LouisianaLA Fit Kids Child Nutrition Programs for a Healthier Louisiana

Bains Elementary will promote drinking water instead of sugary beverages. By installing a water bottle filling station, the school will encourage students to drink plenty of water throughout the school day to stay hydrated, healthy, and ready to learn. The school cafeteria will utilize a digital menu board to promote school breakfast and lunch menu items and provide nutrition fun facts and tips for eating healthy. Bains Elementary will continue to distribute the monthly Nutrition Nuggets newsletter to parents and families with nutrition and fitness tips.

Bains Lower Elementary will create a "Nutrition Movement Classroom" where students will learn about healthy foods while being physically active. Bains Lower will also offer fruit and vegetable taste tests. In addition to implementing Serving Up Myplate: A Yummy Curriculum to first-grade students, the classrooms will add nutrition literacy centers to their enrichment period. Here, students will be able to practice their reading skills using books about food and nutrition, build healthy plates with MyPlate felt pieces, and color sort with farmers’ market food models.

Bayou Chicot Elementary will promote drinking water instead of sugary beverages at breakfast and lunchtime with a new water cooler-dispenser in the cafeteria for students and staff. During recess when students have the opportunity to purchase Smart Snacks, an additional water cooler will be made available to students with fruit-infused water. Bayou Chicot hopes this will show students that water can be interesting and fun, as well as healthy. The front office, cafeteria, and elementary building will utilize digital signage to promote participation in the school breakfast and lunch programs, and display healthy eating and exercise tips!

Updates coming soon.

Iota Elementary will invest in their child nutrition and school wellness staff members by providing opportunities for professional development. School wellness champions and school food service staff will attend the annual Louisiana Farm to School Conference and the School Nutrition Association of Louisiana annual convention to learn best practices for implementing a farm to school program and enhancing the school nutrition environment. In addition to the exciting strategies they are sure to learn at these professional development events, Iota Elementary will continue to deliver nutrition education to students in grades 3rd – 5th, and this year the school will be better able to spread key messages from those lessons to the entire school community by utilizing two new digital displays in the front lobby and in the cafeteria.

Updates coming soon.

Updates coming soon.

Opelousas High School is excited to implement a sharing table, an innovative strategy to encourage the consumption of nutritious foods and reduce food waste. Sharing tables serve as the collection point for certain whole foods or beverage items included in a school meal that a student may not wish to consume. These food and beverage items are then available to other students who may want additional servings. Also exciting for OHS this year is the addition of greenhouses to their school garden, where students interested in careers in agriculture volunteer to maintain. The school hopes to coordinate a field trip for such students to a nearby farm to see agriculture on a larger scale and meet with real farmers in their community.

Updates coming soon.

ReNEW Schaumburg will launch a Louisiana Harvest of the Month program in conjunction with the school’s indoor tower garden. Leveraging resources from the Louisiana Farm to School Program and Louisiana Team Nutrition, Schaumburg will celebrate local fare and teach students about Louisiana agriculture by offering taste tests to students. With input from the students about their preferences, Schaumburg’s cafeteria team will select local foods to incorporate into the school lunch menu. Moreover, with the addition of a mural, the school "cafetorium" (which serves as both the cafeteria and auditorium) is sure to become a beloved display of Schaumburg pride. Outside of the lunchroom, the school plans to bring lessons learned about healthy eating to family events outside of the normal school day, and replace the less healthy snacks offered at the events with more nutritious options.

Rosenwald Elementary will reinforce messages about healthy eating and enhance their lunchroom atmosphere with a mural promoting the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. Using displays around the cafeteria, school food service professionals will model building a healthy lunch, helping students to learn how to consume balanced, nutritious meals. The school lunch menu will be featured on a new menu board that takes the shape of MyPlate, and students will decorate the cafeteria with their own artwork after Rosenwald’s second annual student art contest. Nutrition education and physical activity will continue to be a focus this year.

Stephensville Elementary will sustain their school garden and offer student taste tests using produce from the garden. Taste tests will also be offered at family "Try-It Nights" where families will also learn about eating healthy and being physically active. Stephensville’s famously enthusiastic cafeteria manager, Ms. Becky Miller, will lead activities and games focusing on nutrition during the school’s National School Breakfast Week and National School Lunch Hero Day celebrations.

Valverda Elementary will add a greenhouse and tomato towers to the school garden, which already includes a small mobile garden known as Garden on the Geaux. Using the school garden and other resources, the school will implement nutrition education through a variety of channels, like the classroom, in physical education classes, at family engagement events, and in the cafeteria, maximizing exposure to students. In addition, families will receive monthly nutrition and fitness tips via the Nutrition Nuggets newsletter.

W. Smith Jr. Elementary will place whole fruits and vegetables in attractive baskets and bowls in multiple places in the cafeteria, a strategy that will encourage more consumption of healthy foods. Smith is also excited to continue the implementation of nutrition education in the classroom, focusing this year on how to make smart beverage choices and the relationship between nutrition and oral health. Students will gain hands-on experience with gardening and have the opportunity to taste unfamiliar foods. The school will take a creative approach to spreading the word about healthy eating by launching their Nutrition Minutes News Spot during daily announcements. Families will be able to get the same information from the school’s website.