Tips for PTA Healthy Lifestyles Month

November is PTA Healthy Lifestyles Month and PTA provides parents a wealth of information on how to promote healthy lifestyle choices.

Parents can download PTA Healthy Lifestyles: A Parent's Guide as well as a toolkit developed in partnership with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. Both resources provide tips to parents on how to eat healthy and stay active as a family. The Parent's Guide is also available in Spanish.

Parents can also tell their PTAs about the resources available for local units to promote healthy lifestyles in schools. It's not too late for a unit to get started. Visit the PTA Parent Guide.

New Feature: School Garden of the Month--Lindley Garden

This month begins a new feature for this e-newsletter. Each month we will feature one Guilford County school garden. We begin with...

The Lindley Garden.

The Lindley Garden is a special place where children, teachers and families can work together to plant, grow, harvest and taste fresh vegetables. With initial funding from Home Depot and Syngenta, we broke ground in March of 2010 with over a hundred volunteers from our school helping build the garden, many who had never volunteered before! It was so exciting!

Now we have 16 raised beds shared among our classes, with special beds for our hearing impaired program and our ACES program. We have added an orchard of apple, pear and paw paw trees, a grape arbor (designed by a local artist using recycled materials), and a variety of berries. We grow cool season crops in the spring, including lettuce, spinach, peas and potatoes.

Most of our students and teachers participate in garden activities. We have a salad station as part of our Field Days in May, when all students get to pick lettuce, spinach, onions, mustard, and radishes and make a salad for tasting. Most love it! Many classes have other salad days, make salsa, French fries with freshly dug potatoes, and more.

Many kids have never gardened before and the excitement and wonder on their faces makes us realize the garden is making a difference. The lessons about the environment, the experience (a first for many of our children) of learning first-hand where our foods come from, and the sense of pride are positive outcomes for all.

The Lindley garden stays busy all summer, with parent volunteers who help maintain it. Students have harvested vegetables to sell at neighborhood farmers markets. We have started a tradition of garden potlucks to bring families together on campus.

We are proud to say that our garden is a community garden and is a place that connects everyone in our school. Please come visit! For more information, contact Palmer McIntyre.

School Garden Resources:

Annie's launched Root 4 Kids in partnership with the National Farm to School Network to inspire 1 million kids to dig and plant new veggies through harvest 2011.

Caring adults sign up to Root 4 Kids to join and commit to helping at least one child in their life dig or plant a new veggie.

Encourage kids to plant gardens and love veggies!

  Learn more about Annie's Grants for Gardens.

5 Ways Edible Gardens Make Kids Smarter and Healthier.

Healthy Fundraisers

We want to know what healthy fundraisers your school is holding this year! Let's share ideas and resources. Send in your ideas and you may be featured in our next newsletter.

This month we are starting with Gillespie Park Elementary.

Sarah Robinson at Gillespie Park says: We've been selling oranges for the past 5 years. We've used the Florida Indian River Grove Company and have been pleased with them. The profit is approximately 40% and in years past we have done well. Contact Sarah Robinson for more information.

Also refer to Healthy Fundraisers for PTAs.

Health Tips from The Healthy Kids Challenge

Make the Healthy Option the Easy Option: Snack Attack and

Healthy Holiday Entertaining

Learn How Librarians can Promote Health

Preschool teachers and childcare providers can use these healthy message activity ideas from this year's Kansas Reads to Preschoolers book selection, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Librarians connect healthy eating and physical activity with reading and are sharing their ideas with you. Check it out! Reading--Smart Eating--Moving...Balance My Day.

November is American Diabetes Month

Diabetes Prevention Tips

Source: Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Does Your Child Need A Dentist?

--Children up to age 21 with Medicaid and North Carolina Health Choice

--Children up to age 21 who have been denied Medicaid or NC Health Choice are able to receive dental services. Parents or guardians of these children will pay a reduced fee at the time of service

--Pregnant women with a Medicaid card

Help prevent dental problems with regular checkups and cleanings.

What services are offered?

Check ups

Cleanings

Sealants (children only)

Other services, such as fillings

Emergency treatment (for pain, swelling, or infection)

Who has to bring my child? A parent or legal guardian.

What do I need to bring?

--For children, Medicaid or Health Choice identification cards must be brought to each appointment.

--For children who have been denied Medicaid or Health Choice, bring payment and paperwork indicating denial.

--Bring custody paperwork if the child is in DSS custody or the foster care system.

--Medicaid card for pregnant women.

What else do I need to do?

--Say positive things to your child about the trip to the dentist.

--Please keep your appointment.

How do I make an appointment?

Call us. In Greensboro: (336) 641-3152; 1103 W. Friendly Avenue. In High Point: (336) 641-7733; 501 E. Green Drive.

Preventing Lead Poisoning in Children

Guilford County Department of Public Health, as a member of the Greensboro's Lead Safe Housing Partners, is underscoring the importance of testing your home, testing your child, and learning how to prevent lead poisoning's serious health effects.

Please be reminded of the various lead poisoning prevention programs that exist in our community:

-For free blood lead level testing of children less than six years of age, visit the Guilford County Department of Public Health. The test can be done at either clinic location (1100 E. Wendover Avenue in Greensboro or 501 E. Green Drive in High Point). Lab hours are 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary.

-For free inspection to identify lead sources in your home, call the Greensboro Housing Coalition at (336) 691-9521.

-For free information on how to make your home lead-safe, call the City of Greensboro, Lead Safe Housing program at (336) 373-2349.

All children under the age of 6 years old are at risk of lead poisoning because they are growing so rapidly and because they tend to put their hands or other objects, which may be contaminated with lead dust, into their mouths. However, children who live in older housing (homes built before 1978) are at greatest risk.

Cooking with Kids this Thanksgiving? 

Children learn by touching, tasting, feeling, smelling, and listening. They love to help prepare food and cook because they can use all their senses--and they like to eat the foods they make. Cooking with kids helps teach skills and makes cooking fun at an early age, allowing children to associate cooking with pleasant thoughts and feelings.

Consider these kid-cooking tips before you begin:

--Good cooks of all ages always wash their hands before cooking

--Remind children to wait until the dish is done before sampling to help prevent illness

--Expect spills and messes

--When dealing with short attention spans assign quick, simple jobs and give clear direction

Children can do more as they grow:

Two-year-olds are learning to use the large muscles in their arms.

Three-year-olds are learning to use their hands.

Four-and-five-year-olds are learning to control smaller muscles in their fingers.

For age-appropriate activities and experiences plus more on cooking with kids visit Cabot Cheese at Cooking with Kids.

Looking to teach your kids about nutrition and cooking skills? Visit Kids' Recipes by Kraft Foods. Easy to follow cooking videos and tasty ideas your kids will love making-and eating!

Tips for Teen Drivers

Source: State Farm

Be a Smart Toy Shopper this Holiday Season

If you're a parent, you know how tough it can be to choose the right toys, particularly when kids are young. You want something fun, ideally something that's educational, and of course something that's safe. Thousands of toys are on the market, each promising to educate or entertain our children.

Unfortunately, not every toy is safe. Toy buyers can help protect children from injury by being careful, vigilant shoppers. Read on for Tips to Keep Kids Safe.

Source: North Carolina Public Interest Research Group

November is National Caregiver Month

This holiday season is a good time to reach out to those that care for a loved one to ensure they are getting the support they need.

Click here for Solutions for Caregivers.

Playground Safety Workshops

Playground Safety Part 2 December 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

During these workshops, participants will discuss sensitive safe play based on NC Child Care Commission Playground rules.

1200 Arlington St., Greensboro, NC

Presented by: Guilford Child Development

FREE My Healthy Challenge Wellness Tips!

Meet the challenge for personal wellness. Each month you will receive an e-mail, My Healthy Challenge, featuring five simple ideas to challenge yourself, friends, family, co-workers and kids!

This is a great resource for a class project or employee wellness support system. The challenges will focus on six Healthy Practices --eating breakfast, fruits and veggies, healthy snacking, serving sizes, beverage choices, and active play.

See how many people you can get to Take the Challenge each month! Submit your story and be entered into a monthly random drawing for prizes. See the stories from Previous Winners.

Sign up Today!