Palisades Wellness Initiatives 2015/16 Results. Nutrition Education Gardening Physical Activity

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1 Palisades Wellness Initiatives 2015/16 Results Recognizing the importance of supporting health within the district and the community. Nutrition Education Gardening Physical Activity To Create and Enriching Environment based on wellness in the Palisades School District

2 Nutrition Education We have a responsibility to educate children, what to eat in order to be healthy : Elementary schools conducting food tastings at assemblies, from local farmers Making Healthy Choices, offering healthy foods & snacks, fresh vegetables from the school gardens Educational Wellness expos occurred at Middle School & High School Salad Man, Maisey Moo, and Ruthy Rutabaga at the elementary schools After school cooking classes for 60 elementary students

3 Gardening We have combined gardening, with outdoor classrooms, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and shared during lunch. Gardens have been installed at each elementary school Gardening Committees have been established at each elementary school Outdoor classrooms set up, we ve installed benches, and tables for students. The greenhouse at the high school, is now used to start the plantings for the other buildings. Gardening as part of the curriculum. Students are involved in the planting, harvest, and tastings, as well as vegetables are used in cafeteria for lunch. Homemade soup, each week.

4 Physical Activity We now have Non-competitive, afterschool fitness activities at all schools Physical activity programs for Elementary Schools. Bowling, Roller Skating, Swimming Healthy Breaks, started in the afternoons at Elementary Schools. Tails on trails program, pedometers introduced to 5 th graders. Staff wellness/fitness programs are offered New fitness center equipment, center is open to the community. Plans for Middle School fitness center underway. Project on schedule with board approval. Fundraising continues

5 Wellness Committees Building wellness committees meet bi-monthly, including cafeteria crew chief, school nurse, parents, & students. District wellness committee meet monthly. Participants include: Superintendent, Director of curriculum, Director of pupil services, students, parents, community members, board members, cafeteria workers, building principals, nurses.

6 Join our Wellness committee Scientific research has linked school meals and healthy diets to academic success. Over the past 5 years the Palisades school district has been on the forefront of this mission. In addition, our continuous wellness objectives include creating healthy habits, physical activity, school gardens, and building nutritional knowledge. Each building has a building wellness committee. involving staff and students. The district food service department and our cafeteria staff have also embraced this initiative and provide fresh salad bars, fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade menu items. The students now experience vegetable planting, outdoor classroom integration. By managing school gardens students see their school grown vegetables being served in our cafeterias. This past school year we served over 107,543 healthy school lunches to our students. Physical Activity We offer afterschool, non-competitive activities for our students. We will transport students to various activities, roller skating, bowling, swimming, rock climbing, laser tag. We also host volley ball, table tennis, yoga, through this wellness initiative. Nutritional Knowledge/Healthy Habits Each year we provide food tasting events. Assemblies that show and tell a fruit or vegetable, as well as a recipe that allows the students to try the fruit or vegetable, and take the recipe home. We offer after school cooking clubs hosted by the cafeteria staff. Each building has a wall of wellness or student food service bulletin board. We host wellness expos, both for knowledge building and physical activities. Gardening Throughout their school years, our students enjoy the experience of our various gardens and outdoor classrooms. At the high school greenhouse, we begin the plantings for our vegetable gardens at the elementary schools and middle school. Each building has outdoor classrooms and students will follow the cycle from planting to preparing and eating the vegetables in the cafeterias. If you would like to participate on our District wellness committee or your child s building wellness committee, or share wellness suggestions with us, please contact the Director of Food Services, Gerry Giarratana, ext or e ggiarratana@palisadessd.org.