Pesticides and kids

Docs Say Choose Organic Food to Reduce Kids Exposure to Pesticides

This article supports the idea that organically grown food is better for you. The reason being, that “babies of female farm workers in California showed small but significant developmental and motor delays when their mothers were exposed to pesticides at levels similar to those deemed acceptable in conventionally grown produce while pregnant.” Although there have not been any studies done, there is no real concrete proof but, since childhood exposure to toxins is known to be harmful, organically grown produce is becoming a clearer choice for children.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/22/163407880/docs-say-choose-organic-food-to-reduce-kids-exposure-to-pesticides#

Posted by Dornel E. Student at CAS

Edible schoolyard training

Dear Educators and School Gardeners, Edible Schoolyard NYC is delighted to announce the launch of Edible Academy, a series of professional development workshops coming soon to our Brooklyn Showcase School. You are invited to experience our interdisciplinary, standards-based, K through 5 curriculum in action.  In each workshop, we will model instruction in the garden and the kitchen, offer practical tips on starting and maintaining school gardens, suggest ways to encourage community involvement, and guide participants in adapting our lessons to the unique circumstances of their own schools.  All participants will receive 36 fully developed fall and winter lessons covering kindergarten through fifth grade, as well as sample curriculum and recipes from our kitchen classrooms.  Workshops will take place from 9am to 3pm at P.S. 216, 350 Avenue X, in Brooklyn.  Each workshop will include the following sessions: Instruction in the Garden Classroom Instruction in the Kitchen Classroom School Gardening 101 Community Outreach Integrating ESYNYC Lessons into Your Curriculum We are inviting educators and school gardeners to participate, free of charge, in our first workshops.  If there are others who you think might be interested, please pass this email along to them.  Click on the links below to register for one of the following dates: Tuesday, November 6 (registration deadline is 10/26): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4562644994# Friday, November 16 (registration deadline is 11/2) http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4584237578 Friday, November 30 (registration deadline is 11/16) http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4584390034 Please contact Liza Engelberg at le@esynyc.org if you have any questions.  We hope to see you at an upcoming workshop! Thanks! -- Natasha Eziquiel-Shriro | Program Coordinator | www.esynyc.org | nes@esynyc.org | 347-565-0100 | 350 Avenue X Brooklyn NY 11223

Great News! WITS is back

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/nyregion/new-york-city-revives-school-lunch-program-that-uses-professional-chefs.html?_r=1

"The organizer of the program, Wellness in the Schools, also known as WITS, was praised for bringing healthy meals, made from scratch, into cafeterias....."  WE AGREE!

National Lunch Program's Meat from California Slaughterhouse Closed For Animal Abuse

Here is a link to a video that exposes extreme cruelty to animals.  This video prompted the USDA to shut down the California slaughterhouse.
http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DZRS-kzgoRq0%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded

In the related New York Times article, it is stated that that slaughterhouse supplies 21 million pounds of meat to the National Lunch Program. 
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/work-at-slaughterhouse-is-halted-after-graphic-undercover-videos/

Why do our kids get such low quality food that is produced without care and compassion?

City Ends Wellness in the Schools Program

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/nyregion/new-york-city-ends-school-lunch-program-that-used-professional-chefs.html

Give USDA Feedback on the 6 Cent Rule

Help Make Sure Schools Meet the Healthy New Meals Standards  - Give USDA Feedback on the 6 Cent Rule It is time to send USDA your comments on the new school meals rule on incentive funds and compliance with nutrition standards. Establishing an effective process for certifying schools to receive the six cent performance-based reimbursement is crucial to making the new healthier school meals standards a success. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act included a six cents per child per lunch incentive to “ensure that the increased investment would yield improved benefits for children in higher quality meals, supporting efforts to combat childhood obesity.” Through July 26, 2012, USDA will be accepting comments on the proposed rule, Certification of Compliance with Meal Requirements for the National School Lunch Program Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Contacts: Geri Henchy, ghenchy@frac.org, (202) 986-2200, x3025 and Madeleine Levin, mlevin@frac.org, (202) 986-2200, x3004. TAKE ACTION  Follow these steps to comment on the rule: 1. Download FRAC’s model comments (MSWord document). Make sure to enter your organization’s name in the text of the comments, and make any changes you want. 2. Go to Regulations.gov. 3. Add your contact information, and use the upload file to submit your comments.

Does the School Food Diet work?

I read Bittman's June 26th posting in the NYTimes Opionator and thought I would share.

The piece describes recent research published in Journal of American Medical Association that explains  why overly processed foods should be avoided.  After having looked at many of our school's meals and finding that they all come frozen, I feel this is something we should all be concerned about:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/which-diet-works/

Garden To Cafe at the Manhattan School For Children (P.S. 333)

We were lucky to visit the greenhouse program at the Manhattan School For Children (P.S. 333)  This is a Garden to Cafe site that was created in 2008 by a small group of MSC parents and educators, inspired by New York Sun Works Science Barge.  

Here are the thoughts of the City-As-School students:


I think we should definitely mention the greenhouse in take action. We could even design a petition for people to use for their on schools. I think by just learning how harvesting and all that works really teaches the kids about quality food and the importance.
-Nikola

I think that parents should be informed about this greenhouse. If parents are aware, maybe they will suggest the idea of a greenhouse at their children's schools. It would be a good way for them to know that the foods their kids are eating is coming from a good place.
-Shannon

After attending the field trip to Manhattan School for Children, I felt surprised at the amount of resources and tools that the children had to their disposal. I hope that more greenhouses get put into schools in the city, and I hope that our APP can provoke that. I'm sure all the parents of the students know that there is a greenhouse in their child's school, however I think our APP can get them more interested/involved; encouraging the kids to be more enthusiastic about their opportunity.


When I first heard about Garden To Cafe, I expected to see a meager garden with mediocre equipment and very few plants growing. When I went to the Manhattan School for Children, I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only was the equipment in the greenhouse efficient and well-maintained and a variety of plants growing well and being properly taken care of, but that the kids were actively participating and having major jobs in maintaining the garden. The students seemed to be having fun while learning to the point where they were able to provide us with a lot of information about the methods they used to take care of the plants as well as the equipment they used. It really was a great example of how successful a program Garden To Cafe really is. - Dornel

I really enjoyed visiting the Garden To Cafe at the Manhattan School for Children.  It was a very beautiful site with a wonderful plethora of vegetables. I found it interesting how the school so fluidly connected science and gardening together in a real world and hands on environment where foods were being grown in about three completely different ways. I feel that the program is essential to turning our school food system around and it is a perfect example of an innovative and successful wellness program! ~Emma

Edible Schoolyard at PS 216 in Brooklyn

We visited the Edible Schoolyard at PS 216 in early Spring and loved what we saw!  Here are some pictures and an interview we conducted via email.

Their crops just starting to emerge.

Questions for Edible Schoolyard NYC from CAS students answered by Natasha Eziquiel-Shriro

1.  How much of the produce grown is used for school lunch?  Edible Schoolyard NYC’s goal is to grow food for our Kitchen Classroom lessons and Family Cooking Nights.  A few times a year we try to supply ingredients to the cafeteria but it is not our primary goal.

2.  How much produce is harvested? Is it enough for the entire school to eat?  Last year was our first growing season and we harvested over 3,000 pounds of food. This year will be even more.  In the Kitchen Classroom lessons, every student has the opportunity to eat straight from the garden.

3.  How do you get the parents involved?  We host a variety of events to involve parents in both the garden and Kitchen Classroom program.  Twice a week parents can stop by the garden with their students after school for Open Garden.  About once a month families can come for a Family Workday in the garden (held on weekend mornings) and attend Family Cooking Nights (weekday nights) where they learn how to prepare a simple recipe with ingredients from the garden.  We involve our parents in the garden and Kitchen Classroom because we want them to become familiar with the ingredients their students learn to grow, cook and love.  When our students go home and ask their parents to buy radishes because they tasted them in class, we want the parents to be empowered to buy them and know how to create a delicious and affordable meal with them.

4.  During the winter season do the children still have access to fresh food?  Yes, our garden is a four-season garden.  We harvest every month of the year.  We achieve this by extending the growing season with a hoophouse. We also plan to begin construction on our greenhouse this summer which will allow us to grow all types of produce into the colder months.

5.  What is the cost of integrating the program into schools (creating a garden, buying seeds...etc)? Edible Schoolyard NYC builds gardens, sets up a Kitchen Classroom and employs staff to teach the curriculum and provides family programming all at no cost to the school.

6.  Do the children really eat the produce?  Do you think it makes a difference that they helped grow it? Yes! Our students love radishes, arugula, lemon sorrel and much more!  Research (and our daily experiences at Edible Schoolyard NYC) show that involving children in the growing and preparing of their own food can have a lasting effect on their eating habits. Students who grow and harvest their own vegetables are more likely to eat them. They also show a willingness to try new foods, which is often the first step toward developing healthier eating patterns.

7.  Will you be expanding?  If so, do you target certain schools? For example, low income public schools, private schools...etc? How can other schools get involved? Our goal is to take the model we’ve developed at P.S. 216 and replicate it at one low-income, public elementary school in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island, while simultaneously providing training and best practices to all the other elementary schools in each borough to provide an edible education to all of their students.  We are in the process of picking the next four sites, but any school will be able to get involved soon through our professional development program.  We hope to pilot it this summer.

8.  Do you offer programs/lessons for the public?  At this time we do not, but we will soon offer our curriculum to teachers and educators through professional development.

9.  Is there an Edible Schoolyard advisor/ educator always present at the participating schools?  Yes, our garden teacher or Kitchen Classroom teacher teaches every class taught in their respective spaces.  

10.  Is gardening considered a class or after school activity for the children?  How is it integrated into the curriculum?  Gardening and Kitchen Classroom lessons are both considered classes.  We teach two consecutive garden lessons to each class every month, starting in kindergarten and continuing through 5^th grade.  These lessons connect the academic content from each grade to something the students can do and observe in the garden each month.  For example, in April, kindergartners begin their study of plant roots, taking spatial considerations into account as they lay out garden beds in patterns.  In second grade, students build on the math and science knowledge involved with this concept, measuring the distance between the seedlings they plant and engaging in a more in-depth examination of root systems.  By fifth grade, students will calculate expected yields from their seedlings and put these skills to work organizing a harvest event for their community.

Each lesson includes related writing activities and other extensions that teachers can bring back into the classroom.   First graders, for example, can compose poems about the signs of spring while fourth graders can create public service announcements to educate others about the distances foods travel.  Finally, each lesson suggests several other specific content area extensions that classroom teachers can employ if they want further connections between the garden and their grade-level curriculum.

In the Kitchen Classroom students cook together with freshly harvested produce from the Edible Schoolyard garden and eat a freshly prepared dish, sharing the fruits of their labor around a communal table. As they cook and eat their way through the school year, students’ understanding of eating local and seasonal foods strengthens and grows.

Every lesson has a nutrition education component geared towards improving students’ eating behavior, and providing them with the knowledge, skills and environment to make healthy choices throughout their lives. Kitchen classroom lessons are companion lessons to our garden education.   Like the garden classes, kitchen lessons are standards-based and contain extensions for classroom teachers to draw upon.

The space has various areas for learning and a beautiful hoop house. 

About the Creators!!

Nikola Carouso
I love good food!
This project is important for people because we as a nation need to watch after one another. The children are our future!

Jordan Trachtman
R and B singer, Entertainer and likes bacon.
People should get involved with this APP to contribute to a good cause, or if they are culinary like a chef or nutritionist.

Shannon Palmer
Vegetarian. Loves science, music and healthy foods.
Get involved because food and nutrition is something that is very important for the health and well-being of children...humans. It is important to eat the right foods and people should be aware of that.

Christopher Perez
Throughout the world, I would like to be known as an artist.
Get involved and help make a difference on how you can eat lunch in your school!

Amiya Gaskin
I love to shop. I'm adventurous and like to do new things.
Students should get involved because you can help us by making LunchLine worldwide and help us to get our APP known to the public.

Corey Rickenbacker
I am a conscientisous eater nowadays.
A student should get involved if he relly cares about what he and his family eats. If so, than you will get better food for your community.

Jenny Delgado
I love eating food. I'm a very nice person who is down to earth. I love cooking, shopping, dancing and learning new things.
People should get involved because people should want to know what they are eating and what their kids are eating. Where their food comes from and how the animals are being treated.

Dornel Etienne
I like green eggs and ham.
If you think this APP doesn't involve you than you're wrong. You won't become involved unless your family becomes negatively affected. Don't wait for something bad to happen, get involved now.

Emma Jenney
Loves food! Loves both eating and preparing it.
People should always know what they are eating and most importantly what their child is eating! Any conscientious parent or student that wants to demand change should be involved in this app and wellness programs to promote healthy living and humility among US farms.

PB&J petition

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches are served five days a week during school lunch for children across the nation. Every single school in America serves a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich to students every day, however, many parents and children alike have no idea that this

simple sandwich actually has 31 ingredients altogether! Also, since it is served as a lunch option every day, many children eat it without realizing that they may be allergic to one of the 31 ingredients in the sandwich. In the bread alone, high fructose corn syrup is the fourth main ingredient and for the grape jelly, corn syrup is the very first ingredient followed by grape JUICE CONCENTRATE instead of actual fresh grapes! Ew