Food Day at LHA!

Scare tactics? Bribery? Proselytizing? How exactly do you get kids to eat healthy? How about using the language of deliciousness!

Educators at Edible Schoolyard New Orleans

are always pioneering new ways to teach healthy food choices, and part of how we do this is to connect children to the larger food community through collaboration. In celebration of Food Day and National Farm-to-School Month, on October 24 community partners, faculty, staff, sixth graders and their families came together in the Dreamkeeper Garden at Langston Hughes Academy to participate in interactive, edible activities that taught kids fun, easy, and creative ways to eat healthy.

At the table for the Crescent City Farmer’s market, students “Guessed the Gross” by sticking their hands into towel-shrouded bowls to touch the creepy substances within—eyeballs, worms, brains. They were scared to reach in, but each was a food that could be found at the farmer’s market. 

At the LPHI table students found out that satsumas have only ten calories apiece. And at the ESYNOLA table they rolled and cut sweet potato gnocchi and used fresh herbs from the garden to make salad dressing. 

“I never liked salad until I tried this dressing,” said one student, declaring in better words that we ever could that Food Day was a complete success. 

ESYNOLA is grateful for LPHI School Health Connection, the New Orleans Food Co-op, the Crecent City Farmer’s Market, LHA faculty and staff, and ESYNOLA volunteers for making Food Day so awesome. Look for recipes from Food Day on ESYNOLA’s website, and check in with our Facebook page to see more photos of the event. 

For more ESYNOLA recipes click here!

Watermelon Day!!

 A first grader teaches Farmer Ben the Spanish word for
watermelon: sandia!

Where did the seeds in watermelons go?
Do watermelons grow on a tree, a bush, or a vine?
Are watermelons good for you?

For students at three FirstLine Schools - Green, Arthur Ashe, and Langston Hughes Academy - these questions have been a part of their regular garden and cooking classes. Friday, September 13, was Watermelon Day, an annual celebration of all things watermelon organized by Edible Schoolyard New Orleans as part of their Farm-to-Table program. With a truckload of at least 100 jubilee watermelons, Farmer Ben Burkett and others arrived from Mississippi. Farmer Ben has become a fixture of Watermelon Day over the past few years, but what many may not know is that he’s an inspirational leader of the Indian Springs Farmer Cooperative, and has been building community, empowering farmers, and acting as a force of radical change for over 30 years.

Students roll watermelons in the Watermelon Relay Race

During their recess and garden classes, students visited with Farmer Ben, learned about watermelons, and played games like the watermelon relay race, in which they rolled watermelons, answered trivia questions about watermelons, and cheered each other on. And, of course, everybody got a slice of watermelon, a refreshing treat on such a hot afternoon.

Watermelon Day is not only fun for the students, teachers, and farmers who participate. It's yet another way that ESYNOLA collaborates with FirstLine teachers to get kids moving in healthy ways, teaches integrated core academics, and connects kids to fresh foods that grow locally and to farmers like Ben Burkett and their stories. But because Watermelon Day is so fun, kids may not realize that they're forging relationships and learning things that will influence the choices they make for years to come.

 ESYNOLA garden teacher Mr. Jahmal poses a
watermelon trivia question: "Name a cousin of the watermelon."
 It takes her a second... "Squash!

Kelley: Free Cooking Classes for FirstLine Parents—Happening Now!

All FirstLine parents are invited to attend free cooking and nutrition classes being offered now. Classes are being held on Wednesdays (through April 3rd) from 11am-1pm in the Ashe Teaching Kitchen.  Classes are taught by Chef April, FirstLine Health and Wellness Manager, and hosted by Edible Schoolyard New Orleans and SecondHarvest Food Bank.

The classes are part of Share OurStrength’s Cooking Matters series. Parents get to learn, cook and eat in every class. Chef April leads parents through important lessons like reading a nutrition label, food safety, and making a healthy meal for a family on a budget. At the end of each class, parents are able to take home a grocery bag of ingredients and the recipes used in class so that they can practice preparing the meal at home.

If you are a FirstLine parent interested in participating, contact Chef April. This is the only way to secure your spot!  We hope to see you there!

Kelley McDonough is a School Wellness Program Coordinator with School Health Connection, a program of the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI). School Health Connection partners with FirstLine Schools in supporting comprehensive school wellness programming. Visit School Health Connection on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/SchoolHealthConnection.

Join us for the MLK Day of Service

Please join us on Monday, January 21 from 8am to 2pm for the MLK Day of Service.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"

Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities.

The MLK Day of Service is a part of United We Serve, the President's national call to service initiative. It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.

Arthur Ashe Charter School will be the site of a BIG volunteer day this year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

We want you and your family to be a part of this very special day as we work together to make our school and community beautiful.  Food, music, tools, and fun provided!

Here are some of the volunteer activities that will be available on Monday:

·  Digging holes for trees

·  Planting trees, both perimeter and citrus

·  Prepping and edging beneficial border for living fence

·  Prepping for future outdoor gathering space

·  Moving the compost pile

·  Painting raised garden boxes

·  Building picnic tables and benches

·  Fitness Stations for kids from 9am-1pm

·  Info tables from community partners including NOKP with info on programming at Ashe

·  Lunch provided for all volunteers (around 1:30pm

We look forward to seeing you there!!  Questions?  Ask Kelly!

AP Psychology students at Clark Prep focused on school breakfast participation

10th grade AP Psychology students at Clark Prep High School are in the midst of a student-led initiative focused on school breakfast participation. The initiative was born out of the students’ observation that there is a lack of breakfast participation and their teacher’s desire for students to actively engage in research methods. 

The students administered a survey to their classmates and analyzed the data. Since then, strengths and weaknesses of the current school breakfast program have been identified and an action plan developed. The students have also presented their findings and recommendations to their school’s food service provider.


Pictured is teacher Leah Evans and three of her students who are participating in this initiative.

Jason: Food Day!

Healthy Food at Green Charter School

Food. We eat it everyday, but many young people have little understanding about where it comes from or how it came to be. We at FirstLine Schools believe you are what you eat, so let’s eat smart!

In November 2010, Congress designated October as National Farm to School Month as a means to improve child nutrition, support local economies and educate children about the origins of food.  Food Day – held on October 24 – was created by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest to advocate for a healthier and more sustainable food system.

Edible Schoolyard NOLA targeted middle and high school students, staff, and families at all five FirstLine campuses to teach them about important issues like:

•  Promoting safer, healthier diets
• Supporting sustainable and organic farms
• Reducing hunger
• Reforming factory farms to protect the environment and animals
• Supporting fair working conditions for food and farm workers

Learning about composting at Dibert

Green Charter School held the event in their café with over 10 activity stations, starring a variety of community partners, such as: Tulane’s Center for Culinary Medicine, Market Umbrella, and The New Orleans Food Co-op. There were food samples, including a highly popular African Peanut Stew served by ESY NOLA’s Budding Entrepreneurs team.

Students from grades 6-8 toured the room with their families. There were games, demonstrations, mini-lectures, and even prizes. Kelly Miranda – ESYNOLA’s Volunteer, Family, and Community Partnerships Coordinator – leapt onto a table partway through the event and excitedly held a raffle for one brand new 5-piece spice jar set and a couple very useful looking garden tool pouches.

John Dibert Community School set up their tables outside for the school’s 8^th graders, perfect for a sunny fall day. Each station explained one step of the food cycle: growing, distributing, and waste management. As an introduction, Jess Bloomer – Lead Garden Teacher at Green – taught participants about pollinators by offering a taste sampler of local honey. Elsewhere, scholars tried to pinpoint the origins of the produce in front of them by attaching stickers to a map, showing them how far some of our food travels to arrive on our plate. Some wrinkled their noses at the mini-compost pile and live worms set up by ESY’s Program Manager, Rahn Broady.

Blubber burgers at Ashe

Over at Arthur Ashe Charter School, Ruth Korsten – one of ESY’s Volunteer Coordinators through the LA Delta Service Corps – gave her account: 

Kate McDonald from Second Harvest was showing Ms. Sivi Domango – Ashe’s Director – and Ashe 5th graders how much fat (using real lard... ugh) was in their favorite burger chain's product.  It made quite an impact, and one boy I asked said it was his favorite station. That's saying a lot because the parfait stops are always the biggest crowd pleasers.

With the odds very much in her favor, one mother won the raffle prize and she was super excited to take home a pressure cooker!  Several teachers and school support staff also stopped by to see what all the excitement was about.

Enjoying Food Day at LHA

Amy Zelwegger, the Lead Garden Teacher for ESY at Langston Hughes Academy, had the following to say: 

With over 100 participants, Food Day was a smashing success here at LHA! Our 6th graders were eager and ready to learn about where our food comes from, sample some tasty treats, and share take-home info with parents and family. Food Day at LHA consisted of 8 tables, with four tables provided with help of our community partners Hollygrove Farm and Market, New Orleans Children’s Museum, Sankofa Farmer’s Market, School Health Connection and Rethink New Orleans. We learned about the production rows at LHA and the FSA program that will be rolling out in December. We learned about the importance of hydration, eating fruits, and why it's vitally important to support our local farmers. Food Day was a great reminder at how our scholars LOVE to learn about FOOD!!!

Learning about Plant Starts at Clark Prep

 The scholars at Clark Prep High School also participated. Kathleen Duffy, the VISTA Outreach Coordinator placed there, gave this report: 

FOOD DAY!!! Loved it. The turnout was fantastic at Clark, including students, faculty and staff. Students tried the smoothies and breakfast at both ESY tables. They loved Grow Dat, where many are now applying for a Spring/Summer 2013 program. Donnica Conway got some love at her Cooking Up Literacy At Home table, which offered scholars a great recipe book (a favorite was Green Eggs and Ham). Food Day was a very successful health and wellness initiative that will hopefully spark a consistently strong turnout at similar future events. ESYNOLA did a fantastic job coordinating community partners to attend, and Clark loved it! Students talked to me about it today, showed me the plants they won, and we discussed working at Grow Dat.

Whether participants walked away with a snack, a prize, or just a fun learning experience, there was no shortage of smiles throughout the day.

Jason Lacoste is the AmeriCorps VISTA K-8 Outreach Coordinator for FirstLine Schools.  

Green celebrates National School Lunch Week!

Ms. Joyce (Green Café lead), with Sir Saint and big Milk!

This week, Green Charter School celebrated National School Lunch Week with a visit from Fuel Up to Play 60, the Dairy Council, the American Pediatric Association, and Sir Saint!  In addition, tomorrow concludes our first plate waste study at Green conducted by Tulane School of Medicine.  When it comes to healthy eating, Green Charter is ready to Rise Up!

Article Highlights FirstLine Healthy Cafeteria Food

The Lens, an online investigative reporting news organization, recently wrote an article highlighting FirstLine's work in healthy cafeteria food, as well as our general belief in health and wellness.  This work has been done thanks to the hard work of both ESY NOLA and FirstLine staff, with ESY NOLA taking the lead.  You can find the article here.

Here's a quote from the article:

Neujean and Vliet say they’ve been one of Sodexo’s first clients to push for healthier, local food options that exceed federal requirements. For instance, FirstLine serves only hot breakfasts at its schools, even though cold cereal and milk is enough to satisfy the government. In those hot breakfasts, condiments full of high-fructose corn syrup, like sticky-sweet pancake syrup, are banned. Students instead are encouraged to eat fruit, powdered sugar or jam with their hotcakes. Their hot lunches come complete with a salad bar, and students have the opportunity of choosing fresh, Louisiana-grown satsumas, fresh plums, raisins and other fruits as sides to the lunch menu.

We're very proud of the work that we've done to bring healthier food choices to our students.  We hope you enjoy this article!

Ashe & Dibert Students Speak at Childhood Obesity Prevention Forum

On Thursday, February 9th, two students from Ashe (Don and Mariah) and one student from Dibert (Leo) spoke at the New Orleans Childhood Obesity Prevention Forum. The students spoke on behalf of Youth Run New Orleans.  We are proud of the way they were very prepared for the event and spoke from the heart! They offered real recommendations to the city about how to get more kids healthy. Way to go scholars!