Healthy South Dakota


	Constructive Classroom Rewards The Center for Science in the Public Interest suggests rewarding students in the classroom need not involve pizza parties, candy and other foods that undermine children's diets and health and reinforce unhealthy eating habits. Some suggestions for alternative rewards can be found here.

"We now have the proof we've been looking for: students achieve best when they are physically fit."
–Delaine Eastin, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

USDA May feature of the month

-National Osteoporosis Awareness & Prevention Month
-National Physical Fitness & Sports Month
-National Strawberry Month
-National Raisin Week
National Barbecue Month
Check it out!

Health.e.school.org – nutrition, health and fitness resources for teachers.

Physical Education Lessons with a Nutrition Concept from the Colorado Department of education helps teachers and food service staff integrate nutrition education into core curriculum and the cafeteria.

Spot the Block: a program for tweens on using the nutrition facts label to make healthy food choices

Child Adult Nutrition Services

South Dakota's Department of Education Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS) program is responsible for administering the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) nutrition programs.

Team Nutrition
in South Dakota

Team Nutrition is an integrated, behavior-based, comprehensive nationwide plan for promoting the nutritional health of the nation's school children.

Nutrition explorations - a National Dairy Council website that offers fun and easy ways to learn and teach nutrition.

Small Steps Change of the Month

Each month watch for a new small step you can take to a healthier lifestyle, a healthier you!

Be aware that some teens and tweens avoid milk because they think it's fattening. Teach them that there are low-fat and fat-free milk and milk product choices that are healthy and not high in fat and calories.

Excite Ed curriculum Module: Folic Acid - teach middle and high school students about neural tube birth defects and folic acid.

May is National Physical Fitness
and Sports Month

Teachers can play a supportive role in helping students to lead physically active lifestyles today. Kids are encouraged to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily. This will help them to become active, healthy adults.

As school curriculums become more demanding of student’s time, creativity is needed to develop projects into the daily classroom activities and assignments that will encourage kids to be more physically active.

Height Weight Data for 2006-2007School Year

The percentage of South Dakota students who are overweight or obese dropped slightly in the state’s latest school height and weight survey. For the 2006-2007 school year, 32.9 percent of students were either overweight (16.6%) or obese (16.3%). That compares to 33.8% of students who were overweight or obese in the 2005-2006 school year. For more information, see summary brochure and full report.

Data collection and analysis is underway for the 2007-2008 student height weight survey. For more information about the survey, click here.

Safe Routes to Schools grants get kids moving

boy riding bike Applications are now available for the Safe Routes to Schools Program (SRTS), which seeks to identify improvements and incentives to make walking and biking to and from school a routine part of primary and middle school students’ experience.

Individual schools, school districts, municipalities and child safety and health advocates can apply on behalf of grades K-8 for projects that include education, enforcement, encouragement, engineering and evaluation of an SRTS Program. If selected to participate in the program, schools are reimbursed 100 percent for eligible projects completed after their selection.

Funding is available for a wide variety of projects, from building safer street crossings to establishing programs that encourage children and their parents to walk and bicycle safely to school.

Applications, qualifying criteria, program ideas and other resources can be found online at www.SDDOT.com/SRTS. The application deadline is June 6 and successful applicants are expected to be notified in August.

The Safe Routes to Schools Program is funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

Coordinated School Health

A coordinated approach to school health is a powerful way of reinforcing positive, healthy behaviors throughout the school day to make it clear that good health and learning go hand-in-hand. In fact, most people agree that healthy kids make better students, better students make healthy communities!

The South Dakota Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Health (DOH) collaborate to establish and strengthen coordinated school health programs both at the state and local levels. Click here to learn more.

The Department of Health exercises no control over the content of outside sites linked on www.HealthySD.gov and provides the links for informational purposes only. This information is not a substitute for medical care.

"Children today have a shorter life expectancy than their parents for the first time in 100 years."
–Dr. William J. Klish, professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine.

Welcome to the USDA Teacher's Desk for science activities that go with Sci4Kids website!


	Healthy Nutrition Environment "This issue is not an easy one. It needs creative ideas, strong wills, and most dedicated efforts to find ways to make school environments supportive of good health and nutrition." –Former USDA Secretary Dan Glickman

"Efforts to improve school performance that ignore health are ill-conceived, as are health improvement efforts that ignore education."
–Code Blue: Uniting for Healthier Youth

Super Star Nutrition for Kids is a set of lesson plans to be used in the family day care home setting.

Eat Smart, Play Hard in South Dakota is an integrated nutrition education curriculum for kindergarten through sixth grade sponsored by the South Dakota Department of Education and South Dakota State University.

Media Smart Youth: an interactive after school program to teach kids ages 11 to 13 about the complex media world around them and how it can affect their health in the areas of nutrition and physical activity.

Food Safety for Kids and Teens - Site provides resources on food safety for use in the classroom to include: puzzles and word searches, coloring and activity pages, articles read and even homework help.

Schools develop wellness policies

As of August 2006, schools were required to have a school wellness policy. Click here to view the South Dakota model and how you might become involved in local policy development.

MyPyramid for kids

USDA has developed a MyPyramid specifically for 6 to 11-year- old kids. Educational materials include a poster, tips for families, teacher's guide, and interactive MyPyramid Blast-Off Game. See www.MyPyramid.gov for resources.