Principal's Message | Assistant Principal's Message

Mrs. Georgia Clark, Principal   desk

Creating a Healthier Classroom
On June 30, 2004, Maryland passed a law requiring every local educational agency participating in a federal child nutrition program to establish a local wellness policy.  This action was in response to childhood obesity data that shows about 20% of children are overweight.  Over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 and adolescents aged 12-19, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years.  Cecil County Public Schools developed a Wellness Policy and North East Elementary School is proud to serve as one of four pilot schools.  The entire policy is available on the CCPS BoardDocs website (number EFF-RA).  I would like to highlight the two focus areas for this school year.

Physical Education/Physical Activity - Goal 1:  Schools will have a physical education program that is sequential and consistent with national and state standards.  Our program will promote lifelong healthy habits and fitness goals.

Nutrition Guidelines – Goal 6:  Use non-food rewards for school accomplishments
         Activity 1:  Inform constituencies about the key element of the wellness policy
         Activity 2:  Provide alternatives to food rewards

Nonfood rewards promote a healthier school environment by encouraging healthy eating habits.  Food becomes a primary motivator in students’ lives when they are given soda, candy and other sweets as a reward for good behavior, academic achievement or as the only method of celebration (for example – birthdays).  Because these foods have little nutritional value, using them as rewards/celebrations contributes to poor eating habits (encourages over consumption of “empty calorie” foods and increases the preference for sweets).  Our staff members are moving toward nonfood reward ideas such as:

  1. Stickers or bookmarks
  2. Pencils/markers
  3. Books
  4. Activity/game sheets
  5. Game time
  6. Extra reading/physical activity time
  7. Dance to music
  8. Extra art time

We all love to celebrate accomplishments and special days.  Our challenge is to design healthy celebrations.  We ask that you and your child take the challenge with us.  The next time you are planning a celebration (birthday, etc.) work with your child and your child’s teacher to design an activity or event that will promote a healthy response and lifestyle.  If your child is interested in sharing items with their classmates, you may want to think about:

  1. Donating a read-aloud book for the class in your child’s name
  2. Donating a game (either a board game for rainy day recess or a physical game – jump ropes, soft Frisbees).
  3. Sharing photos of their life
  4. Creating a craft item
Research clearly demonstrates that healthy children learn better.  To provide the best possible learning environment for our children, we must provide an environment that supports healthy behaviors.  We ask that we work as partners in this endeavor – for our children’s sake.

 

 

 

                                             

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deskMr. Travis Benner, Assistant Principal

 

 

 

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