Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club

LEARNING ABOUT THE NEW HEALTHY EATING PYRAMID
Food pyramid from mypyramid.gov, Photos Carol Goodrow, Mary Anne Willliams, Vickie Chiang, and Mr. Slane
lunch

Happy Feet Lunches

For printable footprint charts and Happy Feet Lunch blanks, T-shirt design, and sample of a Happy Feet ribbon, please go to The Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club page.

For printable pyramid charts go to mypyramid.gov/.

run

Combining running with health, fitness, and academics.

WEEK 4
"Happy Feet Lunches" are catching on. The children are eating them at home and in school. During the month of November our school lunch program will feature some "Happy Feet Lunches" on the school menu. And what's in a "Happy Feet Lunch"? Small - medium portions of fruit, vegetables, water or low-fat milk, and at least one other healthy food from the dairy, grain, or meat category.

FOOTPRINT CHARTS
The kids are making good progress on reaching their goals of coloring in 25 footprints for their "Official Happy Feet Kid" ribbon.

Footprints are color-coded and awarded for: coming to club, bringing a healthy snack to club, eating a "Happy Feet Lunch", bringing their parent as a volunteer, attending another fun run, attending the club Chipmunk Chase (our fun run), a special project (ex. mountain climbing with their family), earning a toe-token or shoelace at mileage club, and journaling at home.

folder

Taking care of footprints before club starts

running on the field

LITERATURE TIE-IN
We had a lot to do before we went outside to run. First, we read a page from our Happy Feet book about fun runs. This got our attention because our club fun run, The Chipmunk Chase, is coming up soon. Our test told us to warm up by jogging, start out easy, pick up the pace when we felt good, and to keep running until we cross the finish line.

The featured snack was the orange - the perfect food for runners. Oranges are full of vitamin c, very juicy and a great energy boost before, during, or after running.

Next, we had to finish reading Eric Brooks's new children's book Slow Days, Fast Friends. The children gave the book a large hand of applause.

But this wasn't all. We learned to sign the question, "Are you going to the Chipmunk Chase?" Each child signed to a friend who answered in sign - yes, no, or maybe. Signing seems to come easier to young children than to adults. And it's a lot of fun for them. Finally we started learning about the government's new food pyramid.

pyramid

The children learned that the pyramids are color-coded. The colors cannot be changed. Orange stands for grains, at least 1/2 of which should be "whole" grains. Green is for vegetables and vegetables eaten should be a variety of colors. Red is for fruit. Whole fruit is recommended over juice. Blue stands for dairy which should be low or no-fat for children over the age of two, and finally purple is for meat which also includes legumes, and nuts. Meat should be lean. Remember the tip of the old food pyramid - the tiny tip for sweets? Sweets are not included at all on this new pyramid.

For games, information, and printables on this new pyramid, check out MyPyramid.gov. The Web site is full of helpful information, very user friendly, and it has interactive sections where you can plug in your age, amount of physical activity, gender, and in some sections weight. In return you get an individualized formula to help you with your daily healthy eating plan.

OUTDOORS

As always, after our work is finished, we go outside for a run. We enjoyed the beautiful weather by running laps - slow and fast, then getting into groups to do some fun drills - butt kicks and high knees.

CLOSING COMMENTS
Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club has turned into so much more than just a running club. It's hard to say what the kids like best, but it's easy to see that with so many activities, there is something for just about any kid to enjoy.
pyramids

Pyramid worksheets from mypyramid.org

ALL KIDS
Another thing that the children experience at our club is camaraderie. We all work and play together. Girls sit with boys. First graders sit with second graders. We mix our groups for running and relays. No one seems to complain when all of the activities stay non-competitive.

JOURNALING
As always, we end the session up with journaling in "Happy Feet, Healthy Food". This year to streamline things, I have big banners with the sample sentences on the wall to help the children with their journaling. Those who are just learning to read and write have models to copy from, but those who already are literate compose their own journal entries.

pyramid

The pyramid ends with the purple triangle for meats.

pyramid

ADDING SIGN TO YOUR CLUB (ASL)
Would you like to add ASL to your club? If so, follow these steps.
1. Find someone in your school who can sign. Have them teach you a few words. Take photos of them signing so that you won't forget.

2. Visit Bill Vicars's site Lifeprint.com. He makes signing easy and explains its nuances very well. What's more, many of his signs are animated. He also gives tips for "finger spelling". Here is Bill signing run.