To get the most out of their school day, kids need healthy food options. One El Paso, Texas school district, Socorro Independent School District, is now striving to provide students with healthier foods at both breakfast and lunch time. According to an El Paso Times news article, the district held a workshop on January 6, 2015 to provide the community with more information on national guidelines for food items on the school's menu. At the workshop parents and board trustees expressed concerns about the nutritional value of some of the menu items served to students. The district's Nutrition services Director Shelley Chenausky also announced that the district would be removing items like pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), Pop Tarts, and donuts from the breakfast menu. At lunch ...
President Barack Obama has just announced the launch of a new initiative designed to get kids in parks! The Every Kid in a Park initiative will provide 4th graders and their families with free access to national parks for a whole year. Along with providing students with this important opportunity to experience the outdoors, the president also announced the designation of three new National Monuments across the U.S. The Every Kid in a Park initiative will expand opportunities for children by Making it easy for schools and families to plan trips by providing information about nearby parks, waters, & student programming;
Providing transportation support to schools with the greatest need, through the Ticket to Ride program; and
Providing educational materials via ...
A settlement between two California parents and 37 school districts will require elementary schools to show proof that they are providing enough physical education (PE) time to students. As a result of the recent settlement, elementary school teachers will be required to publicly document how many minutes of PE students are getting. In the case that PE time is missed, the teacher must provide an explanation for why the lesson was missed and how they will replace those minutes. Parents will be able to access information on how many minutes of PE students are getting and local school boards will review schedules, according to a news article from the California Report. “We think it’s a huge accomplishment and it’s going to benefit public health in California,” said attorney ...
In the fall of 2014, through a partnership between Openlands and the Healthy Schools Campaign, four Chicago schoolyards were transformed into dynamic spaces for outdoor learning and active play. According to a recent blog post from the Healthy Schools Campaign, for over a year community leaders and school officials at four pilot schools had been planning for the implementation of the Space to Grow program. The hope is to provide children with an opportunity to go beyond the confines of the traditional learning environment to outdoor classrooms, where they will have the chance to experience edible gardens, hands on science lessons, and the opportunity to be more active. Students at Schmid, Grissom, Leland, and Morrill elementary schools are all benefiting from the new ...
Members of the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) at Hutto Independent School District (HISD), a 40.5% Latino district in central Texas, recently approached school board members to discuss recommended changes to the district's Wellness and Nutrition policy. The policy is aimed at reducing junk food consumption by keeping schools from selling candy to students until 30 minutes after the end of the school day. According to The Hutto News, members of the SHAC and the district's director of health and safety services Denise Kablaitis, presented two recommendations at the meeting: (1) that sales of candy be prohibited from midnight until 30 minutes after the end of the school day; (2) that automobiles no longer be allowed to idle around campuses. At the meeting, board members ...
Over 150,000 elementary school students from 250 schools throughout the city of San Antonio will have the opportunity to participate in the 12th annual Go!Kids Challenge, thanks to a partnership with between San Antonio Sports, the City of San Antonio, and the University Health System. The GO!Kids Challenge prompts kids to commit 40 days of healthy lifestyle practices such as exercise, eating healthy meals, and drinking plenty of water. This year's challenge kicked off at Rayburn elementary with special guest celebrity, former NFL player Tyreo Harrison. “Getting a chance to tell kids they can be their best with their diet, exercise and academics will create good habit for the future,” said the former Philadelphia Eagle and Green Bay Packer in a news article printed by the ...
Spinach pancakes with homemade berry syrup? This is one of Febe Hernandez and her family's new favorite recipes thanks to the healthy lifestyle classes she's been attending at the Casa de Colores Headstart Center in Caldwell, Idaho. Children of migrant farmworkers living in Southern Idaho are now able to benefit from a new pilot program aimed at preventing childhood obesity among Latinos. The program, an initiative of the nonprofit Community Council of Idaho, was developed to teach parents important nutrition concepts, healthier ways of preparing food, and how to keep physically active. According to an Idaho Statesmen news article, the Community Council of Idaho recognized the need for such a program after realizing that over one-third of children in local head start centers ...
Teachers and youth groups in Texas now have access to a free mobile app to help them with teaching important nutrition and physical activity concepts. The new Teach Healthier mobile app, which was launched at the TAHPERD Convention in December 2014, was developed by It's Time Texas in partnership with: Snap-Ed, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, and The University of Texas School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus. In just one month over 1,000 individuals have downloaded the app. According to an It's Time Texas blog, coach Katie Harris at the Harmony Science Academy, a school located in Northwest in Houston, uses the app at least 2-3 times a week to teach PE and health to her 5th, 6th and 8th grade students. Wiithout the app Harris would not be able to teach important ...
Every child deserves the right to play and be healthy. Yet many times when the school day gets busy, recess is the first thing to go. In light of recent cuts to recess, a group of parents in Orange County, Florida have now gained national attention for standing up for their children's right to recess. According to a news story from Today.com at least twenty-three elementary schools in Orange County have cut back on or even cancelled recess. "They have become machines that produce data as opposed to children,'' Amy Narvaez, a mother of two, told TODAY. A Think Progress blog reports that prior to bringing the matter before the school board parents collected over 1,200 signatures as part of a petition. At the meeting they also cited research on the benefits of having between ...
