Reading for adventurous eating

The Somerville Family Learning Collaborative hosted their Childhood Literacy Fair on Saturday, November 20. This year the theme was healthy eating through literacy.

A welcome area in the center of the room displayed unique, edible pumpkins. Pumpkins, like people, come in all shapes and sizes.

Staff from local preschools and organizations that focus on healthy living provided activities to Somerville families. Most activities centered around food based children's books. The Cambridge Health Alliance chose The Carrot Seed while Shape Up Somerville picked Planting a Rainbow.

The Treehouse Academy featured Blueberries for Sal and the Community Action Agency of Somerville acted out Dragons love tacos.

Children could watch worms turn healthy food scraps into compost at the Groundwork Somerville table and cook pretend food at the play kitchen provided by Cambridge Somerville Early Intervention.

The Somerville Farm to School Project conducted a parent survey (check back in for those results) and while Caitlin Kelly, PEP Grant Director, acted out healthy living activities in Somerville using the Finding your way to healthy living map!

Check out the Somerville FNS November newsletter for tips on encouraging adventurous eating in your own home. For a great list of books for kids of all ages, check out this book list from Island Grown Schools.

Comments

Mindful Eating: Part 1

In order to digest your food properly, your body must be in parasympathetic mode, or in a state of non-stress. Kindergartners know this. Well, they might not know the scientific term yet, but during lunch they participate in 6 minutes of silence; a period they call "Mindful Eating". When asked why they like mindful eating, the children replied, because "it’s quiet”, “I can enjoy my food better”, “I get peace and quiet”, and "it’s calmly”. Kindergartener teacher Ms. Scrima, and other Kennedy School teachers have been implementing mindfulness in the cafeteria and their classrooms since last year. They are proud to have a lunch period that looks and sounds quite different from the chaotic cafeteria rush other classes often experience. While the students sit silently at the lunch table checking in with their emotions, their digestive systems are also benefitting. Physiologically, only when our bodies are in rest mode can the brain trigger the release of digestive ...

Put your best FORK forward during National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month! Each year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics develops new topics to celebrate National Nutrition Month. This year's theme, Put your best fork forward, encourages us to consider that every bite counts. Even "small shifts in our food choices, can add up over time." Here in Somerville we are celebrating National Nutrition Month in a few ways. ~ We are releasing Veggie of the Month kits in each school's library! The kits contain books, taste testing supplies, and a binder with lesson materials for each month! ~ We are visiting a few PreK-2nd grade classes to "taste-test" the veggie of the month: leafy greens! In the classroom, we are reading Sylvia's Spinach and making a simple salad dressing to drizzle over spinach! (Be sure to check back later for the results of our visits!) ~ Our Wellness Champions and Farm to School Staff are posting bulletin boards and fliers around the schools! ...

Argenziano After-School Art Club Creates Mosaics for School Garden

In Ms. Diana Taremi’s Art Club it’s all about line, form, color and composition. More than a dozen middle school students started on several projects on Monday afternoons; creating art both for themselves and making projects to beautify the school. Their first assignment: Georgia O’Keefe-style painting on large canvases for the first floor hallway. The bright, lush flower canvasses are still works in progress. The students are also creating flower tile mosaics that will be set in cement and used as stepping stones in the school’s kitchen garden. Ms.Emily Bhargava, a mosaic artist from Somerville, donated her time and bags and boxes of materials; tiles from large to small to the art club for the project. On a recent afternoon, Ms. Bhargava spent an afternoon at Art Club teaching Ms. Taremi and the students how to assemble the mosaics. First the students painted large pictures of flowers. They covered these with plastic wrap to protect them; then layered mesh on...

Somerville Farm to School Project

Search This Blog