Brain Break Videos

Does your brain need a break?  Has it been thinking too much?  Below are a couple of cute little 2 minute videos that will get you clapping, dancing, or at least tapping your toe all while your brain takes a break from more serious thinking.  Enjoy!

Brave (Big Block Sing Song) 

Eat (Big Block Sing Song) 

Fruit (Big Block Sing Song)   (Super Snack Lady's favorite video!)

 

Tips on Taking the Kids to the Grocery Store

Do you like grocery shopping with your child?  Or do you avoid it at all costs? 

Super Snack Lady doesn't have any kids of her own but she is sometimes hesitant to go to the store during "peak kid hours" (as she calls them) as there is normally a lot of loud noises of kids arguing with parents over a specific food they want, but the parents don't want them to have.  Or the kid is trusted to drive the shopping cart and they run into everything and everyone. 

There is a good blog out there that focuses on healthy, affordable recipes and also gives other shopping tips.  Check it out HERE! The posting from today focuses on how to have a successful shopping trip to the store with your child.  Check it out for some good tips!!!

Community Garden by Johnson School of the Arts

Super Snack Lady has spent the last several months going to meetings and connecting with people in the neighborhood around Johnson School of the Arts (better known as Wellington Heights) in an joint effort to get a community garden started somewhere close to the school.

This was challenging mainly because JSA doesn't have any grass at their school that can be used for a garden.  We quickly made partners with First Congregational Church which is directly behind the school.  They were gracious enough to let us use some of their property in order to make a garden that the whole community and neighborhood could enjoy and work together on.

On Saturday April 6th we held a huge garden kick off event.  We had a great turn out of about 65 people come and go through out the morning to make the garden prep happen!!  Check out the photos below or click here or here to see local news stories on the event.

This shows the lawn that was going to be
turned into the garden once spring
came and the snow melted.

The design was decided based on "pizza wedges"
with each wedge holding different veggies,
herbs, or flowers.  The wedges are outlined
in yellow and the pile of compost was
delivered a couple of days prior to our event.

Though there was a threat of rain showers
the bad weather held off and we had a great
spring morning to spread the compost onto the
garden beds.  MANY THANKS to our
volunteers that helped us!!!

The compost was piled about 6 inches high
on top of where the seeds will be planted.  This
will enhance the soil and make it healthier
for plants to grow in it. 

Within a couple of very short hours the volunteers
had the garden beds all prepped and ready
for seeds once it gets warmer outside!  Where
the wooden pallet is in the middle will be a
seating area for students to observe the garden.

Corey Christiansen who is the chief
meteorologist at KGAN/CBS 2 came
and spoke to kids and adults about
how weather affects the garden
and about his own garden experiences
growing up.

Alicia Aguiar, who is a dietician at 1st Ave
Hy-Vee, came and did a sampling
with kids called "Taste the Rainbow".
Kids tasted fruits and veggies from every
color of the rainbow!

These are some of the pickets that
kids and families painted on the Garden
Kickoff Day!!  They will be incorporated
into the garden in some way, yet
to be decided.  What creativity!

More awesome pickets! (Can you see the one
that Super Snack Lady did?!?  Its second
from the bottom!)

The kids and families that came enjoyed decorating
the pickets according to things that mattered to them.
There is a Girl Scout Troop picket, Boys and Girls Club
picket, and one that reads "Community".  

 Overall we had a GREAT Garden Kick Off Day!!!  Super Snack Lady looks forward to sharing more pictures once plants get planted in the garden and even start sprouting!

Make Your Brain SMART!

As everyone knows April is Iowa Core Testing Month for the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Testing- that is the word of the month.  Below are some tips are how to get kids in the right frame of mind for testing from a nutritional stand point:

Parents:

1. Get enough sleep.  Kids should get 10-11 hours of sleep a night!
2. Get up and get going.  Start your day with a couple jumping jacks or crunches or even hopping up and down.  This will wake you up and get the blood in your body moving up towards your brain.
3. Start your morning with a good, solid breakfast full of whole grains. Oatmeal, whole grain toast, or whole grain cereal are great options.
4. Eat fruits and vegetables.  Trying to eat healthy snacks of fruits and veggies will keep you healthy!  
5. Keep hydrated. That means drink lots of water and not so many sugary drinks like pop.

 Teachers:

1. Take brain breaks between tests!  (If you look at previous posts I've made I've posted several different videos that you can play quickly).
2. Do breathing exercises to calm students' nerves and focus their brains.  It can be as simple as having students sit up straight in their chairs, take a long, silent, deep breath in, and then slowly letting it out.  You'd be surprised at how much calmer students can get through this simple breathing technique.

 

APRIL'S Fruit and Veggie!

Hello friends!!  Sorry it's been so long since Super Snack Lady has written anything!  She has been super busy with garden projects at different schools along with visiting all of my classrooms.  Whew!  

It is finally April and now that the weather outside is wonderful and getting warmer it is time for a new fruit and vegetable of the month.  Below you'll see the pictures as hints.  Look at the captions for extra clues!

This is the outside of the
fruit of the month.  Hint:
It is Super Snack Lady's favorite
fruit and is tropical!

WHAT?!?!  This isn't much of a hint for the
vegetable- as you can see it is tomatoes.  However,
did you know that there are different kinds
of tomatoes?  What variety is this?

Have a great month and Super Snack Lady will see you soon! Until she gets to your school this month keep active and get out and play in the nicer weather!

Flat Super Snack Lady: The US Traveler!

Flat Super Snack Lady has been SUPER  busy traveling all over the United States and seeing many different cities.  Look below to see how she has been staying active and healthy.

Flat Super Snack Lady enjoyed the warmer
weather and beautiful view when she visited
Torrey Pines State Beach which is
located outside of San Diego, California.
What a view!

Flat Super Snack Lady enjoyed a walk/hike
through the park with the real Super Snack Lady's
little cousin.  Obviously he enjoyed
Flat Super Snack Lady!

Next Flat Super Snack Lady ventured to
Lubbock, Texas.  Here she is pictured rolling
around in a passing tumbleweed in a
Texas oil field.

While in Texas Flat Super Snack Lady went
to a wind farm (where they take the wind
and turn it into power with the help of
a wind mill).  Luckily she didn't fly away!

Sometimes Flat Super Snack Lady travels
by car, by mail, or even by airplane!
Here she is on the way to Denver, Colorado.
She decided to have a healthy snack of
cranberry juice and dried fruit.  YUM!

The most recent place that Flat Super Snack Lady
visited was Earth Biscuit Farms in Tipton, Iowa.
At the farm they have hens that lay eggs.  FSSL
was lucky enough to be able to do chores
at the farm and helped clean the eggs
after getting them from the hen house.

These baby chicks (which will grow into
hens that will lay eggs at the farm)
were VERY interested in Flat Super
Snack Lady!  The lights were keeping the
chicks warm and cozy during a cold Iowa
day since they were only a few days old!

Where is Flat Super Snack Lady going to appear next time?  What other US cities and states is she going to travel to?  How else are Americans staying healthy and active?!?  Check back soon for another post!!! 

What do YOU see?

This last fall I went to the Iowa Organic Agriculture Conference in Iowa City.  I learned a lot about organic farming and I heard an amazing speaker, Will Allen, speak.  For those of you who don't know who Will Allen is allow me to introduce you to him!

Will Allen is a former NBA basketball player.  When he retired he needed something to do with his time and began to dive into organic farming.  He now owns Growing Power located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and solely puts his efforts into running multiple "urban farms".  What exactly is an urban farm?! Well it's when you take space in a city and create something magical on it!  If you have grass you can dig it up and create a garden right there- perhaps it is in a city park or maybe it is in your own back yard no matter where you live.  Something else Will Allen does is put gardens ON TOP OF BLACK TOP!!  He has an urban garden in Milwaukee that used to be a parking lot!! 

Needless to say, Will Allen is doing amazing things with growing produce in unlikely spaces.  At the conference this last fall Will challenged everyone to think about spaces differently in your city.  Your front yard?  It could be a garden!  The vacant lot next door? Garden!  A vacant parking lot?  Garden!  What about a roof top?  GARDEN!   So, this naturally got Super Snack Lady thinking.....

Where can we put a garden at an elementary school that has no grass or field??  So I looked around and guess what I saw across the street- a BIG open space at a church!  So this is the beginnings of a community garden for the students at Johnson School of the Arts.  It doesn't look like much yet, but wait until it gets warmer....

So, where could you put some vegetable plants around your house?  Where could you create an urban garden?  A garden doesn't have to be millions of plants but rather just one tomato plant or one cucumber plant that can climb up a stair case.  Just think about it!

Taylor's Healthy Families Night!

Super Snack Lady helped put on a great event at Taylor Elementary this last week.  Due to snow it was a little delayed, but we had a great turn out none the less!!  There were over 20 different agencies that were all at Taylor to support their families in being healthy- not only nutritionally, but physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Check below to see a couple photos of what was going on!

Super Snack Lady brought a prize to Taylor's
Healthy Families Night!  This produce basket
included a pineapple, some apples, peaches,
bananas, green beans, a cucumber, oranges,
potatoes, and bell peppers.  What a great
prize for a family to win!!!

Here is Super Snack Lady's friend
and co-worker Amy was a GREAT help
with the awesome prize wheel.
Students had to spin the wheel
and then do the physical activity that
was listed or answer questions about
yummy fruits and vegetables.

Super Snack Lady spent a little time doing the
prize wheel when she wasn't busy talking
to students and helping with the rest of the event.

Super Snack Lady's other co-workers, Janice
and Kathy, were at Taylor too!
 They brought super fun ramps and balls for the
kids to play with while handing out
information to their parents.

The Extended Food and Nutrition Education
Program people were handing out
free samples to families and getting parents
signed up for free cooking classes.  YUM!

 

Preview of March's Snacks!

Where did February go? As a matter of fact, where did January go?!  It's hard to believe that we're already to March.  As always a new month means new snacks.  Check out the photos below and try to guess what the fruit and veggie is (this might be the easiest month to guess too!).

Here is the delicious fruit of the month.  The color
is a big hint in what it's name is!

This is the vegetable.  Traditionally it's white like
like this picture.  However, they now grow it
in purple and green color.