Forsythe School

Winter Update


The results are in and for the second year in a row Mrs. Meyer’s 6th grade advisory won the Healthy Tracker competition. They now proudly display the Project Healthy Schools cup trophy and were treated to a delicious smoothie party in early February. Students found that they loved the varieties of smoothies, even if they had never had one before!

Smoothies are easy to make and a wonderful after school pick me up. All you need is a blender and the following ingredients:

• Fresh or frozen fruit - we use frozen as it eliminates the need for ice and it is also less expensive especially in the winter. Any fruit will do - for our smoothie party we used a combination of peaches, strawberries and a mixed berry.
• Yogurt - we us non-fat or low fat vanilla. Flavored low fat yogurt also is delicious so look for strawberry or banana strawberry.
  
• Liquid - we use either 100% juice (a mixed blend like pineapple, banana, orange) or orange juice. You could also use vanilla soy milk or any other low fat milk. Once we tried strawberries with chocolate soy milk - very delicious!
• Try equal parts of the above three ingredients in a blender and determine the thickness you desire then blend away!

Individual prizes were distributed this week to students who participated in the tracker competition. Prizes included an Ipod shuffle, Border’s gift cards and University of Michigan water bottles.

Our “in classroom” activities are winding down and most of our Health Ambassadors are teaching the last two activities this week.

Activity 9 highlights screen time and students are asked to determine how much time they spend in front of a screen - Ipod, video games, TV, movies, text messaging, computer, etc… The national average for kids in middle and high school is about 4 hours per day. We calculate the class average then compare to the average. This lesson always generates great discussion on family rules and alternate activities to screen time. We emphasize that watching TV often leads to snacking on high calorie items.

Activity 10 emphasizes the importance of choosing a healthy beverage. Students are divided into 4 groups and given a bag of empty beverage containers, milk, fruit drinks, energy drinks and soda pops. Each group analyzes the ingredients and Nutrition Facts panel and determines the most and least healthy beverage in the group. We love to have the kids read the ingredients in a can of Red Bull. Our motto, “if you can’t read it don’t eat it!”

We will begin the month of March in your children’s advisory teaching yoga and Pilates. We are always looking for volunteers to help lead a station so, if you are available on either March 3 or March 4 from 10-11am or 2-3pm we would love your help!

Look for more information to come about the end of the year field day in early June. We need a parent liaison to help plan this fun event. Please contact Susan Aaronson (734/975-3032 or susaaaro@umich.edu) if you would like to volunteer for either the PE assemblies or the field day!