Christina Ferraiuolo

2012-2013 KSC Dietetic Intern

Healthy Class Celebrations

Birthday parties and holiday celebrations at school provide an opportunity to help make healthful eating fun and for children to practice wise food choices.

Schools can take advantage of classroom celebrations to serve food that tastes good, is nutritious, and provides students with an opportunity for a nutrition education experiences.

Opportunity

Children consume an estimated 35 percent to 50 percent of their calories during the school day through school meals, as well as foods and beverages sold through vending machines, school stores, and among other venues.

Children ages 2 to 18 consume nearly 40% of their calories from sugar and added fat.

Children have a perception of perceived healthfulness of foods in relation to taste, color, presentation, etc.

Multi-component strategies that include families are seen as more successful.

Why is this important?

Story, 2009, Connecticut Dept of Ed, 2011

Dietary and physical activity interventions along with a change in policy in schools significantly improve children’s BMI.

Policies related to improving the school environment and children's diets show that eating patterns are more likely to improve when these changes are made with classroom nutrition education.

"The median number of hours per year that schools devote to teaching nutrition education and dietary behavior is 3.4 hours for elementary schools and 5 hours for middle and high schools." (p. 10).

Story, 2009

Staff and family supportAdequate fundingTimeEducation and support of policyCommunication Adequate tools to implement the policyImpact of policy change in the eyes of the

stakeholderA national research study determined that 75%

of stakeholders surveyed believed school wellness policies positively impact:

Challenges

Agron, 2010

Schools are taking initiative to promote wellness in schools but more needs to be done outside of gym class and the lunch room.

Limit low nutrient foods

Increase physical activity throughout the day

Symonds 3rd grade class Valentine’s party overview with pictures

What makes parties fun?What healthy foods did you eat?What unhealthy foods did you eat?What games did you play?Why do we like the foods that we do?

Class Series- class one

TasteTextureSmellSightHow can we use these to make healthier

choices?crunchy, sweet, salty, fizzy, smell, chewy,

smooth

Class one continued

Party PlanningMyPlate

Where foods fit on myplateCategories

Healthy vs. Unhealthy FoodsWhere did the Valentine’s party food fit into the

categories?Plan a healthy menu using tools we have

learnedIf we like fizzy we can…

We tested a game for the party day

Class Series- class two

To get children involved in planning a healthy celebration- take ownership

To help children understand why they like different foods

To provide a better understanding of MyPlate

To distinguish what components make foods healthy

To identify less healthful foods and why

To support the concept that less healthful foods should be consumed in moderation

Goals of the classes

Healthy ONESThe focus was on changing the organizational policies and practices of nutrition services, school staff, teachers, parents and students to improve the nutrition environment." (p.14).

Coleman, 2012.

Provides snack ideas for every holiday

Gives children an opportunity to be involved in the planning

To get parents involved in the healthy party initiative

Policies for a healthier school party

Tool Kit

Research indicates that a young child’s food preference patterns are largely influenced by repeated exposure to food, and the social context in which food is offered. Offering any food as a reward to a child tends to make that child want that food above any other.Food will not be used to punish or reward child No more than one party per class per monthLimit snacks to one “less healthy food” item per partyIncorporate most/all of the food groups into the menu To be a learning opportunity to reinforce food

groups, healthful foods, and physical activity.

Policy Sample

Connecticut Dept of Ed., 2011

Sign up sheet for each holiday party with themed foods that represent each food group

Healthy foods to brainstorm with children per holiday

Sample school celebration policy

Parent newsletter

3rd grade two class series outline

Tool Kit Includes

Sample Sign Up Sheet

Encourage social and cognitive developmentObesity interventionSupport healthful eatingAlign school health curriculum topics with

activities in the classroomPromote healthy behaviors for all childrenStaff modeling opportunity Parent involvement with healthful eating

strategies

Benefits

Providing healthy classroom celebrations demonstrates a school commitment to promoting healthy behaviors. It supports the classroom lessons students are learning about health, instead of contradicting them.

I would love your feedback!

Agron, P., Berends, V., Ellis, K., & Gonzalez, M. (2010). School wellness policies: perceptions, barriers, and needs among school leaders and wellness advocates. Journal Of School Health, 80(11), 527-535. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00538.x

Coleman, K. J., Shordon, M., Caparosa, S. L., Pomichowski, M. E., & Dzewaltowski, D. A. (2012). The healthy options for nutrition environments in schools (Healthy ONES) group randomized trial: using implementation models to change nutrition policy and environments in low income schools.

International Journal Of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 9(1), 80-95. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-9-80

Connecticut State Department of Education (20011). Healthy Celebrations. www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2678&q=322436

Meininger, J., Reyes, L., Selwyn, B., Upchurch, S., Brosnan, C., Taylor, W., & ... Phillips, M. (2010). A structured, interactive method for youth participation in a school district-university partnership to prevent obesity. Journal Of School Health, 80(10), 493-500. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00533.

Reedy, J., & Krebs-Smith, S.M. (2010). Dietary Sources of Energy, Solid Fats, and Added Sugars among Children and Adolescents in the United States. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(10):1477-1484

Story, M., Nanney, M. S., & Schwartz, M. B. (2009). Schools and Obesity Prevention: Creating School Environments and Policies to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. Milbank Quarterly, 87(1), 71- 100. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0009.2009.00548.x

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