Merrilee Bingham’s kindergartners at Peachland School learned the value of writing in a big way when they were recently notified that they had won the grand prize in the Lysol Brand/Scholastic Healthy Habits Story Writing Contest. Their efforts brought the $10,000 grand prize to the school.

The writing contest’s focus was fighting germs in the classroom so that children can learn and thrive in school. Lysol is now in its fourth year of providing schools with extensive resources that are designed to educate students on healthy habits and teach ways to minimize contact with illness causing germs. This program is designed to motivate students and their families to strive for good health habits and includes digital resources such as classroom curriculum that are designed to reinforce healthier habits at school and at home.

Students in Bingham’s class started their journey to the grand prize by learning some basic information provided by the contest organizers. They learned about germ facts, the importance of hand washing, and a list of healthy habits that keep us all well. From there, they created their original story, “Bobo the Bear Goes to School.”

Bobo is the story of a teddy bear who goes to school for the first time but does not know about healthy habits. He makes many mistakes at first, such as picking his nose, forgetting to brush his teeth and not washing his hands after using the bathroom. The children then teach Bobo about healthy habits so that he can be healthy and fit.

“The children were already familiar with the types of stories where animals or children go to school for the first time but do not know how to behave,” shared Bingham. “After learning about healthy habits we wrote our own original story about our classroom teddy bear and what would happen if he came to school but did not know about healthy habits.”

Children in Bingham’s class were excited to learn that their Bobo Healthy Habits Book was the grand prize winner. She reported that the staff is planning to use the funds to update technology, to improve the kindergarten play area, and purchase specialized materials to assist English Language Learners.