Nutrition News     

Hartford Public Schools
Department of Food Services and Nutrition Education
Vol. X, Issue II, 2002-2003

Stars, Strips and School Meals

During the week of October 14-18, the Hartford Public Schools' Food Services Department celebrated National School Lunch Week with special patriotic menus and decorations. Continue to enjoy lunch in the cafeteria as we promote our healthy meals to students and staff.

School Breakfast is truly a "break" from the "fast".
 


Research has repeatedly shown that eating a nutritionally balanced breakfast helps enhance learning. This first meal of the day is the most important one because it fuels the body and gets it primed for the day ahead. Children and adults who skip breakfast never make up for the lost nutrients, even if they eat later in the day.
 

Studies have shown that eating breakfast has many benefits. It alleviates hunger symptoms such as sleepiness, headaches and stomach pain. It increases concentration and helps children to score higher on standardized tests. It also reduces absenteeism because children who eat breakfast tend to be healthier and miss less school due to illness.
 

The best breakfast is a combination of foods that supply protein, fat and carbohydrates to sustain energy for concentration for several hours. Quick and healthy school breakfasts include:

Kindergarten Students Celebrate School Breakfast

The kindergarten students at Parkville, Twain, M.D. Fox, and Kinsella participated in contests at their schools to increase school breakfast participation. The students won playground balls, jump ropes and an ice cream party when their class had the greatest number of children eating school breakfast. Congratulations to the winning classrooms:

Parkville - Mrs. Moynihan -
Twain - Mrs. Stamos-
M.D. Fox - Ms Laporte
Kinsella - Mrs. Andrasia

Get Healthy Hartford and Pass it On

The Family and Consumer Science Teachers and the Family Resources Aids have joined the Get Healthy Hartford Team.

"Get Healthy Hartford and Pass it On is a wellness program for faculty, staff, parents --and ultimately students--- in Hartford Public Schools. School officials put together a team to address health issues in the schools. The team includes staff from the Food Service Department, as well as faculty and staff from family and consumer sciences, physical education, dental health, social work, dietetics, nursing, and health education. Their goal: To raise awareness about healthy eating, physical activity and stress reduction The goals of the wellness program, says Kristen Jablonka, nutrition specialist for the New England Dairy and Food Council are to raise awareness about healthy eating, physical activity and stress reduction as well as to have the staff and parents buy into wellness, feel empowered and motivated to pass it on to their students." The American School Food Service Journal, October 2002

There are Get Healthy Hartford school teams in: Bulkeley, Hartford Public, Weaver, Fox Middle, Quirk Middle, South Middle, Batchelder, Betances, Burns, J.C. Clark, Dwight, Fisher, M.D. Fox, Hooker, M.L. King, Milner, Parkville, Twain, Waverly Webster, and Wish. Central Office and the Food Services Department are also participating in the program.

If your school or site is not on this list, and you would like to organize a wellness team at your school, please contact Susan Davis 695-8596 or Deborah Fournier 695-8597 in the Food Services Department.

Get Healthy Hartford Thought: Life is: A mystery, Unfold it. A journey, Walk it. Painful, Endure it. Beautiful, See it. A joke, Laugh at it. A song, Sing it. A flower, Smell it. Wonderful, Enjoy it. A candle, Light it. Precious, Don't Waste it. A gift, Open it. Love, Give it. Unlimited, Go for it. Light, Shine in it.

If your Get Healthy Hartford school team is planning a wellness activity and you would like others to read about it in the Nutrition News, send it to Susan Davis, Food Services Department.

Nutrition Education classes or presentations for students, staff and parents may be scheduled by calling Susan Davis 695-8596.

Visit us on the web at http://users.rcn.com/foodserv


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