November Taste-Testing

On November 23rd, the Kitchen Staff conducted a chili taste test for all students, K-12, as they entered the kitchen for lunch. Mrs. Rodysill's students assisted with the test. The goal was to guess the secret ingredient in the chili.

Some of the students helped to serve up the chili into four ounce souffle cups. Others handed out the chili to the students who wanted to participate as they came by. Another student wrote down some of the secret ingredient guesses, and another manned the garbage cans - one with a happy face if the student liked the chili, and the other with a sad face if the student did not like it.


Garbage Voting

After each section of students were served, the Kitchen Staff looked in the garbage cans to determine if the chili was liked by that group, or not, and recorded the results. The majority of all the students, K-12, did like the chili!

No one was able to guess the secret ingredient, which was revealed the next Monday with more nutrition information about orange vegetables. The whole event went smoothly and it was nice to see that the students were willing to try, and did like the chili!

Improvements by the Kitchen Staff!

Becky Holt, and the other Moose Lake School Food Service Staff have been busy working on improvements in the kitchen, and have made some great improvements toward more nutritious offerings for students!

The 3rd grade was offered the salad bar which went over very well with most of the students trying it out. The 3rd and 4th grade Teachers assisted in teaching the students the “how-to’s” of eating at the salad bar which was greatly appreciated.

For all grades, spinach and shredded carrots have been added to the romaine mix of lettuce (both spinach and romaine are the most nutrient-dense in the lettuce group). Also, everyday, cottage cheese, cucumber and fresh fruit are also offered. Healthy items continuing in the salad bar include: dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, hard boiled eggs, diced tomatoes, sesame and wheat crackers, and fat free Italian dressing.

For breakfast, fresh fruit is offered with 100% juice, low sugar-whole grain cereals, and the menu item of the day.

The usual lunch menu is being analyzed by the Nutrition Analysis Program (Meal Magic, paid for by the SHIP mini-grant) to see where improvements need to be made. Students are offered two different types of fruits or vegetables on occasional days and the Kitchen Staff plan to offer healthier dessert options. Be watching for some nutrition facts to be included on the lunch menus!

Last school-year the kitchen tried some taste testing for the high school students and are adding the foods to the menu. These include: corn bread, honey glazed carrots, chicken ranch wraps, whole grain pizza, pumpkin chili, and apple-cucumber salad. Taste testing will continue one to two times per month through the rest of the school year.

Here is some home-made chili!

Becky has received a list of local produce offerings from Apperts, the school food distributor, some of which the kitchen is using. Also provided was a list of Minnesota produced products, of which, the kitchen uses quite a few. Becky will be attending the Appert’s Food Show in October to look for more local and healthy food options.

Here is a picture some farm-cafeteria green beans being prepared for lunch!

Way to go Kitchen Staff!

First Meeting of the 2010-2011 School Year

The first ML School Wellness Committee Meeting will be Thursday, August 19th, from 3:45-4:45pm at the school in the board room.

We will discuss how to move forward this school year with some beneficial nutrition interventions, as well as how to incorporate our findings from certain interventions last year with policy systems and environmental change.

The Wellness Committee is open to parents, teachers, students, interested community members, school staff, etc. Please feel free to join us!

Jamie Oliver!

Moose Lake School Health Snack Cart makes it on Jamie Oliver's Website!

The article can be found at the following link:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/rolling-out-nutrition-at-moose-lake-scho

How exciting for this program to be recognized on an international website! If you have not seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, you can read more about it at:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

Enjoy!

Review of School Wellness Activities (2009-2010)

Review:
The school wellness committee has accomplished quite a lot this school year.
- Completed the School Health Index Assessment (concerning nutrition)
- Brainstormed and compiled ideas into an action plan
- Began action plan activities!

Healthy Snack Cart
The Health Snack Cart went over VERY well with students, teachers, administration, and parents. Evaluations were compiled, and based on the positive responses, a policy is in the works for the snack cart for next school year.

Taste Testing in the Cafeteria
Head Cook, Becky Holt, and her staff had a very busy spring with nutrition activities. Becky and the Administration went above and beyond to make the taste testing successful. Items were: Chicken Wrap, a BBQ Turkey on a whole wheat bun, Whole Wheat Pizza, Cheesy Cornbread, and Apple-Cucumber Salad. Taste testing will continue next school year, and based on results, items will be added into the lunch menu.


Also...
Safe Routes to School Webinar
Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/264447777

The Webinar will talk about three recent grant recipients of the National Center for Safe Routes to School mini-grant program (One being from MN!). It will talk about the opportunity for mini-grants, and how the mini-grants have helped these communities.

Since Moose Lake School will possibly be pursuing a Safe Routes to School plan in the future, and this would be a beneficial webinar for anyone interested!


NEXT MEETING:
Thursday, August 19th
3:45-4:45
Moose Lake School Board Room

The Elementary School is in the midst of a healthy snack cart pilot supported by the school Wellness Committee and funded by the SHIP grant. The snack cart will be available for grades K-6 from May 10-28.

The purpose of the snack cart is to provide healthy snacking options to elementary school students. Feedback will be taken from students, teachers, parents, administration, and the wellness committee to decide whether to continue with this initiative next school year.

If the snack cart continues to the 2010-2011 school year, parents will pay about 22 cents/day per student for a healthy snack. What a great and affordable option for busy families aiming to be healthy!

Meeting Thursday, May 6th

The Moose Lake School Wellness Committee will be meeting on Thursday, May 6th, from 3:45-4:45 in the board room at the school. Please attend if interested--anyone is invited!

We will be discussing:
     - The elementary healthy snack cart pilot
     - Cafeteria taste-testing
     - Other upcoming summer and fall activites

See you Thursday!

News!

The school has been a recipient of a Safe Routes to School Assessment Grant! The school will be working with the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC) to assess the positives and negatives for students walking and biking to class. ARDC will compete this assessment by June of this year. After the assessment, they will provide recommendations, which, at that point, the school would be ready to apply for an implementation grant allowing them to implement those recommendations.

ALSO...
There is an upcoming webinar that looks to be very interesting and potentially beneficial to the school community regarding Safe Routes to School:

Free Webinar April 27th, 12-1pm
Environmental Measures for Safe Routes to School: Understanding the Basics of Air Pollution

You can read more details and register at the following website:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/355203048

Welcome!

Welcome to Moose Lake School's Wellness Committee Blog. The Committee has recently completed the School Health Assessment, and from it has created an action plan. The Committee is currently focused on the 'nutrition' aspect of wellness in correlation with the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) Grant. Carlton County received this grant from the Minnesota Department of Health and has selected ten communities in NE MN to carry out the interventions.

Moose Lake School is a site for the SHIP Grant activities. If you are interested in becoming involved or would like more information, please contact the SHIP Grant Coordinator, Meghann Condit, at 218-878-2846, or at meghann.condit@co.carlton.mn.us.

The goals of the action plan are as follows:
1) The Moose Lake School Wellness Committee will work to maintian an active coalition of committee participants (School Administration, Teachers, Staff, Parents, Students, Community Members, etc.).
2) The Moose Lake Wellness Committee will work to improve the school lunch.
3) The Moose Lake School Wellness Committee will foster an increase in collaboration between the Cooking Staff and other Teachers and Staff.
4) The Moose Lake School Wellness Committee will explore the option of a school garden.
5) The Moose Lake Wellness Committee will work with teachers and parents to improve classroom snacks.

Update on Activities:
     - The action plan was presented to the School Board in March and will be approved at the next meeting in April.
     - The committee is applying for a mini-grant from SHIP on April 15th.
     - Some of the priorities include, but are not limited to: a Nutrition Analysis Program, a Healthy Snack Policy, a School Garden, and working on kitchen--classroom collaboration.

Be watching for some of the great initiatives the Wellness Committee is working on to improve your children's health, and ultimately reduce the occurance of childhood obesity in Moose Lake!