Healthy Schools Campaign

Ideas for a Fit and Fun Valentine’s Day Party at School

For parents and teachers, Valentine's Day -- which traditionally involves colossal candy and cupcake consumption -- can cause a quandary. Many schools already have dietary restrictions on snacks for classroom celebrations to accommodate for children with nut or dairy allergies, and some school districts are adopting healthy snack and beverage policies for class parties.

So we’ve compiled a few naturally sweet tips to help parents and teachers create a fit and fun Valentine’s Day classroom party. And for even more tips, visit our Healthy Classroom Valentine’s Day board on Pinterest!

Naturally Sweet

Fresh fruit will provide sweetness and festive colors without the sugar rush of candy.

• Create fun fruit kebabs or carve pineapples, melons, kiwis and more into heart-shaped “lollipops” with popsicle sticks on the end for a colorful treat, or make your own granola bars for a more filling snack.
• If you must keep chocolate on the menu, we recommend this snackalicious chocolate-dipped fruit chips recipe that uses antioxidant-rich dark chocolate instead of the standard milk chocolate.
• Some parents and teachers have gotten creative and made little valentine robots, using fruit juice boxes for the bodies (watch for sugar content of the juice), applesauce-container heads, raisin box feet, pretzel rod arms and googly eyes to make a funny face. Or provide natural fruit juice with a fun caption, like “You are BERRY sweet!”

Great Giveways 

• There are plenty of cute, fun and affordable giveways and incentives that don’t involve tons of candy. Heart-shaped erasers, red mini race cars, bookmarks and friendship bracelets are some food-free options.  

Fit and Fun

In addition to being the month of Valentine’s Day, February is also, fittingly, American Heart Month! A few ideas for heart health include: 

• The American Heart Association has resources for schools to host Jump Rope For Heart (a day of jump rope and Double Dutch games) and Hoops For Heart (a basketball tournament) to raise awareness about how to stay healthy and prevent heart disease. Kids will love the opportunity to play and get active and may learn a thing or two about creating healthy habits for life. 

• This Spell-A-Heart game promotes early literacy in a fun, active way (and couldn’t be easier to make!), or have students go on a scavenger hunt around the school to look for letters that will spell a Valentine’s Day-related word, like “HEART” or “CUPID.” 

• If you’re teaching language arts or Spanish, hold a tasting of various fresh fruit or vegetable samples for the class and, as an avenue for talking about the joys of healthy eating, have them write poems about their favorite fruit or veggie. Use Pablo Neruda’s classic poem “Ode to Tomatoes,” published in English and Spanish for easy translation, as a jumping-off point. For more on promoting healthy lifestyles through fun, seasonal activities, check out our Fit To Learn program. 

Do Good, Feel Good

We shouldn’t forget that mental and emotional health are important for building healthy, successful adults. A few tips:

• Have students create “Cupid’s Compliment Cups,” where students decorate containers and then write one thing they admire about each of their classmates to put in their Compliment Cup. Not only will students beam with pride and joy at the positive affirmations from their classmates, but they will enjoy the opportunity to make someone else feel great, too! 
  
  
• Or, you can extend the theme of love to the community and the world at large. Have students craft, decorate and send homemade Valentine’s Day cards to local families, seniors or recent war veterans, or partner with an organization like Project Linus, where fabric squares are the canvas for students’ Valentine-themed art, and made into quilts and blankets given to people who need them around the country. Spreading the love will make everyone feel good!

Next week, we'll share another healthy Valentine's Day treat recipe!

Related, a post on the USDA's proposed national standards for competitive foods. 

Go for the Gold Spotlight: Congratulations to Armour School!

Congratulations to Armour School for achieving the Gold award in the HealthierUS School Challenge! Armour joins public schools across Chicago in meeting the challenge through Go for the Gold, a partnership of Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign that supports schools in meeting high standards for healthy food, physical activity and nutrition education. Armour met the challenge with the support of Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. This post is part of a series celebrating Go for the Gold schools.

At Armour Elementary School, students, parents, teachers and staff are working harder than ever on key areas of health and wellness. Students are moving in classrooms thanks to teachers’ use of “energizers” during classes and advisory periods. Because of a partnership with Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the school has implemented a comprehensive strength and conditioning program during portions of physical education classes.  Plus students now have access to an expanded sports program for grades two through four thanks to extra funding from Fuel Up to Play 60 and After-School All-Stars.

The school represents an excellent example of community partners, staff, teachers and parents all working together with enthusiasm and purpose. Physical Education teacher Patrick Smith said, “I was impressed with the incredible involvement and the willingness of the staff at Armour to coach teams and play with students all year long.”

Key changes in nutrition education included cooking classes for parents and nutrition classes for students. Parents were asked to to contribute healthy or non-food treats to classroom celebrations.

Smith identified a few other crucial elements of the school’s success: Leadership from their principal, Shelley Cordova, support from the Asian Health Coalition and coordination from school counselor Kelly Wingate.

One of the greatest lessons, however, was learning that the entire school could successfully collaborate to achieve a big goal. “We proved to ourselves that we can complete a program,” Smith said. “Now when other programs or challenges arise, we understand what our strengths are in a given area.”

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Thanks to Armour School for speaking with us about this great accomplishment!

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Armour School’s achievement in Go for the Gold was supported by Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. Healthy Places is a collaborative effort between the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative, Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP002376‐01. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors/organizers and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Go for the Gold Challenge Spotlight: Congratulations to Sherman School of Excellence!

Congratulations to Sherman School of Excellence for achieving the Silver award in the HealthierUS School Challenge! Sherman joins public schools across Chicago in meeting the challenge through Go for the Gold, a partnership of Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign that supports schools in meeting high standards for healthy food, physical activity and nutrition education. Sherman met the challenge with the support of Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago.

Photo courtesy Sherman School of Excellence's website.

For Sherman School of Excellence, applying for the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) was a way to celebrate all the great strides they’ve been taking around health and wellness. 

The application process was not without its obstacles, however, said physical education instructor Harold Arnold. With limited time for PE, the school needed to find other ways to meet the challenge. Some of their key resources came from the Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion, which helped enhance nutrition education for Pre-K-2nd grade students through the OrganWise Guys program and for K-8th graders through the Food of the Month Program. Sherman also coordinated field trips (sponsored by Healthy Places) for all middle school students to attend workshops from the Robert Crown Center.

Arnold urges other schools to apply for the HUSSC -- and stresses the importance of reaching out for support to community organizations and to other schools who’ve already applied.

Principal Brown said, “The HUSSC process has helped us strengthen and diversify our relationship with Urban Initiatives. It has also helped us build more relationships with other programs that can enhance health and wellness at Sherman.”

Sherman School of Excellence's achievement in Go for the Gold was supported by Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. Healthy Places is a collaborative effort between the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative, Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP002376‐01. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors/organizers and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Congrats to the Student Dancers at Ruiz Elementary, a Go for the Gold School!

We were thrilled to see Ruiz Elementary, a Go for the Gold school, spotlighted recently for a unique achievement. Ruiz students performed a variety of ballroom dances at the 2012 Dance Gala of the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (IAHPERD). By hitting the dance floor, Ruiz students had the chance to sparkle for a statewide audience while promoting fun physical activity. Plus, because Ruiz is known both for its committment to wellness and to the arts, their success highlights an important connection between the arts and physical activity. 

Student dancers from Ruiz participated for the second year in a row, and Principal Dana Butler called it "a phenomenal experience."

Read on for more about Ruiz and about the students' experience (including their backstage anecdotes of crashing into tables while practicing!). The article goes on to explain: "Ruiz also is focused on the overall wellness of its students, and has been nationally recognized for its health and nutrition programs, including one of CPS’ original learning kitchens and community gardens. This in addition to the many performance opportunities at the school, which allows its 930 students to show off their talents in music, art, dance and theater."

Here's a video of their 2012 performance: 

Go for the Gold Challenge Spotlight: Congratulations to Daley Elementary Academy!

Congratulations to Daley Elementary Academy for achieving the Silver award in the HealthierUS School Challenge! Daley joins public schools across Chicago in meeting the challenge through Go for the Gold, a partnership of Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign that supports schools in meeting high standards for healthy food, physical activity and nutrition education. Daley met the challenge with the support of Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. This post is part of a series celebrating Go for the Gold schools.

A group of dedicated parents inspired Daley Elementary Academy to achieve HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) certification, says physical education instructor Francisco Hernandez.  “We have a really active group of parents who are champions for the health programs at our school,” Hernandez said. “They worked with Healthy Schools Campaign and Healthy Places to complete the HUSSC so that they could show how important they think it is for our school family to be healthy.” 

Community partners such as Urban Initiatives also provided key support, organizing wellness teams and helping to find more grants and partners. 

In the classroom, Daley enriched nutrition education with help from Food of the Month and The OrganWise Guys, both implemented as initiatives of the Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion. In the cafeteria, a new salad bar prompted a celebratory mural, painted by students. 

Hernandez said, “When we painted a mural in the cafeteria featuring the MyPlate graphic and some OrganWise Guys characters, I was surprised by how excited students were to do this painting. They had so much fun with the project that we had to keep it going for several weeks so that they could keep painting.”

April Lillstrom helped coordinate Healthy Places efforts through Urban Initiatives and worked closely with Mr. Hernandez and the students. Lillstrom said that the HUSSC provided needed focus and drive toward school wellness. “The HUSSC has helped us, as a school, recognize that health and wellness projects are valuable and worth the effort of organizing,” she explained. “Now that we have some experience with this and have an active Wellness Committee, we are more capable of doing more health and wellness projects in the future.”

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Thanks to Daley Elementary Academy for sharing thoughts about their achievement with us!

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Daley Elementary Academy’s achievement in Go for the Gold was supported by Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. Healthy Places is a collaborative effort between the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative, Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP002376‐01. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors/organizers and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Go for the Gold Challenge Spotlight: Congratulations to Libby Elementary School!

Congratulations to Libby Elementary Academy for achieving the Silver award in the HealthierUS School Challenge! Libby joins public schools across Chicago in meeting the challenge through Go for the Gold, a partnership of Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign that supports schools in meeting high standards for healthy food, physical activity and nutrition education. Libby met the challenge with the support of Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. This post is part of a series about Go for the Gold schools.

With their innovative smoothie fundraiser, Libby Elementary made fundraising more creative, healthier and more delicious. Coach and Teacher Ashley Mays  called it an “awesome and successful” way to support the girls’ track team. 

The school made many other positive changes while meeting the Go for the Gold challenge, including implementing nutrition workshops and structured play at recess for kindergarten students and encouraging teachers to integrate physical activity in the classroom. Partnering with Urban Initiatives really made a difference, school leaders said, because the organization was able to gather resources and help the school stay on track with their healthy goals.

Libby Elementary students took part in creative nutrition education workshops as part of Go for the Gold.

By making health and wellness fun, Libby introduced its students to new resources in the community as well. Kindergarten teacher Carla Martinucci said, “We took our classes on a trip to the Bronzeville Children’s Museum for a health and nutrition exhibit.  It was a great trip, and the museum is a valuable community resource!”

A field trip to the Bronzeville Children's Museum reinforced healthy lessons about eating and physical activity.

Thanks to Libby Elementary Academy for sharing the story of its success story with us! Stay posted for profiles of other schools that achieved the HealthierUS School Challenge through Go for the Gold.

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Libby Elementary Academy’s achievement in Go for the Gold was supported by Healthy Places, an initiative of Healthy Chicago. Healthy Places is a collaborative effort between the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative, Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP002376‐01. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors/organizers and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Go for The Gold: “Our Health Creates Who We Are and Our Success”

As part of our Go for the Gold celebration, students created artwork and wrote essays about health and wellness at their school.

In her essay, South Loop Elementary eighth grader Mariama Diallo discusses the role school wellness plays in shaping healthy habits and a better future. She takes pride in her healthy school community.

Diallo writes:

For starters, South Loop provides healthy school meals for its 800 students. Daily, a free breakfast is provided to students and we are given the opportunity to choose from a hot  or a cold breakfast. This way, students that were rapidly leaving their homes still have a chance to enjoy the most important meal of the day. . . Next, not only do we have physical education, health, and other sports programs, but we also provide recess. Those extra twenty minutes of freedom mean a lot to children; it provides us with time to run around and exercise daily. This is strongly important in a child and adult’s perspective because it helps engage children into activity and participating and exercising with others. Nothing is possibly healthier than providing kids with the environment’s fresh air and plants.

All in all, when it comes to health, we children and adults should strive in pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Our health creates who we are and our success. We have the choice to be healthy.

South Loop was one of 37 Chicago schools recognized for meeting the high standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge in spring 2012. The K-8 school received the Bronze Award.

Stay posted for more student art and essays from this celebration!

Go for the Gold: "Helping Us Be the Best Every Day"

As part of our Go for the Gold celebration, students created artwork and wrote essays about health and wellness at their school.

In this essay, Chancez Sims, a seventh-grade student at Morton School of Excellence, talks about the importance of being healthy and what his school does to promote wellness.

He writes:

My school, Morton School of Excellence, helps me to be healthy in ways like providing healthy meals with fruits and vegetables, and a fitness center. I also have good role models of eating healthy and living healthy with healthy choices. They also have healthy snacks like raisins and sunflower seeds which provide energy so we can stay active and be better thinkers. We also have many sports teams to choose from to keep us moving on a daily basis. When we do sports, we learn to warm up before we start so we don’t injure any muscles or bones. . . My school monitors what we eat which is good, there is no junk food being sold there and our cafeteria is giving us more healthy food options. It is not all about the food. We also do exercises and have recess. At recess we go to the playground and work every part of our bodies. In our school the teachers exercise our minds so that we can be good thinkers and successful.

Morton School of Excellence was one of 37 Chicago schools recognized for meeting the high standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge in spring 2012. Morton received the Gold Award.

Kudos, Chancez! We’re looking forward to sharing more youth voices.

Stay posted for more student art and essays from this celebration!

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To learn more about Go for the Gold, visit www.goforthegoldCPS.org.

Go for the Gold: Breakfast

As part of our Go for the Gold celebration, students created artwork and wrote essays about health and wellness at their school.


This artwork comes from a Darrell Montgomery, a Chicago Public School student.

Darnell describes his healthy breakfast of oatmeal, 100% orange juice, carrots, eggs, and an apple. Sounds delicious! Research demonstrates that students who begin the day with a healthy breakfast are better able to learn and have fewer tardies and absences. Students who eat breakfast also display improved cognitive function, improved attention span and better behavior.

In June, 37 Chicago schools were recognized for meeting the high standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge.

Stay posted for more student art from this celebration!

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To learn more about Go for the Gold, visit www.goforthegoldCPS.org.

 

Go for the Gold: Yoga is Fun

As part of our Go for the Gold celebration, students created artwork and wrote essays about health and wellness at their school.

Ashburn Community Elementary School student art work

This artwork comes from an Ashburn Community Elementary School student.

Not only is yoga fun, but it is also an excellent way to “cool down” your class. Teachers in HSC’s Fit to Learn program have also seen the benefits of incorporating yoga in the classroom as it helps students get focused and ready to learn. Yoga is also good for your heart!

Ashburn Community Elementary School was one of 37 schools recognized for meeting the high standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge. Ashburn received the Silver Award.

Kudos! Stay posted for more student art from this celebration!
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To learn more about Go for the Gold, please visit www.goforthegoldCPS.org.

Elementary School’s Annual Play Promotes Healthy Eating with “The Snack Wizard"

by Alyse Festenstein, HSC's Go for the Gold intern

Thomas Hoyne Elementary School parents, teachers, and students filled the school gymnasium recently for the all-school performance of “The Snack Wizard.” Directed by Physical Education Teacher Paulette Franklin, students participated in a creative take-off of The Wizard of Oz -- only this time Dorothy found herself caught in “The Land of Candy.” I was lucky enough to join a couple of other Healthy Schools Campaign interns to enjoy the performance and celebrate the success of the students and inspiring school leaders behind the production.

“The Snack Wizard” story follows Dorothy and her friends as they set out on a quest to find the perfect, healthy snack and to defeat Bad Witch Calorie for good. As they travel along the Chocolate Road, they meet tempting, unhealthy snacks like the flaming hots and jelly beans, who try to lure them away from their goal. Along with showcasing their knowledge of healthy food choices, the K-8 students impressed the audience with their ability to move their feet and exercise. Throughout the show, they danced, flipped, and cheered to promote their message of health and wellness. Check a snippet of the play below!

 

Principal Yvonne Armour-Calhoun introduced the play as an effort inspired by the First Lady’s Let’s Move program and highlighted the school’s recent accomplishments around healthy eating and nutrition education. Thomas Hoyne has a new, full salad bar in the cafeteria, which Calhoun said both students and staff enjoy on a daily basis. Franklin echoed the importance of the related initiatives in schools and said these are especially important because many students come to school without the knowledge needed to make healthy eating choices. Her motivation for directing the play stemmed from worries about her students’ futures and the prevalence of childhood obesity and chronic disease.

“I just got tired of seeing kids with those hot chips every single day,” she said. “[Nutrition education] is important because a lot of kids don’t understand what is going into their bodies. That’s my biggest concern. They could get heart disease before they get to have a real full life.”

Thomas Hoyne staff such as sixth-grade teacher Tracy Guzman strongly supported the performance and school health and wellness efforts. She has seen the benefits of healthy eating and physical education in her classroom. Guzman shared the vision of efforts connecting health and learning (such as HSC’s Health in Mind) and said “good nutrition primarily translates into the classroom because it helps students focus better. It really helps them have a clear mind.” She also mentioned that she tries to model healthy behavior for her students.  

Congratulations to Thomas Hoyne Elementary School and everyone involved in “The Snack Wizard” for creating an engaging, educational performance and implementing programs to make these choices more widely available students!

Go for the Gold Campaign Recognizes Chicago Schools’ Commitment to Nutrition and Fitness

We are pleased to announce that 37 CPS schools will be recognized today for meeting high standards for student health and wellness through Go for the Gold! Twenty-eight of the schools have been certified for meeting USDA standards for healthy food, fitness, and nutrition education set by the HealthierUS School Challenge. Certification for another nine CPS schools is pending.  In the Midwest, this is the largest number of schools in one district to achieve the HealthierUS School Challenge.

Go for the Gold is a partnership of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Healthy Schools Campaign with the USDA’s Midwest Region and the Illinois State Board of Education Department of Nutrition. The HealthierUS School Challenge is the program that First Lady Michelle Obama is urging schools to pursue. The 37 schools being recognized join 19 CPS schools that earned Go for the Gold certification last year.

Since its launch in August 2010, Go for the Gold has connected Chicago Public Schools with health and wellness resources ranging from nutrition education initiatives to sports and physical activity programs. The challenge includes standards for school food, physical activity, physical education and nutrition education. The campaign builds on the school food program that CPS rolled out for the 2010-11 school year, which meets and in many cases exceeds the gold standard of the HealthierUS School Challenge.

“Go for the Gold brings together parents, school leaders, chefs, school nurses, and many others to support schools in providing a healthy environment for Chicago children,” said Rochelle Davis, President and CEO of Healthy Schools Campaign.

The following schools will be recognized for all their hard work in prioritizing health and wellness:

Bronze Award

• Andrew Jackson Elementary Language Academy
• Edgar Allan Poe Classical School
• Gale Math and Science
• John C. Coonley Elementary School
• Jonathan Burr Elementary School
• LaSalle Language Academy
• Skinner North Classical School*
• South Loop Elementary
• Stone Elementary Scholastic Academy

Silver Award

• Adlai E. Stevenson Elementary School
• Arthur A. Libby Elementary School
• Ashburn Community Elementary School
• Bradwell School of Excellence
• Charles R Darwin Elementary School
• Edward Everett Elementary School
• Edward White Career Academy*
• Elizabeth Peabody Elementary School
• Florence Nightingale Elementary School*
• Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Elementary School
• George Washington Elementary School*
• Louis Pasteur Elementary School
• Nathan S. Davis Elementary
• Richard J. Daley Elementary Academy
• Thomas Chalmers Specialty  Elementary School*
• Wendell Smith Elementary School*
• William T. Sherman Elementary School*

Gold Award

• Bronzeville Lighthouse Charter School
• Charles Hammond Elementary School*
• Charles W. Earle Elementary School
• Douglas Taylor Elementary School
• Fredric Chopin Elementary School
• Jackie Robinson Elementary School
• Johnnie Colemon Elementary Academy*
• Johnson School of Excellence
• Matthew A. Henson Elementary School
• Miriam G. Canter Middle School
• Morton School of Excellence

*Pending final approval by USDA national headquarters

“The Chicago Public Schools is proud of all of the schools being recognized today for meeting the rigorous challenge of becoming certified in the HealthierUS School Challenge,” said Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard. “Schools are critical places to make healthy eating and physical activity easy, fun, and routine, and the health of our students is integral to academic success.  These schools have demonstrated their commitment to student health by undertaking the admirable and demanding task of meeting the requirements of the HealthierUS School Challenge.” 

Go for the Gold aligns with city-wide and national efforts to emphasize wellness and prevention. This year Go for the Gold has received support from an obesity prevention project called Healthy Places, a joint effort of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC).  Both CPS and HSC are lead partners with Healthy Places, working to institute program and policy change and increase organizational capacity to better promote health and wellness for children across the district. Also through Healthy Places, four community-based organizations are supporting over a dozen schools in neighborhoods of high need and health disparity across Chicago to meet the criteria of the HealthierUS School Challenge and participate in Go for the Gold.

 “I commend these schools for their accomplishment as this is a testimony to our city’s commitment to addressing a growing obesity rate amongst our youth,” said Dr. Bechara Choucair, CDPH Commissioner. “Our public health agenda, Healthy Chicago, identifies obesity prevention as one of the top health priorities in Chicago. These schools will set the bar for other schools and organizations around the city and will also have a direct health benefit on their students. ”

The celebration represents a milestone, as this is the largest number of schools in one district in the Midwest to meet the standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge.

“We commend Chicago Public Schools for their strong commitment toward earning certification under the HealthierUS School Challenge,’’ said Illinois State Board of Education Member Dr. Vinni Hall. “Studies have repeatedly proven that good nutrition and physical activity enhance and improve learning and academic performance. These schools have taken important steps toward helping students to understand that connection and develop successful lifelong habits.’’

“The Chicago Public Schools’ Go for the Gold campaign aims to increase the number of HealthierUS School Challenge schools, a key goal of USDA and the First Lady’s Lets Move! initiative. By meeting standards of excellence in school nutrition and physical activity, these schools are ensuring a brighter and healthier future for our nation’s young people,” said USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon.

The celebration includes a health fair, live entertainment and activities for students. A team of mascots including Benny the Bull, mascot of the Chicago Bulls and Power Panther, mascot for the USDA, will be on hand to engage students in the celebration.  More than 200 parents, students, teachers, and advocates are expected to be in attendance.

Speakers include Jean-Claude Brizard, Chicago Public Schools CEO; Rochelle Davis, Healthy Schools Campaign President and CEO; Dr. Vinni Hall, Illinois State Board of Education Member; Annie Lionberger, Chicago Public Schools Manager of Health and Wellness Promotion; Audrey Rowe, Administrator, USDA Food and Nutrition Service; Tara Safonia Shelton, South Loop Elementary School Principal; Dr. Stephanie Whyte, Chicago Public Schools Chief Medical Officer; South Loop Elementary School students and more than 200 parents, teachers, and students from the schools being recognized. 

Go for the Gold is supported by a Civic and Business advisory committee chaired by Karen Atwood, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, and Terry Mazany, president and CEO of Chicago Community Trust.

To learn more about Go for the Gold, please visit www.goforthegoldCPS.org.

Milestones and New Initiatives in the Weeks Ahead!

This week, HSC is kicking off one of our busiest and most exciting months yet! The weeks ahead are filled with dynamic events and new opportunities built on work for healthy food and fitness in schools. We are excited to share these milestones and new initiatives!

Health in Mind: Improving Education through Wellness · May 9
We believe that healthy students are better prepared to learn and that schools must address health and wellness in order for all kids to achieve. On May 9, we will bring this message to national leaders as we present policy recommendations to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius at a special event in Washington, D.C. Our nation is facing a dual crisis: a growing achievement gap and children who for the first time in history may live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents.These recommendations focus on simple, common-sense steps initiated at the federal level that can help schools leverage the power of health and wellness to boost student achievement. Learn more about Health in Mind here.
* If you are interested in learning more about the event, please contact Alex Schaible by email or at 312-419-1810.

Congressional Briefing on Serving Food Raised without Antibiotics in School Lunch · May 10
The high school culinary students who placed first in HSC’s Cooking up Change Chicago healthy cooking contest wowed judges with a lunch featuring freshly-baked chicken drumsticks. That chicken was raised without antibiotics on Amish farms in nearby Indiana, like much of the chicken now on the menu in Chicago Public Schools. On May 10, the students will take part in a Congressional briefing on serving food raised without antibiotics in school lunch. That day, the lunch they created will be served for lunch in the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria! Learn more here.
* Send a letter inviting your senators and representative to attend the briefing and try the students’  award-winning school lunch!

Parents United for Healthy Schools Annual Summit · May 17
The parent leaders of HSC’s Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas Saludables will have much to celebrate and much work ahead as they gather for the sixth annual Parent Summit for Healthy Schools. This coalition, which brings together parents from Chicago’s Latino and African-American communities to speak up for school wellness as a way to address health disparities, has achieved new victories for children’s health. Parent-led wellness teams have initiated school-level changes across the city and successfully advocated for important district policies, including bringing recess and Breakfast in the Classroom to the city’s elementary schools. Parents are now looking ahead to supporting schools in making wellness a priority as the city transitions to a longer school day. Learn more about Parents United here.
* For live updates from the parent summit, follow HSC on Twitter and keep an eye out for #ParentsUnited on May 17.

Fit to Learn Graduation · May 18
Teachers who have completed HSC’s year-long Fit to Learn professional development program will celebrate their graduation at a special event bringing together principals and district leaders to share ideas and strategies for boosting wellness in schools. Fit to Learn focuses on practical approaches to making health and wellness a regular part of the classroom experience. Teachers gain the skills to fit healthy habits into daily learning—integrating nutrition education and fitness into classroom lessons that meet learning standards in math, reading, science, social studies, art and music. Learn more here.
* Bring healthy new ideas to your classroom! Check out activities and stories from Fit to Learn teachers on HSC’s blog.

Cooking up Change National Finals · May 21
Across the country, student chefs are cooking up change! These teams of high school culinary students have impressed judges and guests at local competitions and are now getting ready to compete in the national finals in Washington, D.C. Teams are challenged to create a healthy school meal that meets high nutrition standards on a tight budget and with limited ingredients. Teams from Chicago, Denver, Jacksonville, Santa Ana, St. Louis and Winston-Salem have secured their spots in the national finals. Which team will take home the trophy? Learn more here.
* Send your compliments to the chefs! Cheer on the teams with a tweet using #CookingupChange or a message on HSC’s Facebook page.

Cooking up Change Congressional Briefing · May 22
The day after the cooking contest, the student chefs will bring their healthy school meals to Congress! A student-designed lunch will be served in the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria and at a Congressional briefing on the future of school food. At this briefing, the student chefs will share their experience and speak about why healthy school food matters. Learn more here.
* Send a letter inviting your senators and representative to attend the briefing and try the students’  award-winning school lunches!

Go for the Gold in Food and Fitness Celebration · May 30
At this celebration, we’ll recognize the second cadre of schools to meet the rigorous standards of the HealthierUS School Challenge through Go for the Gold, HSC’s partnership with Chicago Public Schools to support schools in meeting the high challenge’s high standards for healthy school food, physical activity and nutrition education. Through Go for the Gold, Chicago is answering First Lady Michelle Obama’s call to action! To date, 45 CPS schools have been recognized as HealthierUS Schools, an additional 30+ schools have submitted their applications, and dozens more are making changes. Learn more here.
* Check out the practical resources and tip sheets focused on physical activity, nutrition education and more from Go for the Gold!

We’re thrilled to share these exciting events! For updates throughout the month, check out HSC’s blog, Twitter and Facebook page!

A Look Inside: Parent Wellness Team Creates Health Fair

Last month, Nathanael Greene Elementary School on Chicago’s southwest side hosted a health and wellness resource fair with many moving parts that worked together for a successful event. The event featured education, celebration and community resource components, all focused on what principal Michael Heidkamp describes as the school’s goal of “supporting students in really developing a lifestyle that makes living healthy normal and just what you do.”

The health and wellness committee, Greene Elementary’s parent-driven wellness team, organized the event. Students provided the entertainment for the evening, with program presentations to highlight the karate, soccer, yoga, and folkloric dance afterschool physical activity programs. The parent group combined the afterschool program celebration to highlight their commitment to school wellness and educate other parents about measures they could take to help improve their family’s health.

Student demonstrate their soccer skills to celebrate Greene Elementary's afterschool programs

Community agencies came in and provided glucose, blood pressure, and vision testing with additional resources to help participants seek follow-up healthcare services. 

The fair also incorporated nutrition education, demonstrating small steps parents could take to start improving the diet and health of their families. School dining manager Christina Hernandez and a wellness team leader who happens to have the same name taught parents how to make smoothies with fruit and vegetables in them. The Principal Heidkamp exclaimed, “nobody knew the vegetables were there and they were amazed it. Kids were coming back for more!” 

Fruit and veggie smoothies

The fair was a tremendous success with more than 300 people in attendance. Heidkamp cites “continued pride in the kids” as the greatest outcome. “Seeing kids breaking boards, you can’t underestimate the power of students demonstrating their high level of competency,” he said. “That was powerful and provided children with a platform to showcase their talents.”

The event also underscores the power of the parent. The fair highlights the wellness team as a resource for the whole school community. Parents, teachers and other school leaders can look to the committee for information and encouragement in making healthy decisions for the school and for their families. The evening also served as a means to get more parents involved in the school community’s health and wellness efforts.

Parent volunteers help serve healthful snacks during Greene Elememntary's health fair

Greene Elementary’s wellness fair demonstrates how school wellness teams can have an impact on both students and families. While supporting healthy changes to the school environment, the wellness team also provided resources to support families in making healthy choices at home.

Heidkamp added, “I’m always amazed. It’s really impressive to see the vision from the adults and their desire to make it real and do whatever it takes day in and day out.“

The Go for the Gold-supported school has also earned Gold-level recognition in the HealthierUS School Challenge with the support of its parent wellness team! 

Stay tuned learn more about school wellness teams and parent engagement by visiting our Parents United for Healthy Schools blog updates.

Stack Up Education and Health With In-Class Physical Activity: Speed Cup Stacking

By Brittany Wright, HSC media and outreach specialist

GET READY! GET SET! GET MOVING (IN THE CLASSROOM)!

Educators continue to find that students benefit from in-class opportunities to move. Physical activity improves cognitive, emotional and physical health. They are also a key part of a classroom culture that promotes wellness. A fun and easy way to incorporate movement is sport stacking!

Last year, I got a chance to learn about this sport at a Fit to Learn booster session. The session focused on the importance of physical activity and introduced sports stacking as one of many exercises to do with students.

In addition to connecting education and health, sport stacking or speed cup stacking is a fun way to improve hand-eye coordination and motor skills. This sport challenges participants to stack cups in pyramid sequences in the shortest amount of time. Speed cup stacking started in the early 1980s and has experienced continued popularity growth. Co-founder Bob Fox describes the activity as “a track meet for your hands!”

During the booster session, facilitator Amy Christiansen discussed how popular and easy this activity was in her classroom. Teachers even got a chance to play the sport and learn techniques to take back to their classrooms.

I have to admit, I started sweating at the sight of the group cup stacking! I was blow way by how much  fun I had and how energizing it is when I got a chance to try it myself.

Amy Christiansen (center) practices sports stacking with Fit to Learn teachers 

One reason speed stacking is a great activity for the classroom is because all you need is a flat surface and cups! Check out this introductory video by the World Sports Stacking Association. For more information about sports stacking, click here.

Fun Fact: The sport gained national prominence when it was featured on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” in 1990!

Plus, check out more fun activity ideas from Go for the Gold, a partnership of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Healthy Schools Campaign to support schools in meeting high standards for food, fitness and nutrition education. Check out the new free online resource center for more ideas to incorporate physical activity in the classroom. 

Teachers, have you tried speed cup stacking with your classroom? How was your experience?

Love Your Heart! Physical Activity Boosters for Kids and Adults

Although Valentine’s Day is over, keep your heart in mind! February is American Heart Awareness Month. This month’s observance draws attention to heart disease and encourages everyone -- adults and kids alike -- to take steps toward a healthier lifestyle and prevention year-round. 

A way to get your heart in shape is cardiovascular (cardio) exercise or aerobics! Aerobic exercises strengthen the heart muscle and improve blood circulation. Some great activities include:

• jumping rope,
• dancing,
• gymnastics,
• swimming,
• yoga,
• and much more!

There are so many fun ways to incorporate cardio in the classroom. Try a jumping jacks spelling bee contest by asking students to do jumping jacks for each letter in the word they are challenged to spell.This activity is sure to get their brains working and hearts racing!

Another academic aerobic exercise incorporates movement into math lessons. During a recent Fit to Learn session, teachers played Jenga with math problems and different physical activities written on each of the blocks. As players pulled the blocks, they had to solve the math problem do the activity that many times. For example, "2 x 2 = 4 lunges."

Physical activity breaks enhance classroom culture by connecting activity and learning. Research shows that activity boosts recall and focus in the classroom!

For more physical activity tips, we also encourage you to check out the Go for the Gold campaign’s physical activity tip sheet [pdf].

Go for the Gold Website: New Online Resources for School Food & Fitness

Parents, teachers, principals and other school leaders ready to take on the HealthierUS School Challenge now have a new place to turn for practical advice, tools and resources: the Go for the Gold online resource center (GoForTheGoldCPS.org).

The site was created with advice from schools that have overcome challenges to promote wellness as part of Go for the Gold, a partnership of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Healthy Schools Campaign to support schools in meeting the high standards for food, fitness and nutrition education set by the HealthierUS School Challenge, a cornerstone of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.

At the heart of the site is a “Become a Healthier School” toolkit focused on: 

• school lunch and breakfast
• nutrition education 
• in-school snacks, rewards, celebrations and fundraising (competitive foods) 
• recess and in-classroom physical activity
• physical education
• school policy
• building a team

. . . and more. 

These sections feature easy-to-understand explanations of the challenge requirements plus ideas for getting started, case studies from diverse schools and downloadable tip sheets to share with a team. Chicago schools will also find an overview of CPS policy on each issue and links to local organizations that can bring resources to support schools’ efforts.

The site features specific tips for parents, teachers, principals, students, school staff and community organizations on making change and championing wellness at school. 

Learn more and check out this free resource center at GoForTheGoldCPS.org.  

P.S - One of the best parts of the site is the chance to hear success stories and innovative advice from school leaders who have created healthy environments. Check out their stories here. 

Darwin Elementary Joins Go for the Gold with Inspiration from Parents United for Healthy Schools

It is always our pleasure to spotlight the great work of parents, particularly those driven to create change within schools and community. We caught up with Charles Darwin Elementary School parent coordinator Inez Diaz at a recent Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuela Saludables meeting. 

Diaz, a Puerto Rican immigrant, worked with the Logan Square neighborhood school for more than 20 years as a parent volunteer before taking a staff position. Upon coming to Chicago, she did not speak a word of English and was scared because she didn’t know anything about the public school system here. When her daughter attended Darwin, she was encouraged to attend local school council meetings and become a parent volunteer. Now, she encourages other parents by providing resources for parents to get involved. 

With this experience, Diaz decided to go back to school to study education. When she completed her studies, she was faced with deciding between teaching and working with parents.

“I love the kids, but I want to be with the parents,” she said. “If we get good parents, we get better students.”

Diaz views creating mentors and keeping other parents motivated as essential parts of her job. So when she encountered Parents United campaign manager Jovita Flores, she was intrigued. “Every time I went to meetings, I saw Jovita]passing out fliers about healthy lifestyle choices and the First Lady!” she explained. Soon after, Darwin principal Mauricio Esteban Segovia encouraged Diaz to attend the sixth annual Principals’ Breakfast. 

“When I heard the stories from the other schools and parents, I thought, ‘why aren’t we doing this?’” she said. From that point, eager Darwin parents pushed to get involved. The parent leader was particularly motivated by the stories and the inspiring vision for school wellness she heard from other parents at the breakfast. “This is our goal now and we going to go for the gold!” she said.

The next day, Darwin moved quickly and is currently in the process of joining more than 30  schools in Chicago in meeting the high standards for school food and fitness set by the HealthierUS School Challenge with the support of Go for the Gold and Parents United! This includes nutrition education for parents and students and implementing structured recess. “For me, as an employee and a parent, it would be an honor and a privilege" to meet this challenge, she said. "I don’t have words for it... amazing!”

Diaz sees a healthy school environment as a priority. “If you have healthy people, they can function better. If they’re healthy, they can do more stuff.” 

Darwin Elementary parents with parent coordinator Inez Diaz (center) at Parents United meeting

The entire school community is enthusiastic about changes to promote wellness, Diaz said. She added that the physical education teacher was happy to help her lead the school wellness charge and support the effort. The science teacher is on board to incorporate in-class wellness. She credits Principal Segovia’s leadership in creating a healthy school environment. 

Keep up the great work, Darwin! 

To learn more about Chicago parents’ efforts to improve health and wellness, check out our Parents United for Healthy Schools blog updates. You can also learn about how the Go for the Gold campaign supports school food and fitness here.

Spotlight on Physical Education Instructor Jill White: Promoting Physical Activity, Supporting Kids' Learning

Recently, students in Chicago Public Schools celebrated being active and earning the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award. More than 2,000 Chicago students took on the challenge with 60 minutes of daily physical activity for six weeks.

One enthusiastic educator, P.E. teacher Jill White, went above and beyond in helping her students meet the challenge by coordinating a flash mob dance to Beyonce’s "Move Your Body," a song the pop star released as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to encourage children to be active!

White said that her school jumped at the chance to take on the PALA challenge to encourage physical activity.

"I was so excited because it was something that was structured! A child that can’t do two push-ups can participate. It gave us an opening to talk about ‘what physical activity really is,’ ‘how much do we need,’ ‘what is a healthy lunch’, ‘what is a healthy breakfast.’"

 

 

Cornell McClellan and Robert A. Black physical education instructor Jill White

With more than 20 years of experience, White was delighted to see her students accomplish something as a school. She said one of the most rewarding parts of her job is seeing students develop throughout the years.

"It’s great to see those kids from kindergarten and follow them all the way up to eighth grade." No stranger to teamwork, White keeps busy by coaching boys and girls third and fourth grade tennis and overseeing junior varsity and varsity cheer squads. 

"Physical education is very important. We’re teaching them," White added. "There are so many benefits that spill over into the classroom."

White explained that physical activity contributes significantly to a child’s educational experience. She shared an essay that one of her students wrote, in which the student said "I like PE because Ms. White taught me how to follow the steps and I finally made a basket."

"They learn all sorts of things that aren’t necessarily physical education," she said. "If you follow the steps you can be successful. If you work hard at something, you’re going to be better."

White shared other ways physical activity supports other parts of a student’s education: "In kindergarten, we learn about quarter-turns. Well, a kid that jumps quarter-turns will remember what a quarter is when he or she get to math class. So they’re using their bodies to solidify what they learn in the classroom."

The instructor also shared her vision of fitness. "It’s not whether you’re fat or skinny, tall or short; does your body do what you want it to do? That’s how I define fitness; can you get up and run down the street? Can you play the games you want to play without getting out of breath? So that’s my goal, to get kids to work toward that and to feel good about their bodies and what they can do."

Research demonstrates how physical education and physical activity boost students' readiness to learn and succeed academically. Students build social skills such as teamwork and self-esteem, learn about health and development, and boost fitness and overall health.

Kudos to Jill White on championing wellness! Congratulations to Robert A. Black Magnet School and all of the Chicago Public Schools on completing the PALA Challenge!

For more information about Chicago’s efforts to elevate school fitness, check out Go for the Gold.

Chicago Leaders Commend Students, Teachers for Getting Active with PALA Challenge

This fall, we were thrilled to join students, teachers, school dining managers and other members of Chicago’s school community in taking on the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) Challenge! This challenge encourages kids and adults alike to make physical activity a regular part of their daily life by logging physical activity. Kids who are active for one hour a day, five days a week for six out of eight weeks receive commendation and a certificate from the president! (Adults follow the same schedule but for 30 minutes a day.) Individuals can also meet the challenge by wearing a pedometer to track a certain number of steps each day. 

Walsh Elementary students at the PALA Kick-Off earlier this year

More than 2,000 Chicago Public Schools students met the challenge with the support of their creative physical education teachers and school leaders. 1World Sports led the effort in Chicago along with HSC, CPS and Aetna, which donated 3,000 pedometers to students! We all celebrated the students’ success at a special event at Robert A. Black Elementary School. 

Cornell McClellan, President Obama's personal trainer and a member of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, visited the school to congratulate students.

Since the PALA Challenge began, leaders from across Chicago have shared congratulations and encouraging words for the students: 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said: "I am committed to creating an environment in Chicago where families can be healthy, active and enjoy the city's vibrant parks and communities. I'm excited the Chicago Public Schools is participating in the PALA challenge to help ensure our students and teachers are learning to be healthy and active every day."

Jesse H. Ruiz, Vice President of the Chicago Board of Education, said: "Physical activity is key to a healthy lifestyle and a sound education. I commend all those taking on the PALA challenge at CPS and look forward to joining you in making fitness a priority. I hope that the habit of daily physical activity is one that endures long after the challenge ends."

Jean-Claude Brizard, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said: "We know that active students are better prepared to focus and do their best in school. That's why I'm so pleased that students, teachers, dining managers and many others across Chicago Public Schools are committing to the PALA challenge. I applaud this commitment and am proud to add my name to the roster of those taking on the challenge in CPS."

Congratulations to all the students, teachers and school leaders who took on this challenge. As PE teacher Mable Askew said when the challenge launched: “Stay fit!”

For more information about Chicago’s efforts to elevate school fitness, check out Go for the Gold.