Again this year, one of my new year’s resolutions is to be more conscious of my eating and exercising habits. My main motivations for this apparently quite-popular resolution is to improve my athletic abilities.
Fortunately, I am coordinating DC SCORES' winter nutrition and healthy eating program at seven schools -- so teaching conscious eating will be a part of my job position.
Perfect!
For the next six weeks beginning today, DC SCORES shifts away from the writing program for a nutrition and healthy eating curriculum -- complemented by multi-school soccer clinics. The goal is to introduce to students the importance of combining exercise with nutrition to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The curriculum covers a wide range of themes and activities each aiming to empower our poet-athletes to make healthier conscious eating choices. Each lesson will address a specific topic such as reading nutrition labels, serving size, food origins and drinks.
One of my favorite lessons focuses on fast food. Poet athletes will begin by playing a fast food taboo card game. Using nutrition terms they have learned, each poet-athlete will have to describe a fast food item for the rest of the team to guess. After discussing why they like fast food -- but how they should avoid eating it constantly -- students will create advertisements for healthy fast food items they invent.
Some of the most exciting parts of winter programming are the cooking sessions. Once a week, teams will use healthy ingredients to make fun and tasty snacks. This first week’s recipe is a breakfast banana split, which uses vanilla yogurt and cereal instead of ice cream and sprinkles. On the last day of the season, teams will get to try new foods including hummus, yogurt covered raisins and rice cakes.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about nutrition lessons, our cooking sessions with partner program Brainfood, and Giant supermarket tours.
As a part of the winter season with DC SCORES, intern Kristen Miano is spending some time with the Marie Reed Panthers as they learn about healthy eating and healthy living. Kristen is writing about her experience being in the classroom with the students as they grow in their understanding of how to live healthier and happier lives through better nutrition and active lifestyles. You can follow Kristen and her observations on Twitter, Instagram and Flickr.
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Written by Kristen Miano Digital Media Intern
The last nutrition class for the Marie Reed Panthers took an overarching look at the entire season by asking the students a very basic question: Where does our food come from?
Starting off simply, nutrition teacher Carolyn Brandt asked the class where meat comes from.
“Animals!” was the resounding answer.
But there was more to the answer, though. We can eat two different kinds of animal products: meat and other items that come from animals.
“What comes from animals that we don’t need to kill the animals for?” asked Ms. Brandt.
“Tofu!” was one, emphatic answer.
Other correct answers included milk, eggs, cheese and the spectrum of dairy products.
The discussion then moved on to plant-based foods, like all the fruits and vegetables the class had learned about during the six-week season. Though most whole fruits and vegetables are easily identified as plants, it was important to note that most are different parts of the plant. For example, a potato is a plant root, but celery is a plant stem. Broccoli is a flower, while spinach is a leaf.
Next, the students divided into two teams -- boys versus girls -- to test their knowledge. Whenever the teacher held up a picture of a food, the teams were told to act out where the food came from to score points. For example, if the food came from an animal, the entire team needed to flap their arms like a chicken. If the food came from a plant, the team had to wave their hands like leaves on a tree. Though each team did extremely well, the girls’ team won the game by a single point.
Snack during the final week was a little different than usual. The “tasting” snack was designed to reinforce one of the main themes of the entire season: Trying new foods can be fun. Each student got to try a sample of a new, healthy food from a variety of options, including rice cakes, hummus, blueberries, yogurt raisins, sunflower seeds and baby carrots.
Despite initial protests that the hummus “looked gross” and that the rice cakes “aren’t rice krispie treats,” many of the students enjoyed the snack so much, they came back for seconds.
As the Winter SCORES season wrapped up its final nutrition class, the students took a moment to reflect on what they learned.
“I learned that we need good nutrition and that there are different kinds of food groups,” said Mamadou D., age 10, “We should eat healthy foods and be careful of what we eat.”
Jacqueline W., age 9, said she learned it was important to read nutrition labels, especially when it comes to checking a food’s fat content.
“I can eat healthy by eating lots of vegetables,” she added. “Also, fruits and dairy are healthy too.”
Overall, the Marie Reed Panthers are walking away from Winter SCORES with a better understanding of how to lead happier and healthier lives by picking the right foods to eat. The lessons they’ve learned are important for health now, will help them be better soccer players this spring season, and most importantly will continue to benefit them as they grow and learn beyond this season.
As a part of the winter season with DC SCORES, intern Kristen Miano is spending some time with the Marie Reed Panthers as they learn about healthy eating and healthy living. Kristen is writing about her experience being in the classroom with the students as they grow in their understanding of how to live healthier and happier lives through better nutrition and active lifestyles. You can follow Kristen and her observations on Twitter, Instagram and Flickr.
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Written by Kristen Miano Digital Media Intern
Fast food is often cheap, easy and, for the most part, very unhealthy. But does it always have to be? Last Tuesday, the Marie Reed Panthers met up to find out.
The students were presented with nutrition fact labels for the ingredients in a small hamburger from a standard fast food restaurant and were tasked with adding up all the fat and calories of each item to figure out the totals for the entire sandwich. This hamburger may be a normal lunch for some, but the 790 calories and 36 grams of fat were shocking for everyone.
“There aren’t even a lot of nutrients in the burger for all the calories and fat you’re getting,” said nutrition teacher Carolyn Brandt. “Except for maybe the tomato and the lettuce, there’s hardly any vitamins or minerals in the burger.”
When asked what else they could order at a restaurant that may be healthier, the students were quick to respond with answers like salads and sandwiches. One student suggested going to Subway over places like McDonalds or Burger King because the sub shop tends to have more healthy choices to pick from.
The students also recalled what they learned in class the previous week when asked what they could order to drink.
“Water!” was the loud, unanimous answer.
One common problem the students also discussed was the prevalence of fast food advertising over commercials for healthy options. In an effort to combat this, the Panthers closed out their lesson by drawing their own ideas for commercials to promote healthy food.
One group decided to make an advertisement that featured the famous soccer star, Lionel Messi, ordering a salad at a fast food joint.
“If people see Messi ordering healthy food,” said Emelisa U., age 10, “they will want to order it too.”
When asked what he learned, Titus R., age 8, nicely summed up the lesson when he said that fast food restaurants aren’t really good for you, but have some okay options.
“I learned that fast food restaurants aren’t healthy,” Titus said. “(But) you can order a salad. That would be healthy.”
As a part of the winter season with DC SCORES, intern Kristen Miano is spending some time with the Marie Reed Panthers as they learn about healthy eating and healthy living. Kristen is writing about her experience being in the classroom with the students as they grow in their understanding of how to live healthier and happier lives through better nutrition and active lifestyles. You can follow Kristen and her observations on Twitter, Instagram and Flickr.
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Written by Kristen Miano Digital Media Intern
Equipped with teaspoons and measuring cups, the students in the nutrition class at Marie Reed Elementary School clustered around tables, carefully measuring out sugar and food coloring and dumping them into cups of water.
“It’s an experiment,” explained fourth-grader Nick P. “We’re making soda.”
The Marie Reed Panthers were tasked with mixing up their own sugary beverages as a part of a lesson about hydration. More specifically, the students were learning about the difference between soda and water and why the latter should be their drink of choice.
“We wanted to show the students why water is important to drink, especially for athletes,” said nutrition teacher Carolyn Brandt. “We also wanted to show them why consuming so much sugar and caffeine from soda isn’t as good for them.”
Prior to concocting their homemade sodas, the students listened to a presentation discussing how much water they should be drinking versus how much added sugar they should be getting per day.
The students were asked to guess how many teaspoons of added sugar they should have, at most, per day.
“Two!” came one answer. Too low.
“Twenty-one!” was another. Too high.
The answer ended up being 16 teaspoons, which some students felt was still a lot.
“But when you get 11 teaspoons from one soda,” the teacher explained, “How much more sugar can you have?”
The five teaspoons leftover certainly didn’t seem like all that much left for an entire day.
If you are thirsty, the Panthers learned that the best thing to drink was water, as it has no added sugar and no caffeine. The students also learned that water is important because it helps our bodies get rid of waste and helps us cool off when we sweat.
When it came to creating their sodas, many students were surprised by the amount of added dye and sugar they were asked to put into their water, illustrating just how unhealthy soda could be when consumed excessively.
“We’re not supposed to drink soda,” said fourth-grader Taryn H. “It’s a lesson so we can see what’s in soda and why it’s not healthy.”
This nutrition lesson will no doubt be helpful to the Panthers whenever they take the soccer field. Drinking eight or more glasses of water per day is an important lesson for everyone, after all, and is an area the Marie Reed students are now experts in.
It feels like just yesterday students were on stage at the Poetry Slam! finishing the fall DC SCORES season with one brilliant performance after another. Yes, the break was short. Today, programming is back!
Our scaled-down winter nutrition and soccer program begins at eight DC public schools this afternoon -- Bancroft, Thomson, Marie Reed and Seaton elementary schools; Brightwood Education Campus (elementary); and Johnson, Hart and Lincoln middle schools.
During the next six weeks, students will learn that what they put into their bodies affects their performance on the soccer field. They will directly go through this process by preparing healthy snacks for themselves and then seeing how much better they feel during multi-school soccer clinics.
The winter season leads up to the spring DC SCORES season at 40-plus schools, which kicks off March 16.
For an inside look at what happens during the winter, we caught up with Writing Coordinator Rachel Klepper, who has coached the winter 'Power of Choice' curriculum at Thomson Elementary School. You can also get a sense of the program from the video above.
----------------------------- What are the main objectives of winter SCORES for the kids involved?
RK: The goal of winter SCORES is to get kids thinking about how they can make healthy choices in their everyday lives. We want to teach them the background and skills to understand the way that what they eat and drink affects their health. In winter SCORES they also have the chance to improve their soccer skills with regular soccer practices and clinics.
Nutrition is such a difficult topic to tackle with kids. How do you make it fun to eat healthy?
RK; It's really natural to talk about nutrition in DC SCORES, because everyone wants to become a better soccer player. One way we discuss nutrition is by showing how healthy eating helps them to play better. We also make nutrition fun by including lots of hands-on activities. The kids love getting to test out new recipes that include healthy ingredients such as whole wheat bread, fruits and vegetables.
Give us an example of a nutrition lesson you've found effective in past years?
RK: One lesson that's really effective is a lesson about soda. Students measure out the amount of sugar in a bottle of soda, and they are always amazed! When you see a bottle in front of you, it's hard to realize how much sugar is hiding in it. Most students leave the class excited to share what they saw with family and friends, and to cut down on the amount of soda they drink.
What's one of kids' favorite snacks to take home with them and tell their families about?
RK: Last year my class voted on their favorite snack, and the winner was turkey pocket sandwiches. They took whole wheat pita bread and stuffed it with turkey slices, lettuce, tomato, and low fat salad dressing.
This winter, DC SCORES intern Kara Dunford is spending her afternoons at Bancroft Elementary School as the Bengals take part in Winter SCORES. Each week, Kara is writing about her experience observing and interacting with the students as they learn about nutrition and healthy eating habits through the Power of Choice curriculum. You can also follow Kara’s observations on Twitter and Instagram by searching #WinterSCORES. View photos on Flickr. ---------------------------------------------------
Written by Kara Dunford Communications Intern
Coach Guzman stood at the front of the Bancroft Elementary School classroom, ready to address his DC SCORES team.
“I wanted to let you all know that this is our last nutrition class.” He paused briefly. “So I brought tissues in case you need them.”
Guzman held up a box of tissues and the students laughed.
Tissues weren’t needed as the Bengals wrapped up Winter SCORES by embracing their new tools for a healthy and active lifestyle.
On my last day with the Bengals, I had the opportunity to chat with a number of the students about their thoughts on the six-week winter program.
Although it was a short season, this winter was packed with nutrition lessons, covering everything from nutrition labels to solid fats. The Bancroft coaches chose a variety of lessons from the USDA’s Power of Choice curriculum.
In our conversations, it was clear that the Bengals had soaked up a great deal of the information and were excited to put it into practice in their own lives.
A number of students pledged to decrease their intake of junk food and soda, turning instead to fruits and vegetables.
The last day of nutrition programming was set up to help students take the lessons learned from theory to practice. The coaches provided a variety of healthy snack items, including various fruits, yogurt, and cheese, for students to try and determine which they liked best, with the goal of making these snacks part of their healthy routines.
It was fun to see students who were hesitant at first about trying new foods embrace the opportunity and discover new favorite snacks.
In my conversation with fifth-grader Tatiana B., I learned how she was planning to add healthy items -- including salads, carrots and apples -- into her eating routine. She said she was surprised by how much she learned this winter, noting that her favorite lesson taught her about healthy alternatives to soda.
It was the end of our conversation, though, that stuck with me the most.
I asked Tatiana why she thought it was important to implement the lessons of Winter SCORES into her own lifestyle. She paused for a moment, and then smiled.
“To make ourselves proud.”
By providing the students with the tools and information they need to live a healthy and active life, Winter SCORES also instilled a sense of self-confidence in the Bengals. It was incredible to see the progress Tatiana and her classmates made over the course of the season, initially participating begrudgingly but soon embracing each lesson enthusiastically.
After a jam-packed winter season, I’m excited to see what the spring brings.
Check out the video to hear the Bengals’ thoughts on Winter SCORES. Continue to follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as we gear up for the spring.
This winter, DC SCORES intern Kara Dunford is spending her afternoons at Bancroft Elementary School as the Bengals take part in Winter SCORES. Each week, Kara is writing about her experience observing and interacting with the students as they learn about nutrition and healthy eating habits through the Power of Choice curriculum. You can also follow Kara’s observations on Twitter and Instagram by searching #WinterSCORES. View photos on Flickr. ---------------------------------------------------
Written by Kara Dunford Communications Intern
Coaches at Bancroft Elementary School distributed a variety of snack items to the students, who watched as carrot sticks, cookies, yogurt and more were placed in front of them.
“How many of you had a snack today?” one of the coaches asked. Nearly every hand in the room was soon raised, and students happily announced their choice of snacks.
Since snacking was deemed to be a popular activity, the coaches were ready to arm their students with the knowledge to choose healthy food items to munch on.
“Who remembers how to tell how much fat is in a snack?”
I was impressed as the students recalled information from previous weeks, remembering their lessons about nutrition labels and percent daily value figures.
The students knew to look for the numbers, but what does fat look like? We were about to find out.
Armed with a variety of snack items and paper towels, the students set to work to provide the group with a visual of the fat contained in some of their favorite foods. Rubbing the paper towel over the food caused some items to leave greasy marks, while others did not. Chips, cookies, chocolate, cheese, and peanut butter left the paper quite dirty, revealing their solid fat content in the process.
The students learned that foods with high levels of solid fat provide few other nutrients that are necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Snacking on items low in fat, like fruits and vegetables, can help provide the body with its required food energy and nutrients.
The Bengals will probably not go around rubbing paper towel over each of their food choices. When combined with the knowledge about nutrient labels, however, the visual of solid fat can help steer the students toward healthy snacks.
While the students were preparing the day’s healthy snack -- fruit and vegetable roll-ups -- I had the chance to chat with Coach Guzman about his team’s winter SCORES experience.
Coach Guzman echoed a sentiment I had about the students: while hesitant to embrace the nutrition curriculum at first, the Bengals soon looked forward to the lessons in healthy lifestyles and seemed eager to implement the lessons in their own lives.
“I like that the curriculum provides both access to nutrition and the opportunity to play soccer after school,” Guzman said. “It highlights both components to living a healthy life.”
Guzman said he hopes his students continue to remember the lessons learned in the classroom as we look toward the spring season. If last week’s discussion of the previous lessons on nutrition labels are any indication, the Bengals are on the right track.
Check out the third video installment to hear from one of Bancroft’s coaches. Be sure to follow along during the last week of winter programming on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #winterSCORES.
This winter, DC SCORES intern Kara Dunford is spending her afternoons at Bancroft Elementary School as the Bengals take part in Winter SCORES. Each week, Kara is writing about her experience observing and interacting with the students as they learn about nutrition and healthy eating habits through the Power of Choice curriculum. You can also follow Kara’s observations on Twitter and Instagram by searching #WinterSCORES. View photos on Flickr. ---------------------------------------------------
Written by Kara Dunford Communications Intern
“Why do we sweat?”
The coaches at Bancroft Elementary School posed the question to the group of eager students, who moments before had seen containers of frozen yogurt brought into the classroom. Eyes wide, hands began to shoot up around the room.
It is a question I don’t think too much about as I go about my day to day activities. I paused for a moment and tried to remember my own elementary and middle school science classes, during which the question was undoubtedly answered.
Creative responses were not hard to come by, as the Bengals each posed their own theory as to why they sweat while running on the soccer field.
After a few minutes, the coaches revealed the answer. Sweating is the body’s natural way to cool down, especially after physical activity. When you sweat, you must replace the fluids lost to avoid overheating, dehydration, and fatigue.
“But do we get to eat the ice cream?”
Laughter ensued as one student admitted what he was thinking.
What does all this talk about sweat have to do with nutrition? The Bengals were about to learn how smart beverage choices play a role in a healthy and active lifestyle.
The Bengals split up into four groups and each prepared an orange-flavored drink. One group made orange soda, another low calorie orange soda, the third orange juice with only 10 percent juice, and the last 100 percent orange juice.
I joined the students in their surprise about the amount of sugar in the orange soda choices. As the Bengals poured teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar into the drink mixture, the appeal of the beverage dropped among the group.
The lesson? Paying attention to nutrient labels can help us make beverage choices that will supply vitamin C and calcium rather than calories from added sugars.
Each student shared a strategy to improve his or her drinking habits. One suggested he would cut down on soda and drink more water. Another said she would choose juice from the vending machine instead of Coke.
To arm the students with another alternative to soda, the coaches announced the group would be making juice floats. Prepared with frozen yogurt and fruit juice, the juice floats pack more nutrients and less calories into a delicious drink than popular sodas.
Refreshed by the floats, the Bengals were ready to take another step toward a healthy lifestyle, this time by remembering to choose wisely when thirsty.
Check out the second video installment to learn more about this week’s lesson in healthy hydration. Be sure to follow along on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #winterSCORES.
This winter, DC SCORES intern Kara Dunford is spending her afternoons at Bancroft Elementary School as the Bengals take part in Winter SCORES. Each week, Kara is writing about her experience observing and interacting with the students as they learn about nutrition and healthy eating habits through the Power of Choice curriculum. You can also follow Kara’s observations on Twitter and Instagram by searching #WinterSCORES. View photos on Flickr. ---------------------------------------------------
Written by Kara Dunford Communications Intern
Coaches at Bancroft Elementary School circled the classroom presenting a bowl of paper clips to DC SCORES students, who were encouraged to take as many as they pleased.
“Oh, I like the shiny gold ones,” one student eagerly exclaimed, as others grabbed handfuls from the bowl.
“There must be a trick,” another student said, questioning the activity’s purpose as he selected only one paper clip.
After the last student had made her selections, the coaches revealed the next step: each student would need to share facts about themselves to total the number of paper clips selected. Groans rang out throughout the room, as students counted 52 paper clips, 84, 100, and more.
The sharing complete, the coaches asked who would change the number of clips selected if they knew the activity’s purpose. I wasn’t surprised when hands shot up around the classroom.
“So if we know the consequences, we can avoid being tricked,” the coaches explained.
How can the students avoid being tricked by food? By learning how to read nutrition labels.
DC SCORES winter programming offers students a chance to combine soccer practices with an understanding of basic nutrition, learning how to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.
The first nutrition label students examined? A family size bag of Lay’s potato chips. As eyes grew wide at the sight of the popular snack food, the coaches guided students through the parts of a nutrition label, learning the amount of calories, sodium, total fat, and saturated fat inside the bag.
Then it was time to get active. The students showed off some pretty creative dance moves as music blared from the stereo.
To link the two activities together, the coaches asked how long an individual would need to dance to burn off the entire bag of chips.
Students called out their answers. Some were much too low. Thurday minutes. Some were much too high. A year.
But when the final answer was revealed, all in the room, myself included, were surprised by the result.
Twenty-six hours. It would take over a day of dancing non-stop at a moderately fast pace to burn off the calories contained in the bag of chips.
Choices have consequences, as the Bancroft Bengals learned this week.
Empowering students to learn the contents of their food choices is just one of the lessons of winter programming. As the weeks go on, I will be spending time at Bancroft Elementary School, engaging with the students and learning alongside them. I’ll share my adventures on this blog, as well as in a weekly video series. On social media, search the hashtag #winterSCORES to follow along.
Check out the first video installment (embedded above) for an introduction to winter programming and a peek at some of the Bengals’ awesome dance moves.
Thiswinter,DC SCORES intern Molly Fessler is spending time with the Thomson Tigers
during the Power of Choice health and nutrition season. Each week, Molly is reporting on the activities the Tigers take part in as part of the winter curriculum and the progress the elementary school students make in learning how to take care of themselves and eat healthy. View a full gallery of pictures from Thomson on the DC SCORES Flickr page. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Molly Fessler DC SCORES intern
Today we’re trying new things. I talk with the Tigers about one of their favorite parts of the Winter SCORES Power of Choice program — snack day!
Every Friday, the Tigers work with their coaches to make a yummy (and healthy!) snack. This past week, the team worked together to create a 'giant sandwich,' a treat that has taken on a rather mythical life when described by its creators.
"It was the biggest one ever," Sara tells me, extending her arms, to indicate a sandwich length of approximately 4 feet.
“Wow, really?” I’m impressed. Obviously.
"Yes, and it was made of salad," adds Jucelin C. “It was healthy to eat it because it had a lot of vegetables in it.”
The sandwich also boasted tomatoes, cheese, lettuce and carrots.
"Oh yeah, and hummus too, I think...” Arlette remembers.
The Tigers have made other snacks — oatmeal cookies, peanut butter sandwiches, fruit salad and more. Part of learning how to cook involves learning how to make choices in the kitchen. Not just how much to eat, but how to incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables into a balanced, soccer-playing-ready diet. For some members of the Thomson team, the winter session of DC SCORES has introduced them to new foods; foods that sometimes can be kind of a challenge to swallow.
Junior R. tells me that it can be hard to try new vegetables. I empathize. I ask Chelsea C. if she struggles with new veggies, and she says, “Sometimes, but when you try a vegetable you didn’t like, sometimes you actually do like it.”
“Really?” I ask, “Has that happened to you before?”
“Yep! With broccoli. I didn’t like it, but I tried it again and now I do.”
Junior R. doesn’t let the initial anxiety prevent him from trying the snacks.
“They’re healthy to eat … good for your stomach,” he says.
I’ve had a long-standing phobia of baby carrots. Should I give them another go?
“Probably,” recommends Chelsea.
I’m not sure I’m ready for such a huge leap of faith, but I’m motivated by the Tigers. Trying new things is difficult for everyone, and being brave enough to make different choices about food and exercise is a big deal — especially when you’re 10 years old. The Thomson Tigers are developing an understanding of how to eat to be strong and healthy, and to bring their best game to the soccer field.
And they’re also finding that when you try new things, sometimes you find new favorite things.
“I love tomatoes,” Junior R. tells me.
I’m a fan of avocados, personally.
“Avocados! Yeah! That’s my second favorite!”
With inspiration like that, maybe I can give those carrots another try.
