Monday, January 20, 2014

EQ of The Week



This week we gave out several Purple Paw Awards.  The first went to a couple of girls in Mrs. Ankerson's class for their posters about nutritious rich foods.  The second Purple Paw Award went to a pair of scholars in Mrs. Purvee's class for their song/dance about fruits & veggies.  Our last Purple Paw Award goes out to a scholar in Mrs. Darling's class for his poster and for putting a smile on Mr. G's face with random acts of kindness.


Essential Questions of the week January, 20 2014


1. Will eating spinach make you strong like Popeye? 

Spinach has many great health benefits one of which is that it contains a lot of iron.  Iron helps transport oxygen from your lungs to your muscles and helps store oxygen in your muscles.  Your muscles need oxygen to generate energy.  So yes spinach does play a small role making Popeye very strong.  

So if spinach only plays a small role in making your muscles stronger, why does Popeye get superhuman strength when he eats spinach?  The answer is because in 1870 a doctor wrongly estimated the iron content in spinach.  He estimated that spinach contained 10 times more iron than any other green vegetable.  The mistake was corrected in 1937.  But by then it was too late. The Popeye cartoons had started in 1929 and most of the world still believes that spinach is excellent for strength. 


2. Do carrots really help you have good eyesight?

Carrots contain beta-carotene, a substance that the body converts to vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health.  Eating carrots along with other foods such as sweet potatoes, spinach, cantaloupe will help you maintain good eyesight. 

Did you know the idea that carrots improve your eyesight began during WW2 when the British Royal Air Force, reported that a regular diet of carrots improved their pilots night vision.  This lead to many British people growing and eating more carrots.   This great story, was, in fact, propaganda put out to conceal the fact that the Royal Air Force's was actually using radar to locate German bombers during the night.

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