Delphi Community Elementary School fourth grade teachers and their students participated in the Indiana Dairy and Nutrition Council's "Great Grow Along Program." The council provides schools with a lab rat feeding demonstration to help educate students about the importance of calcium in daily diet intake.

During a four-week period, classes taught by Lori Schwarzkopf, Amanda Woods, Sandy Cox, Bethellen Richardson and Melissa Gill fed two female albino rats identical nutritional and calorie-equivalent diets with the exception being the control rat received milk and the experimental rat received a sweetened beverage. The rats' beverages were switched during the last week of the demonstration. The rats were weighed and the tails measured to document the dietary affects on the animals.

According to the USDA, America's preteen girls (70 percent) and preteen boys (60 percent) do not get the amount of calcium required for growing bodies.

Students learned eating "3-A-Day" of milk, cheese and yogurt can help to meet daily calcium needed for building strong bones and healthy bodies.