NEWSLETTER

EDUCATOR NUTRITION

NEWSLETTER •

DECEMBER 2012 EDITION

•

The featured produce of the month are SUNBURST TANGERINES and MUSHROOMS!

NUTRITION, HEALTH AND LEARNING GO HAND-IN-HAND As you continue to expand your students’ minds, it is important to remember that when students eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables, research shows that they may have improved short-term auditory memory, mood and overall academic performance. This newsletter from Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St.Vincent strives to link the classroom, cafeteria, home and community together to motivate and support students to make good, healthy food choices and to be physically active every day.

POSTER PROMOTIONS AND FUN FACTS To reinforce the message of good nutrition and provide fun and interesting facts to your students, consider decorating the cafeteria or hallways with whimsical posters about the month’s selected fruit and vegetable. You might wish to hang posters from the ceiling or post flyers in the hallway or as table tents in the cafeteria. For November, here are some quirky facts about sunburst tangerines and mushrooms… • A mycophile is someone whose hobby is to hunt edible wild mushrooms. • There are more than 250 edible types of mushrooms in the world! • Tangerines are the same as mandarin oranges. • Tangerines can be crossed with grapefruits to create another fruit called tangelos.

Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St.Vincent is here to help you, your school and your students reach whatever health and wellness goals you may have. Please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can help. For information or resources, please conDECEMBER Health and tact Karen Terrell, School Wellness Coordinator, at Wellness Observances [email protected] or 317-338-2336.

GETTING PHYSICAL…The Spelling Bee Game Physical activity shouldn’t be put on the back burner just because it’s frosty outside. Your students still need to move and get the benefit from small “brain breaks” throughout the day. Here is a game that you can use during your English class. For each word on your spelling test, divide students into groups that have the same number of letters as your word (for instance, the team for the word “emotion” would have seven students. The students must work together to spell the word using their bodies as letters. Have them demonstrate their word in front of the class and see if your other students can guess what vocabulary word they are. Other winter fitness ideas you can use in your classroom include yoga videos, freestyle dancing, active video games, and portable exercise equipment.

December 4-10 • National Influenza Vaccination Week All month • Safe Toys and Gifts Month, Prevent Blindness America December 1 • World AIDS Day, World AIDS Campaign

Tangerines

DETECTIVE WORK… For students who like an extra challenge of creative writing or for teachers who would like their students to practice their writing skills, consider asking them to write about the following issues related to tangerines and mushrooms: - Why can mushrooms grow in the dark with no sunlight? - What are truffles and how do they grow? - Why have tangerines been called “Christmas oranges?”

DECEMBER Health and Wellness Observances December 4-10 • National Influenza Vaccination Week All month • Safe Toys and Gifts Month, Prevent Blindness America December 1 • World AIDS Day, World AIDS Campaign

COOKING IN CLASS

Mandarin Marshmallow Kebabs For a quick and easy classroom treat, put peeled mandarin segments onto bamboo skewers alternatively with peeled kiwifruit pieces (or any other fruit) and marshmallows. For an added treat, you can also provide a fruit-flavored yogurt as a dipping sauce.

Mushrooms

HOW MUCH DO I NEED?

Recommended Daily Amounts Of Fruits & Vegetables* Kids, Ages 5-12

2½ - 5 cups per day

Kids, Ages 13-18

3½ - 6½ cups per day

Adults, 19+

3½ - 6½ cups per day

*If you are active, eat the higher number of cups per day. Visit www.mypyramid.gov to learn more.

When eating fruits and vegetables, it’s important to remember to encourage children to eat a rainbow of colors.

RED ORANGE YELLOW TAN WHITE BROWN GREEN

BLUE PURPLE

Help maintain a healthy heart, memory function and urinary tract health

Strawberries, red pears, red grapes, beets and tomatoes

Help maintain heart health, healthy vision and healthy immune system

Oranges, tangerines, grapefruit or apricots

Help maintain heart health and cholesterol levels that are already healthy

Squash, garlic, jicama, alfalfa sprouts

Help maintain healthy vision and strong bones and teeth

Cabbage, Chinese and savoy cabbages, kale and broccoli

Help maintain healthy aging, memory function and urinary tract health.

Blueberries, purple and red cabbages, eggplant, dried plums, figs

For more information, visit www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov

CAFETERIA CONNECTIONS Here are some ideas for adding the featured produce items to your lunch or breakfast menus: - If you are fortunate to have a salad bar at your school, add raw mushrooms as a topping. - Add sliced mushrooms to cheese pizza slices - Tangerines are best eaten outof-hand and used in salads or by themselves.

LITERATURE LINK HISTORY In Asia, mushrooms have been used as medicine in China for more than 6,000 years. Ancient Chinese and Japanese practitioners have used specialty mushrooms for centuries and now are learning how some mushrooms help the immune system. In ancient Egypt, there are hieroglyphics from 4,600 years ago featuring mushroom drawings. Mushrooms were declared to be a food for royalty and no ordinary citizens could touch them. It was also believed that whoever ate these mushrooms would become immortal. And in Rome, the Romans called mushrooms “food of the gods,” and served them on festive occasions. They were thought to provide warriors with unusual strength. The history of the tangerine is really interesting! This fruit is actually a type of Mandarin orange, which is native to southeastern Asia. The name “tangerine” comes from Tangier, Morocco, which was the place from which the fruit was shipped to Europe. Tangerines have been grown for more than 3,000 years in counties like Japan and China; however, they did not arrive in the United States until the mid-19th century. The first batch of tangerines was brought to America when the Italian consul in New Orleans decided to plant them on the grounds surrounding the consulate. From New Orleans, the tangerine was taken to Florida and it became a commercial crop like other citrus fruits. Florida has become famous for their production of oranges as well as tangerines.

Elementary: Mushrooms in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg Caught out in the rain, an ant takes shelter under a very tiny mushroom. Soon, a wet butterfly, then a drenched mouse, a dripping sparrow, and even a rain-soaked rabbit each beg to join him under his miniature umbrella. How can the ant let the others in when there is barely room enough for one? But as the rain comes down and down, they all somehow manage to squeeze together and share the tiny shelter. And when the sun finally comes out, the ant discovers a magical secret of just what happens to mushrooms in the rain!

Secondary: Tangerine by Edward Bloor Though legally blind, Paul Fisher can see what others cannot. He can see that his parents’ constant praise of his brother, Erik, the football star, is to cover up something that is terribly wrong. But no one listens to Paul--until his family moves to Tangerine. In this Florida town, weird is normal: Lightning strikes at the same time every day, a sinkhole swallows a local school, and Paul the geek finds himself adopted into the toughest group around--the soccer team at his middle school.

This newsletter is brought to you by the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St.Vincent. Some material in this newsletter is adapted from the California Department of Public Health’s Network for a Healthy California – Harvest of the Month program and from the following web sites: www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov and www.plants.usda.gov. For additional information or resources, please contact Karen Terrell, School Wellness Coordinator, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St.Vincent at [email protected] or 338-2336.