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Learning Opportunities

Farm to School Programs
Thursday, June 5, 2008
3pm ET/2pm CT/1pm MT/12pm PT
registration is required
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Action for Healthy Kids’ Team members and Partner organizations are invited to join a phone symposium to learn about Farm to School programs in the United States. These programs connect schools with local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing health and nutrition education opportunities that will last a lifetime, and supporting local small farmers. Farm to School staff members, Anupama Joshi (Program Director) and Steph Larson (Program Policy Organizer), will discuss how to help improve student nutrition, and health and nutrition education, while working in partnership with farmers from local communities.

Registration is required for this phone symposium. Please register by sending an e-mail to StateTeams@ActionForHealthyKids.org. Call information and supporting documents will be sent to registrants on Tuesday, June 3, 2008


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Latest Reports and News

Action for Healthy Kids Newsletter: May 2008
	Local Wellness Policy Implementation: Strategies and Successes in Michigan A new field report from Michigan Action for Healthy Kids, features the Team's collaboration with the Michigan Department of Education and the Michigan Department of Community Health to facilitate statewide implementation of Local Wellness Policies. Local Wellness Policy Implementation: Strategies and Successes in Michigan highlights a four-pronged strategy to address the challenge of assisting, measuring, and influencing statewide implementation of meaningful Wellness Policies. Download Full Report [color]
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Featured Resources

Physical Education in the U.S.: A Status Report from the CDC 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study
This presentation was given by Dr. Howell Wechsler at the 2008 NASPE General Session in Ft. Worth, Texas, and is now posted on the NASPE website.
Dr. Howell Wechsler is the director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Limit TV, Video Games, To Two Hours A Day To Reduce Childhood Obesity, Study Suggests
Science Daily, April 16, 2008
Childhood obesity is a growing concern for pediatricians and caregivers. In response to this problem, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) created guidelines for children regarding physical activity and screen time, which includes both watching television and playing video games. The AAP has made the following recommendations: 1. boys should take at least 11,000 steps a day; 2. girls should take at least 13,000 steps a day; and 3. children should limit total screen time to two hours a day. A new study evaluates these recommendations and the combined influence of screen time and physical activity on a child's risk of being overweight.

A Policy-Based School Intervention to Prevent Overweight and Obesity
Pediatrics, April 2008
A new article published in the April issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, describes research conducted to examine the effects of a School Nutrition Policy Initiative on the prevention of overweight and obesity among children in grades 4 through 6 over a 2-year period. The study was implemented in schools in Philadelphia that had =50% of children eligible for federally subsidized, free, or reduce-price meals. The results suggest that this school-based intervention can be effective in preventing the development of overweight among the participants.

The April state legislative report from the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA)

NEW Milk Matters Online Parent Resources Available
New materials are available through the Milk Matters calcium education campaign, sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These take-home materials have been designed to help parents understand the importance of calcium for bone health for teens and tweens, and are consistent with National Health Education Standards. Based on the existing teacher resources, these materials can be used at home to reinforce concepts children are learning in school. For more information on calcium and these new materials, please visit the Milk Matters Web site: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/milk. Or, contact the NICHD Information Resource Center at 1-800-370-2943 or E-mail: NICHDInformationResourceCenter@mail.nih.gov .