On Saturday, April 29th, UC CalFresh attended Coalinga's Week of the Young Child Event at the West Hills College Child Development Center to honor the center's students and their families. With various vendors in attendance, families had the opportunity to enjoy many activities, including a petting zoo, a silent auction, a book fair, a gardening opportunity, and so much more!

Nutrition Educator, Elizabeth, leads a group of students in physical activity. 

 

The highlight of the event was bringing the garden beds at the Child Development Center back to life. Students planted tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, cilantro, peppers, bush beans and strawberries. 

 

Two little guys take part in gardening with their dad. 

 

Children of all ages enjoyed filling two garden boxes with plants!

 

Garden Box #1

Nutrition Program Coordinator, Kristi, helps a student plant a tomato plant. 

Garden Box #2

 

Each child played a part in the gardening, and they immediately took full ownership of their work. When the planting was complete, several children revisited the garden to assist with watering. 

 

One of our little friends makes sure to water his plants before he heads home. 

Nutrition Program Coordinator, Nancy, helps students with watering. 

 

The Week of the Young Child Event in Coalinga turned out to be a huge success! Our team can't wait to see how the garden grows over the summer. 

Ayer Elementary's staff lounge got a new Nutrition Corner just in time for spring. As warmer weather sets in and kids start to have time off from school, there's so many more opportunities to be active and eat fresh, sweet fruits and vegetables.

Here's some tips to "bee healthy" this spring:

• Stay hydrated! It's important that both kids and adults drink enough water as the weather warms up. If you're not a fan of plain water, try adding whole fruit for a sweet twist without all the sugar.
• Get enough sleep! After our wet winter, it's nice to get outside and be more active, but to stay healthy, we need to be sure to get enough sleep.
• Be active! Swimming and biking and hiking, oh my! With spring and summer breaks and long sunny days, there's so many ways to stay in shape in the warm months. Adults should encourage their kids to get moving for at least 60 minutes every day.
• Eat your MyPlate foods! Eating healthy foods is vital to having the energy and strength to do everything we love and keep our body working properly. It's tempting for kids to give in to less healthy foods as they start to have more leisure time, but it's important for all of us to be sure we're eating a quality diet.

We'd love to hear how you stay active and healthy as the new season rolls around. Share with us in the comments below!

Last week Ayer Elementary School kicked off their four week Food Friday campaign, which encourages students to eat the fruits and vegetables provided in the school lunch. Now through February 17th, classes enrolled in the UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program will be counting how many students eat their fruits and vegetables, and tracking it using the cafeteria's new Nutrition Corner poster pictured below.

Check out UC CalFresh team members Brittanny, Emily, and Hannah with Ayer's new cafeteria Nutrition Corner! It shows how many students ate their fruits and vegetables, the benefits of eating those foods, and what will be in the school lunch on Food Fridays.

Brittanny and Hannah passing out kiwis - yum!

A total of 215 students ate their fruits and vegetables on the first Food Friday! They're off to a great start and hopefully those numbers will continue to go up! Be sure to check back for updates on Ayer's Food Friday! 

Promoting MyPlate and 

Physical Activity is what

UC CalFresh does best!

UC CalFresh has a long withstanding partnership with Fresno Unified School District; this partnership makes promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity, at a critical time period in these students' lives, possible. 

UC CalFresh Staff are ready to get students moving.

 UC CalFresh supported Vang Pao Elementary during their school wide Jog-a-Thon event on November 10, 2016 by providing a MyPlate Obstacle Course. The Vang Pao Jog-a-Thon was a success where students raised $2,800 for their school!

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What is a MyPlate Obstacle Course?

Glad you asked! A MyPlate obstacle course is a great stand alone physical activity motivator or in Vang Pao's case, a fun warm-up.

Vang Pao students warmed up their muscles and hit the track with a bang! The obstacle featured 5 main stations named after our beloved food groups, of course. It also featured in-between activities to keep students moving as they transitioned from station to station.

Need leg warm ups before hitting the trail? Try the Dairy Dips. Need some energy for some added spring to your step? Try the Whole Grain Hops. Want to test your aim? The Fruit Hoops station is for you. If you are in need of some arm warm ups, visit the Protein Push-up station to keep those arm muscles strong and limber. Still not challenged? Get your heart pumping with Vegetable Vertical Mountain Climbers. 

All you need is a large open space and a little imagination to make the MyPlate Obstacle course a reality...

UC CalFresh is ready to get moving; shall we begin?

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 How about some raise the roof push-ups? 

Students master the Whole Grain Hops as they put their agility to the test. 

Ms. Strawberry loses no time and keeps students moving to their next station. 

Vegetable vertical mountain climbers are a challenge, but look at how these students and Chris the Carrot rise to the occasion.

Ms. Perez motivates her students to improve their physical fitness and promote their bone health one dairy dip lunge at a time.

Looks like Ms. Perez has some friendly competition: who lunged better? Ms. Tomato or Ms. Perez's group? Regardless, both groups are winners!

If the MyPlate Obstacle course does not energize students, nothing will! Students easily breezed through the MyPlate Obstacle Course.

Our fruit and vegetable friends remind students that eating healthy foods along with 60 minutes of physical activity is the key to their health and to their continued academic success.

Running is such a great way to improve heart and lung health, and who knew one could raise money doing something this fun?!

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Until the next running adventure...