Schools & Educators

Child Care and Preschool Wellness Resources

Preschool Wellness Policy Evaluation Tool
The Preschool Wellness Policy Evaluation Tool provides a standard method for the quantitative assessment of preschool policies written in parent handbooks, staff handbooks, and in other policy documents.

Preventing Obesity among Preschool Children: How Can Child-care Settings Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity?
This research synthesis reviews studies that have identified opportunities to promote a healthy diet and regular physical activity among preschool children.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services
Team Nutrition is an initiative of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to support the Child Nutrition Programs through training and technical assistance for foodservice, nutrition education for children and their caregivers, and school and community support for healthy eating and physical activity.

ACHIEVE Communities
Action Communities for Health, Innovation & EnVironmental changE

Preschool Nutrition, Today’s Dietitian Magazine
September, 2011 article, “Can Our Smallest Eaters Avoid the Obesity Epidemic?”

Team Nutrition Childcare Culinary Workshop, Indiana Department of Education
The resources were developed as part of a USDA Team Nutrition Training Grant to train child care food service staff on planning and preparing meals and snacks that comply with the Dietary Guidelines and My Pyramid

Healthy School Lunch Initiatives and School Wellness Resources

Journal on Childhood Obesity: Special School Food Issue
Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal on weight management and obesity prevention in children and adolescents, has dedicated its entire August 2012 issue to improving nutrition in our nation’s schools. Its Special Issue on School Food is devoted to exploring what it takes to transform school food from being part of the problem of childhood obesity to being part of the solution.

Project LEAN
California Project LEAN (Leaders Encouraging Activity and Nutrition) is a joint program of the California Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute.  California Project LEAN works to advance nutrition and physical activity policy in schools and communities in order to prevent obesity and its associated chronic diseases. Offers training, materials, resources, guides, research and and toolkits.

Smarter Lunch Rooms
A product of Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs to equip school lunchrooms with evidence-based tools that improve child eating behaviors and thus improve the health of children.

Rethinking School Lunches
Produced by the Center for EcoLiteracy, Rethinking School Lunch is a planning framework based on a positive vision: healthy children ready to learn, “food literate” graduates, invigorated local communities, sustainable agriculture, a healthy environment. The Guide is a downloadable pdf that explains the rationale for reforming school food and explores the ten pathways that constitute this planning framework.

School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
CDC synthesized research and best practices related to promoting healthy eating and physical activity in schools, culminating in nine guidelines.

Comprehensive School Nutrition Policy Initiative
The Comprehensive School Nutrition Policy Initiative was evaluated by Dr. Gary Foster of Temple University. The initiative was found to reduce the incidence of childhood overweight by 50%. The results were published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity
This nonprofit group convened more than 50 professionals to develop an online set of model wellness policies for school districts.

Action for Healthy Kids
This association has an online tool that lets you search existing policies nationwide, then cut and paste to create your own policy.

Green Schools Initiative
The goals of a green school are to measure and reduce its ecological footprint, while making the school environment healthier for students and staff.

Farm to School/School Gardening Resources

Kids Gardening
A resource and online curricula for teachers and educators by the National Gardening Association.

Produce for Better Health Foundation
To support educators, Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) has designed curricula and other helpful kids’ teaching tools to help students establish smart and healthy fruit and vegetable eating habits for a lifetime.

California Farm to School Network
Linking farmers, schools, distributors, youth, and allies across California.

Edible School Yard
Provides food curriculum, instruction and resources for teachers, parents and schools in the development of school gardens and healthy food education.

American Heart Association Teaching Gardens

Offers funding opportunities for developing school gardens.

USDA Farm to School Program
USDA’s Farm to School Program is housed in the Food and Nutrition Service’s Office of Community Food Systems (OCFS). OCFS helps child nutrition program operators incorporate local foods in the National School Lunch Program and its associated programs, as well as the Summer Food Service Program and Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Nutrition Curriculum/Educator Resources

California Healthy Kids
Team Nutrition
Dairy Council of California
Dole 5 a Day
Project LEAN
Children’s Nutrition Collection
Nourish Interactive

Fact Sheets

Developing a Healthy Beverage Vending Agreement New
This fact sheet outlines key considerations for schools, including what to look for when soliciting a vendor, best practices to ensure a sound agreement, and ways for parents and other community members to get involved in the process.

Dollars and Sense: The Financial Impact of Selling Healthier School Foods New
Enormous attention, effort, and resources are being paid to the obesity epidemic and the related health consequences.

Implementing Strong Nutrition Standards for Schools: Financial Implications
This fact sheet summarizes the existing evidence of the financial impact on schools that have implemented strong nutrition standards.

Journal Articles

Literature Review on Strategies for Healthy Vending in Schools
This document presents citations for research articles that have addressed school vending machine initiatives.

Schools and Obesity Prevention: Creating School Environments and Policies to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
Current issues in schools’ food and physical activity environments are examined, as well as federal, state, and local policies related to food and physical activity standards in schools.

Presentation Materials

For CDC’s School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
To help inform education and health professionals about the School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity, CDC has developed a free PowerPoint® presentation and accompanying materials that can be downloaded for public use.

Reports

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies
The IOM reviewed factors related to overweight and obesity from birth to age five, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior.

Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity within a Generation: The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President
President Barack Obama established the first-ever Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an inter-agency plan that details a coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action plan to end the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

Under Pressure: Strategies for Sodium Reduction in the School Environment
Efforts to reduce sodium in the school environment can go well beyond school meals and should consider the whole school environment.

Water in Schools
This web-based toolkit provides you with the information you need to promote water consumption in schools.

Videos

Making the Most of Physical Education
Making the Most of Physical Education is a video for school administrators, board members, teachers, parents, and others interested in quality physical education (PE).

USDA Video on Cost Savings and Access to Healthy Foods for Schools
The USDA is sharing the following link to a short video about how USDA Foods are contributing to cost savings and access to healthy foods for schools.

Source: Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities