From Play-Doh to Pathways: Houston High Students Step in as Second Grade “Teachers”

Second graders at Farmington Elementary received a special surprise this week: a team of Houston High School students arrived ready to teach.

The high schoolers, part of Houston High’s Nutrition Science and Diet Therapy class, stepped into the classroom as guest instructors, helping second graders learn about healthy eating through colorful slides, hands-on activities, and a little bit of very memorable Play-Doh.

By the end of the lesson, the room was filled with tiny sculptures of strawberries, carrots, and even one surprising creation, asparagus.

For second grader Thomas Hillis, the takeaway was simple.
 “We were learning about fruits and vegetables and how things can be healthy for you,” Thomas said.

His classmate Elizabeth Griner discovered something new about nutrition along the way.
 “I learned that dairy isn’t just drinking milk,” Elizabeth said. “It’s eating things like cheese and other foods too.”

The lesson connected directly to second grade standards about nutrition, but it also offered something more. It gave students a glimpse into the future.

When asked where their guest teachers came from, the second graders answered proudly: Houston High School.

Some were already imagining themselves there one day.

“I want to be a writer,” one student shared, while another chimed in with confidence. “I want to do something with math, because I’m really good at math.”

The lesson itself was designed and delivered by Houston High seniors and classmates who spent nearly two months preparing it.

Senior Ella Morton explained that teaching second graders required a lot more planning than they expected.

“We worked on this for about two months,” Morton said. “We had to think from a second grader’s perspective and use words they would understand. We revised the PowerPoint at least five times.”

The highlight of the lesson was a hands-on activity where students created fruits and vegetables using homemade Play-Doh. And yes, the smell was noticed.

“We made the Play-Doh ourselves,” said Houston High instructor Jennifer Wilkins, who teaches Nutrition and Culinary Arts. “It’s made from salt, leftover semolina flour from our pasta lab, and water. Since it’s all natural ingredients that can degrade, it gets a little smelly over time.”

The colorful dough represented something important: the rainbow of nutrients students should eat.

“Each color represented different vitamins and minerals you find in fruits and vegetables,” Wilkins said. “The goal is to build a colorful plate so you’re getting all those nutrients.”

For the high school students, the experience also offered a glimpse into potential careers.

“This gives them an idea of what it’s like to work in public health or nutrition,” Wilkins said. “Even if you’re a doctor or dietitian, there’s a lot of teaching involved in that field.”

Farmington second grade teacher Lily Braswell said the visit was the perfect way to introduce the class’s new nutrition unit in her reading class.

“It’s a fun way to build background knowledge and introduce vocabulary they’ll be using over the next few weeks,” Braswell said.

The collaboration actually started with a simple connection. Wilkins attended a curriculum night last year and realized the nutrition concepts in her high school course lined up with second grade learning standards.

The idea grew from there.

Soon, 13 Houston High students were pairing up, building lesson slides, and designing activities to teach younger learners.

And while the second graders learned about vitamins and vegetables, the high schoolers learned something too: teaching takes planning, patience, and a sense of humor.
Morton admitted one moment stood out above the rest.

“I didn’t expect anybody to make asparagus,” she said. “But they did.”

Moments like these highlight something powerful happening across the Germantown Municipal School District: students learning from students.

From second grade classrooms to high school career pathways, the lesson wasn’t just about healthy food. It was about connection, mentorship, and seeing the future just a little more clearly.