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and the University of Missouri Extension office.