Getting
N ow that you're a Team Nutrition
Leader for your school, your first
question may be "what does it mean to
be a Team Nutrition Leader and how do I
begin?" Here are some ideas to help you get
started.
FORM A TEAM NUTRITION COMMITTEE
There are many people in your community who
are working to make nutrition a priority in
people's lives. Our goal is to involve these local
"experts" in Team Nutrition Schools. We
suggest beginning your Team Nutrition School
program by making a presentation along with
your principal at a faculty meeting to inform
everyone of the school's involvement in Team
Nutrition, what is available to them, and what
their role can be to help implement Team
Nutrition. This should include information on
the positive changes being made by the food
service staff to bring meals in line with the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. If you are not
involved in food service, have a preliminary
meeting with your food service staff and involve
them in your presentation. The Tool Kit for
Healthy School Meals, which includes over 50
new recipes, was provided to every school food
service manager earlier this year. It is a positive
example of the support materials available to
assist schools in achieving this goal.
Next, start building your Team Nutrition
Committee by inviting teachers, students (if
appropriate), parents, food service staff and
community leaders from your school district,
Started
and health, education, agriculture and nutrition
groups to join you in a Team Nutrition
Committee meeting. People in the community
with an interest in ensuring the health and
education of children are a good place to start,
and remember that there are Team Nutrition
Supporters interested in working with you to
accomplish your goals. They can be a great
resource to you. These people include:
~~· l - Staff and volunteers of local affiliates of
groups like the American Heart
Association, American Cancer Society,
PTA, the American Academy of
Pediatrics, National4-H Council, Dairy
Council, Five-a-Day participants and
local coaches or athletes.
Local nutritionists and dietitians,
pediatricians and family practitioners,
and hospital staff.
Cooperative Extension staff and local
agriculture groups.
Representatives of local businesses such
as restaurant owners and chefs, grocery
store managers, growers, local farmer's
markets and food manufacturers, and
local media.
Cooperative Extension staff and State or
Regional Nutrition Education and Training
Program coordinators are already involved in
Team Nutrition activities and can provide
valuable support to your program... .
You may want to organize a public information
roundtable that brings together the Team
Nutrition Committee and community leaders
interested in children's nutrition and education
to share ideas and develop an action plan to
support Team Nutrition in your school and
reinforce the messages in the community. Team
Nutrition Connections contains a list of national
organizations that are Team Nutrition
Supporters. Many have local affiliates that may
be right in your neighborhood. This will provide
you with a reference point that you can build
upon in your community.
SUPPORTING TEAM NUTRITION'S
MISSION AND PRINCIPLES
Supporting the mission and principles of Team
Nutrition means taking these principles and
beginning to translate them into opportunities
for children to learn about, and practice, healthy
eating. Some ways of doing this include:
Send a letter home to parents to let them
know of the school's new menus, the role
of Team Nutrition in your school, a copy
of the Team Nutrition Mission and
Principles, an invitation to participate in
the Team Nutrition Committee, and
announcements of any upcoming
activities.
Post the Team Nutrition mission and
principles (you can find them in
Connections) alongside your Team
Nutrition School certificate, perhaps as
part of a special Team Nutrition bulletin
board using the Resource Box and the
Team Nutrition School Banner.
Work with school food service staff to
see what they are doing to meet the
Dietary Guidelines and involving them
in nutrition education activities with the
children to support and promote their
efforts to meet the Dietary Guidelines.
2
Use the Scholastic Teacher's Guide for
the elementary modules, choose or adapt
activities and nutrition instruction that
link the classroom and the cafeteria.
Work with the Team Nutrition
Committee and/or linking with a school
health committee to develop one or more
Team Nutrition education activities for
this school year and begin planning for
the next school year.
DEMONSTRATING A COMMITMENT TO MEET THE
DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS
A key aspect of Team Nutrition is to provide
school meals that meet the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans. This means creating and offering
menus that are lower in fat and saturated fats
and offer more grains, vegetables, and fruits .
Some ways to start off are:
-£:~..._
~ 1- Use your Team Nutrition Committee to
review menus, make suggestions for
theme ideas, and taste new recipes. Find
out which menu planning system your
school will be using for this school
year-NuMenus, Assisted NuMenus or
a Food Based System.
-£:~..._
~· 1 - Find out if menus have been reviewed
using nutrient analysis software or some
other comparable technique.
Encourage the use of the new recipes
contained in USDA's Tool Kit for Healthy
School Meals.
Encourage food service staff to
participate in training and technical
assistance opportunities offered by
USDA, your State agency or the Food
Service Management Institute, especially
training on the different meal planning
systems.
~~· ' - Publicize the l-800-Your Healthy Food
Line (l-800-943-5463) operated by the
National Food Service Management
Institute that school food service staff
can call for information on menu
planning, dietary guidelines, nutrient
analysis, recipes, etc.
DISTRIBUTING TEAM NUTRITION MATERIALS
Many Team Nutrition School materials are
included in the Resource Kit. This kit includes a
Team Nutrition School Banner, posters,
reproducible materials and the Great Nutrition
Adventure Action Kit. For those elementary
schools that received a Scholastic Teacher
Resource Kit, ask an interested teacher to "try
out" the kit and then report to your Team
Nutrition Committee or other teachers.
Decide how you might use all these materials.
Some ideas include:
~
~' - Contact your State Nutrition Education
and Training (NET) Coordinator,
Cooperative Extension Office or other
nutrition professional to provide your
teachers with nutrition training to assist
them with implementing the Scholastic
curriculum in elementary schools.
~
~ ' - If your school is an elementary school,
share, duplicate or purchase Scholastic
materials for interested elementary
teachers.
~
~'- Develop Team Nutrition teaching teams
with resource materials that can be
shared among classroom teachers.
~
~ ' - Plan a Team Nutrition School Day to
unveil the certificate and display the
Team Nutrition School banner. Invite
parents, school board members,
community leaders, Team Nutrition
Committee and local newspaper and
television reporters to attend the event.
Make a presentation about Team
Nutrition at a parents meeting, or ask a
Team Nutrition Committee member to
do so.
~
~·' - Have an "open house" to display the
materials and involve parents and their
children in fun nutrition education
activities sponsored by some of your
community members.
INVOLVING OTHERS IN ENTERTAINING AND
INTERACTIVE NUTRITION EDUCATION ACTIVITIES
One of the commitments your school made to
become a member of Team Nutrition was to hold
at least one Team Nutrition education activity a
year that has classroom and cafeteria
components, and involves parents, teachers,
food service staff and community leaders in
delivering nutrition education to students and
their families. The primary role of the Team
Nutrition Committee is to help plan and
implement these activities in the Team
Nutrition School. The following activities have
proven successful at other schools:
~ ~·' - Make plans to have a Great Nutrition
Adventure, a fun and popular special
activity. The Great Nutrition Adventure
Activity Kit will help you plan and carry
out this activity.
~ ~ ' - Have school food service staff, local
restaurant owners, volunteer chefs or
local farmers present lessons in
classrooms about "where the foods in
their lunch come from" (starting with
the fields and finishing at the cafeteria
serving line), and then invite the
children to go behind the scenes as these
volunteers prepare a nutritious lunch for
them.
Encourage teachers to prepare a lesson
plan about where food comes from in
different parts of the country and the
world, and have a theme lunch that
features healthful foods from around the
world.
~~· 1 - Invite a local produce manager from a
grocery store or farmer's market to talk in
classrooms about how food goes from the
field to the shelf. Next, plan a fruit and
vegetable taste testing in the cafeteria
during lunchtime. Involve your Team
Nutrition Committee to incorporate
additional nutrition and health activities.
~~· 1 - Involve local Supporters in planting a
Team Nutrition fruit and vegetable
garden to teach children where foods
come from and the important link
between agriculture and health.
~
~· 1 - Be sure to incorporate physical activity
into your program to emphasize its
importance. Have a coach or physical
education teacher do a session on the
link between good nutrition, physical
activity and good health.
These are just some of the ways you can be an
active Team Nutrition School and make
nutrition education fun and exciting for your
students. Your imagination and enthusiasm can
bring Team Nutrition to life in your school and
community.
We would like to highlight your school and
activities in Team Nutrition School Connections.
Tell us what you are doing and the groups
involved in your program. Send color photos of
your students involved in interesting nutrition
education activities, which we can share with
other schools, to your Regional Team Nutrition
Contact. Regional Contacts are:
4
Charles Dejulius
USDA/FCS/NERO
10 Causeway Street, Room 501
Boston, Massachusetts 02222-1068
(617) 565-6418
Walt Haake
USDA/FCSIMARO
Mercer Corporate Park
300 Corporate Blvd.
Robbinsville, New jersey 08691-1598
(609) 259-5091
Sara Harding
USDA/FCS/SERO
77 Forsyth Street, SW, Suite 112
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3427
(404) 730-2588
Lawrence Rudmann
USDA/FCSIMWRO
77 West jackson Blvd., 20th Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60604-3507
(312) 353-1044
'
judy Barron
USDA/FCS/SWRO
1100 Commerce St., Rm 5-C-30
Dallas, Texas 75242
(214) 767-0256
Darlene Sanchez
USDA/FCSIMPRO
1244 Speer Blvd., Suite 903
Denver, Colorado 80204
(303) 844-0355
Cordelia Morris
USDA/FCS/WRO
550 Kearny Street, Rm 400
San Francisco, California 94108-2518 .
(415) 705-1311
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