Kentucky, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama are among USDA's top states to receive 2015 Federal funding through the new initiative Local Food, Local Places.
Local Food, Local Places is a federal initiative providing direct technical support to help local food systems and grow local economy as well as help provide community kitchens, food hubs, enhance public spaces for people to walk or bike to farmers markets, and encourage gardens in schools.Communities work together in a holistic approach, with experts from all fields, including public health, environmental, agricultural, transportation, and regional economics. Harvesting the reports from 2014, the program brought in over 11 billion dollars and showed that local food is growing in popularity and sustainability. ...
Kids in the U.S are overweight and recess is being cut back in schools across the nation. In fact, a report from Vermont stated that in 2005 the overweight population had more than doubled in the last twenty years. A small-town teacher in Quechee, Vermont is taking a new approach for kids to have the much needed recess time in school. The innovative teacher, Eliza Minnucci, takes her classroom outside into the woods once a week for what she calls “Forest Monday”. Minnucci got her idea from a documentary in Switzerland where kids spend the whole school day outside. Minnucci keeps order of the classroom while visiting the woods with a few simple rules, however, she let’s them explore how to do and shape things, helping them become more resourceful in their ...
Studies from all over are funneling down on the facts about how nature and the great outdoors prove to help the learning environment for kids and adults alike. A recent study from US National Library of Health, reveals a link between the "greenness" of green spaces and school performance. Another study in 2015 from University of British Columbia, shows that rough play, usually in outdoor settings, increase a child's health socially and physically. These studies are finding the benefits of nature and being outdoors are helpful for: Cognitive Development
Memory Function
Critical Reasoning
Diversified Learning
Physical health To read more on this check out the full ...
The Michael & Susan dell Center for Healthy Living have multiple programs and projects that promote healthy living. Active-Play Active Learning (APAL) is just one of the many healthy programs that encourages healthy changes for kids. APAL is a school-based initiative that allows kids to become more active in recess and school time. APAL is incorporated through three main approaches: Classroom Brain Breaks- brief activity breaks that support academic learning and contribute active class transitions
School Playground Markings- beautified playground areas with locomotor markings that encourage learning and activity during recess and class time
Peer-Led Games- five to ten minute student led games Three times a year teachers are trained with interactive games and ...
The team over at Fly Movement, a Houston based non-profit organization that works to get kids excited about being fit has just released the latest results from their 6-week fitness challenge! After giving out 50 fitness trackers to 3rd grade students at Brookline Elementary, Eric Melchor, founder of Fly Movement, noted that kids were more active. While wearing fitness trackers the students walked an average of over 2.65 miles a day. According to Melchor, the idea behind Fly Movement is simple. Just give kids a fitness tracker and a goal challenge. "I usually tell them about one of my goals," said Melchor. "If you can teach kids at a young age the importance of reaching goals they are going to do better in life." For kids participating in Fly Movement, the goal is to beat ...
In the predominantly Latino city of El Paso, Texas, kids are priority No. 1 thanks to a community-school partnership that prioritizes physical activity and health for children. The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) created and its Get HIP Now program to provide elementary- and middle-school students with integrated school health programming, alongside before- and after-school physical activity.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: As early as 2005, leaders at the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), an 83% Latino school district in El Paso, Texas, were becoming aware of student obesity issues. It seemed obvious that students could benefit from improvements to physical activity programing, according to John Adams, a P.E. instructor at the time who would eventually become the ...
San Antonio student Michaelie Love knows that, for many high school students, the hour before school begins is spent socializing or cramming for tests—not in the cafeteria eating a healthy breakfast. Breakfast is included in the federal school nutrition program and is free or reduced-price for students who qualify. Latinos represent more than one-fifth of students participating in this federal program, but are they showing up for breakfast? Health professionals say skipping breakfast before school can lead to poor academic performance and unhealthy over-eating later in the day. Love wanted to make eating breakfast at school easy, healthy, and cool.
Breakfast Habits among Youth
The North East Independent School District (NEISD) is the second-largest school district in San ...
In order for kids to be healthy and do better in school, more and more researchers are finding that kids need to be physically active. To expand opportunities for physical education in schools, lawmakers have reintroduced legislation which would authorize physical education grants to schools in exchange for states adopting improved physical activity standards. The Fitness Integrated with Teaching (FIT) Kids Act was recently introduced to the house and senate by representatives Ron Kind, D-Wis., and Patrick Meehan, R-Penn., along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. In addition to improving physical activity standards, the bill would serve to restore a 37% of funding cut sustained to the Carol M. White Physical Education Program which occurred during Fiscal Year 2015. Read the ...
U.S. Senators from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions have approved the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which requires that physical education be taught as part of the core curriculum at both the elementary and middle school levels. The bill which was originally enacted in 1965 and was recently updated to include an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., which reinstates the Carol M. White Physical Education Program, and supports opportunities for students to meet state standards for physical education. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this spring. Read more about the amendment reauthorizing the Carol M. White Physical Education Program here. To learn more about the importance of providing ...
