Academic instruction and testing preparation too often crowds out adequate time for recess and physical education during the school day, but many schools are finding creative new ways to promote active lifestyles for our kids. Tray Talk has featured success stories from Evanston Township High School (Illinois), where the “Move and Crunch Challenge” encourages students to participate in 30-60 minutes of physical activity every day; and Messiah Lutheran School (Nebraska), where Family Fitness Night had parents, students and faculty hula hooping in sync.

Teachers are in on the action too. Kim Ramsey at Rivers Edge Elementary (Virginia) struggles with heart disease and tells her students that “Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body.” Her “Read and Ride” program allows students to take turns reading while exercising on the classroom’s donated stationary bikes and treadmill. The project has made a tremendous impact on her classroom, especially her “hesitant readers” who may not have enjoyed reading in the past, but do love exercise. These days, all her students are so excited about reading that she finds they are “literally racing through books and making healthy choices daily.”

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign is helping schools get kids moving too. Check out this video to see how Provo School District (Utah) and Let’s Move! are encouraging students to adopt healthier lifestyles.

For more information, visit www.letsmove.gov/

Thankfully, schools and families have a new tool to help children learn about well-balanced meals and healthy choices this holiday season. You may have seen the MyPlate icon on your school menu, or posted in the cafeteria this year. School nutrition programs have been using this healthy food guide to encourage students to try the fruits, vegetables and milk served with every school meal, but MyPlate provides great resources for parents too.

Check out MyPlate’s Ten Tips series for kid-friendly fruits and veggies; ways to limit sweet treats; how to be a healthy role model and ideas for eating healthy when eating out. And if you are planning a holiday celebration, you won’t want to miss the MyPlate recipes.

Schools are using MyPlate in nutrition education programs in the classroom, and they are finding ways to help parents promote nutritious choices at home. See how Saint Paul Public Schools (Minnesota) are sharing healthy school meal recipes with parents:

For Saint Paul Public School recipes, visit http://ns.spps.org/menuRecipes.html, and for more MyPlate resources, including customized daily food plans, see http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

Although chefs have long played an important role in school cafeterias, more schools are welcoming chefs into their kitchens since First Lady Michelle Obama launched her Chefs Move to Schools! initiative last year.  Chefs are partnering with school nutrition professionals on culinary training sessions and nutrition education programs.  Some school foodservice programs are even managed by professionally trained chefs, who oversee all operations. 

Take a look at how one chef is making a difference in Berlin Public Schools, Connecticut:

Chefs bring their tricks-of-the-trade to schools, like knowing which herbs can season a dish with less salt and how to bake whole wheat bread that is light and tasty.  In Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL) District Chef Ben Guggenmos is not only helping spice up school menus – he’s also teaching kids ways to eat healthier at home.  During National School Lunch Week (October 10-14, 2011), Chef Ben hosted Healthy Recipe Demonstrations, showing students how to create tasty treats like “Dessert Fruit Pizza” with nutritious ingredients including fresh blueberries and strawberries, low-fat cream cheese and whole grain English Muffins.

Chef Paul Penny, a Chefs Move to Schools! participant, worked with Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (Michigan) to create school lunch specials like Sweet Potatoes and Apples and Turkey Cherry Chili, loaded with Michigan cherries, red beans and low-fat ground turkey.  Chef Paul even visited with students, encouraging them to taste test these healthy dishes.

As we all seek new ways to promote healthier lifestyles for our children, chefs are playing a critical role in schools and restaurants by sharing their culinary skills, tasty recipes and healthy ideas.

The campaign, which also coincides with National Farm to School Month, is putting a spotlight on the locally sourced foods served in America’s schools.  From peppers and parsley to rice and radishes, local foods are popping up on school lunch trays alongside milk, which is served with every school lunch and almost always locally produced.  In fact, a recent national survey revealed that nearly half of school districts offer locally sourced produce.  Districts are also helping educate students on the foods produced in their region, with 32% involved in farm to school initiatives and another 41% interested in or planning to implement these initiatives.

Just take a look at how the Burlington School Food Project (Vermont) is connecting students and their families with wholesome, local and fresh foods.

School Lunch – Let’s Grow Healthy is sponsored by the non-profit School Nutrition Association (SNA) and the Milk Processors Education Program (MilkPEP) to highlight all the components of well-balanced school meals.  As part of the campaign, cafeterias will feature locally sourced foods on menus, invite farmers into schools to teach kids about how these foods are grown, and provide students with fun activity sheets and handouts for Mom and Dad on the healthy choices available at school.

Lunch Week is a great time for parents to learn more about the good things happening in school cafeterias.  KIWI Magazine is sponsoring a national Take Your Parents to Lunch Day to encourage more parents to visit their school cafeterias.  To find out more visit http://myhealthyschool.com/.

• Nationwide, nearly every school district offers fresh fruits and vegetables (98%)
• Whole grain foods have become readily accessible (97%)
• 89% of school districts offer salad bars or pre-packaged salads
• About two-thirds provide vegetarian meals (63%)
• Virtually all districts offer fat-free or 1%, flavored or white milk (98%)

“From spinach to strawberries and pears to pumpkin, school nutrition professionals are constantly offering students more fruits and vegetables, and often they are partnering with teachers, farmers and chefs to teach kids about the importance of healthy choices at school and at home,” said Helen Philips, SNS, president of the School Nutrition Association.

School nutrition programs are bringing more locally grown foods into schools, with nearly half (48%) of districts surveyed offering locally sourced fruits and vegetables.  School districts are also educating students on the foods raised in their region, with 32% involved in farm to school initiatives and another 41% interested in or planning to implement these initiatives.  Results also reveal the trend toward school gardens, with 21% of districts confirming to have a school garden and another 37% interested in or planning to implement these programs.

Results reveal nutrition education in the classroom is underway in 57% of surveyed school districts with another 31% planning or interested in implementing these programs.  The State of School Nutrition 2011, which surveyed 1,294 school nutrition directors in 48 states, also found that at least 94% of districts prepare some of their entrees or sides from scratch. 

Parents should Get the Facts about healthy school meals, and be sure to check out your child’s school menu or talk to your school’s cafeteria manager to learn how school meals are changing in your area.

Through the US Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program, schools serving low-income communities can provide free meals and snacks to children at school cafeterias, parks, playgrounds, public housing complexes, summer camps or churches.

For example, San Diego Unified School District (pictured below) has partnered with the city’s Park and Recreation Department since 2004 to host the “Summer Fun Café,” providing free summer lunches to any child who visits one of more than 60 local sites across the district.  Thanks to these efforts, last summer, San Diego served more than 250,000 free lunches and snacks.

In Hickman Mills C-1 school district in Kansas City, Missouri, 80 percent of students qualify for free or reduced price meals.  The school district works hard to reach children who may not get enough to eat at home.  In addition to serving after school meals throughout the year, Hickman Mills will serve about 750 breakfasts, 1250 lunches and 200 dinners a day this summer.  Menu offerings include macaroni with low fat cheese sauce and ham, steamed broccoli, oranges and low fat or skim milk.

As a tough economy continues to plague America’s families, summer feeding programs are more important than ever.  School districts offering summer meals have found a tremendous unmet need for these services.  Just last summer, the South Kitsap School District’s Summer Lunch Camp Program (WA) experienced a 43 percent increase in meals served.   Ariane Shanley, the district’s Food and Nutrition Services director said “We had families come and say thank you to us for having this program all summer. They didn’t know what else they would have done if it weren’t for us providing these meals.”

To find summer meal sites in your community, call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE.

Every May during School Nutrition Employee Week, schools nationwide recognize the hard work of the men and women behind the lunch line. Tray Talk has featured the many ways these professionals go beyond the call of duty: there’s the cafeteria manager who created her own Little Red Hen costume to teach students about the importance of whole grains, and the School Nutrition staff who run a special program to reward good student etiquette in the lunch room.

Making fresh wraps in Andover, Massachusetts schools.

In many cafeterias, school nutrition employees move hundreds of students through the lunch line with only a few seconds to ensure each tray contains the required components of a reimbursable meal, assist students with food allergies, ring up each meal and provide change.

Meanwhile, school nutrition professionals must be trained in food safety and sanitation and follow federal, state and local regulations and to ensure school meals are safe and healthy. They must guarantee their programs meet all the requirements of the federal Eligibility Manual for School Meals; effectively implement complex regulations such as the Final Rule: School Food Safety Program Based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Principles and at all times ensure the lunches they serve provide one‐third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron and calcium, among other standards. All of this must be achieved within the framework of a budget that leaves little more than $1 to purchase food for each meal.

In the face of these challenges, school nutrition professionals use their creativity to make the cafeteria a fun and welcoming place all year long and perform their jobs each day because they care about the children they serve. So next time you visit your child’s school cafeteria, be sure to thank the people working behind the counter!

In some school districts, like Alexandria City Public Schools, Va., the school nutrition program is playing a key role in the school garden effort, boosting the soil with kitchen scrap compost and incorporating the harvest into salads and other healthy recipes.  Below: Alexandria students hard at work in their school garden.

Tray Talk’s School Nutrition Success Stories feature a number of communities where kids are benefiting from school gardens, from New Haven, Connecticut, where cafeteria menus include student-raised eggplant, peppers and squash, all the way to Auburn, Washington, where Summer School Academy students harvest fresh produce for their lunch and to supplement meals served through the summer food program.

In Burlington, Vermont, where forty percent of school meals are prepared using foods grown or produced locally, student-raised produce can be found in cafeteria salad bars and soups and offered at school-wide taste tests.  Recently, school gardens have supplied cherry tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and zucchini for salad bars, and student-grown basil has seasoned the cafeteria’s pesto pasta, minestrone soup and more.  Below:  Burlington school nutrition professionals turn student-raised spinach into tasty spinach balls.

In Hawaii, children at Sunset Beach Elementary School take advantage of the fertile soil, planting their own orchard and garden, bursting with tropical treats like guava, starfruit, kumquat, sweet potato, pumpkin and pineapple.  The cafeteria staff have welcomed the fresh produce, which is served on Thursdays at a fresh lunchtime salad bar.

Of course, school gardens require a significant commitment from the entire school community to plant, harvest and maintain the beds, particularly during summer vacation.  Fortunately, even schools without the resources to sustain gardens can benefit from fresh, local produce.  Many districts, from Kentucky to Montana, have been working with area farmers to purchase locally-grown foods.

In Massachusetts, Maynard Public Schools struck up a partnership with nearby Lanni Orchards several years ago.  Now, Maynard students munch on Massachusetts apples nine months out of the year.  When available, local tomatoes can be found on the made-to-order deli line and in the daily salad choices.  In the winter months, Maynard cafeteria workers roast locally grown carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips and turnips with a hint of salt, pepper and olive oil.

When local growers and school districts work together, everybody wins:  students can enjoy the freshest ingredients, and farmers gain support in their communities!

School nutrition programs have seen the evidence, and they are trying to get kids excited about the morning meal. To celebrate National School Breakfast Week (March 7-11), cafeterias across the country will host “School Breakfast Detectives,” a fun, week of activities and events to help students “clue into” the importance of eating a healthy breakfast.

Student sleuths can join campaign characters Cassie Day and Marlowe Darrington on the “Search for Super Energy!” by submitting an original design to a mystery book cover contest or sharpening their investigative skills with nutrition puzzles. To top off the fun, many schools will offer special breakfast choices like Private-Eye Whole Grain Pancakes with Blueberry Topping and Get-A-Clue Cheese Omelets with Salsa.

Schools have been working hard to find innovative new ways to reach more children in need of a healthy breakfast. Since 2002, participation in the School Breakfast Program has increased by 43 percent as schools have begun to overcome the logistical and timing challenges to breakfast service. School Nutrition Association’s “Growing School Breakfast Participation” report reveals that many schools are now offering breakfast in grab ‘n’ go bags or hallway kiosks, or they are serving breakfast in the classroom.

In fact, the School Nutrition Foundation (SNF), as a member of Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom, recently launched an initiative funded by the Walmart Foundation to increase breakfast consumption among schoolchildren and spark the academic and nutritional gains associated with the morning meal.

Consider celebrating National School Breakfast Week by visiting SNF’s Beyond Breakfast blog to read more about this initiative and to join the conversation about food and nutrition in schools.

And don’t forget to check out your children’s school breakfast program! School breakfasts can be a huge help for busy parents who struggle to convince their kids to make time for breakfast before leaving for school.

School Breakfast Detectives was created by the School Nutrition Association (SNA) with support from General Mills Foodservice, National Dairy Council and the US Highbush Blueberry Council. Each year, to raise awareness of the importance of the School Breakfast Program, SNA helps schools recognize National School Breakfast Week with an official theme, suggested meal plans, promotional resources and more.

Now, as schools are being asked to serve even larger servings of produce, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign is mobilizing an army of culinary professionals to give schools some fresh ideas on how to make healthy foods more enticing.

School nutrition professionals have partnered with the First Lady’s Chefs Move to Schools! initiative, which is allowing more schools to benefit from chefs’ expertise in recipe development, healthy preparation methods, culinary skills and more.

Chefs have already made tremendous contributions in school cafeterias. A number of school nutrition programs are managed by professionally trained chefs or have full time chefs in charge of menu planning. Others are partnering with chefs in the community on an array of nutrition education and menu improvement initiatives. For example:

Orange County Public Schools (Fla.), pictured above, has united with chefs from four national culinary organizations to develop healthier school menu items. Students, chefs and foodservice managers partnered to create kid-approved, nutritious foods like fish and vegetable tacos, taboule chicken salad and breakfast fruit roll ups made from melons, strawberries and pineapple, wrapped in rice paper. White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass (in white) participated in the district’s recipe showcase event.

Denver Public Schools has worked closely with numerous chef volunteers from local restaurants.  As the school district has transitioned to cooking its meals from scratch, local chefs have helped train food service employees in baking and cooking skills.  Chefs have also been active in the district’s school gardens, hosting cooking demonstrations utilizing foods grown by the students.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools, pictured above, has turned to award-winning local chefs to spice up their menus. A grilled chicken wrap, made with a curry flavored sauce, vegetables and brown rice, vegetable salad coleslaw; couscous with vegetables; Rosemary grilled chicken salad; and mojo marinated roasted chicken are among the new school recipes designed by the district’s culinary expert panel.

Holmen School District (Wis.) recently teamed up with a local chef on a cooking class for fourth and fifth graders.  The program, which featured red cabbage, the “Harvest of the Month” vegetable, was part of the district’s Farm to School Program that promotes locally grown produce.

Chefs nationwide have been joining school teams to participate in the Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge.  At Frederick Douglass Elementary (Del.), a local chef joined the Nutrition Services staff, parents and students to create two delicious recipes that meet school nutrition standards: Roasted Apple & Butternut Squash Soup and Power-Packed Chicken Parmesan.

The School Nutrition Association, representing more than 50,000 school nutrition professionals nationwide, is working to share ideas like these with schools in communities where local chefs may not be available to volunteer.  This summer, SNA will launch its Chef’s Table – a group of chefs who will host ongoing culinary development seminars for school nutrition professionals from every state.  The sessions will teach cooking and menu enhancement techniques and provide new ideas for engaging kids and the community in healthy eating.

Now that sounds like a recipe for success!