1. Thursday, April 24, 2014 Page 3The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado
EducationHEALTH & WELLNESS
Fisher’s Peak Food Play provides
good nutrition info, freewheeling fun
By Steve Block
The Chronicle-News
Good nutrition can be an exciting pros-
pect, and that fact was prominently dis-
played on Monday at the Food Play dem-
onstration at Fisher’s Peak Elementary
School. A passel of enthusiastic kids was
entertained by a demonstration about the
positive benefits of good eating and healthy
exercise by Food Play’s “Coach,” portrayed
by Danielle Gendron, and “Johnny Junk-
food,” played by Jordan Phillips.
Johnny Junkfood’s goal of achieving su-
perstardom as a juggler was hampered by
his poor eating habits, if and when he chose
to chow down at all, while Coach, who’s
the leader of the National Junior Juggling
Team, was trying in vain to instill the hab-
its of good nutrition and healthy exercise
in the feckless Johnny. With just enough
coaxing by Coach, Johnny began to turn
over a brand new — and very green — leaf.
The kids howled with enjoyment as they
watched the reformation of the sad sack
Johnny into a shining example of good
modern living.
Though Food Play turns good eating
into good fun, it has a more serious pur-
pose. In the last 25 years, childhood obe-
sity rates have doubled among elementary
school children nationwide and tripled
among teenagers. One in three children is
overweight, and less than 2 percent of the
nation’s youths are meeting their daily nu-
tritional requirements. On average, kids
are drinking more than 600 cans of soda
and consuming more than 150 pounds of
sugars a year, while missing out on the rec-
ommended levels of fruits, vegetables and
whole grains that are needed for optimal
health, according to information from Food
Play.
The fun-filled Food Play performances
put school nutrition front and center and
highlight the importance of fruits and veg-
gies. After the school-wide assembly per-
formance, the school receives extensive
follow-up resources to keep the message
going strong all year long. The peppy pro-
gram gets everyone in the school, including
students, teachers, parents, food-service
personnel, health staff and administrators
excited about creating healthier schools
and improving children’s eating and phys-
ical-activity habits.
The Fisher’s Peak program was funded
through a grant from the Bar N-I Commu-
nity Service Fund. The grant paid for the
Food Play show, along with DVDs, booklets
and other nutritional learning materials to
help students practice good nutrition and
exercise habits. The materials can be re-
used year after year, allowing for continu-
ity in the nutrition and exercise programs.
The Food Play program introduces the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “My
Plate” food guide, which helps kids learn
how to fill half of their plates with fruits and
veggies. A solid breakfast is encouraged
for kids as the best way to start every day.
Students learn about “GO” foods that they
should eat from all of the five food groups
and “WHOA” foods that they should try to
avoid.
Food Play helps kids learn the skills they
need to see through TV commercials, to de-
cipher food labels and to make smart choic-
es about their own health and the health of
the planet.
The show concluded with the exciting
“Super Star Snack Attack Game Show,” in
which contestants learned how to prepare
their own healthy fruit and veggie snacks,
rather than buying junk food at the store.
The message came through loud and clear
to the kids that they should feed healthy
foods to their bodies, feed positive images to
their minds and enjoy the chance to be ac-
tive every day.
Caroline Villa, the school district’s food-
service director, said the federal govern-
ment had mandated new school-nutrition
standards that recommend more whole
grains and reduced sodium levels.
“We hope this program will encourage
the kids to bring these nutrition and ex-
ercise ideas home with them and not just
leave them in the school lunchroom,” Villa
said.
Steve Block / The Chronicle-News
“Coach,” portrayed by Danielle Gendron, above right, fires up a crowd of kids at Monday’s Food
Playprogram.“Coach,” belowright,has“JohnnyJunkfood,”playedbyJordanPhillips,allwrapped
up in a food label at the Food Play program at Fisher’s Peak Elementary on Monday.
11th ANNUAL EVENT
TMS Literacy Night
approaches
By Michael Guadagnoli
Special to The Chronicle-News
Trinidad Middle School will host its 11th
Annual Family Literacy Night on Wednes-
day, April 30, beginning at 5:45 p.m. at the
Middle School Auditorium. This year’s
theme is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Read. The theme encom-
passes both literacy and science, specifical-
ly space science.
Students and parents will participate in
activities that relate to the theme, as well as
getting to meet this year’s author, Dr. Jef-
frey Bennett. Dr. Bennett is currently an
Adjunct Research Associate for the Center
for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy at
the University of Colorado at Boulder and
is a nationally acclaimed author and guest
speaker. He currently has four critically ac-
claimed books: “On the Cosmic Horizon,”
“Beyond UFOs,” “Math for Life,” which
won the Colorado Book Award for general
non-fiction, and “What Is Relativity?”
Dr. Bennett is also the creator and au-
thor of the series, “Science Adventures with
Max the Dog,” which includes “Max Goes to
the Moon,” “Max Goes to Mars,” “Max Goes
to Jupiter” and “The Wizard Who Saved
the World.” These titles were selected by
the Story Time From Space Program as the
first set of books to be launched to the Inter-
national Space Station on January 9, 2014.
Astronauts are reading these books to chil-
dren around the world. Dr. Bennett is also
the founder of Big Kid Science, a company
dedicated to educating and inspiring chil-
dren with the wonders of science.
Childcare will be provided for families
with younger children so that TMS stu-
dents and parents may attend the evening’s
sessions. Family Literacy Night is made
possible with funding from the 21st Century
After-School Program Grant, of which Trin-
idad Middle School was a recipient for the
past two consecutive five-year cycles.
Photo courtesy of Trinidad Middle School
Mrs. Vallegos reads to her class in preparation for the upcoming Family Literacy Night. The guest
author for the event, which will be held on Wednesday, April 30, will be Dr. Jeffrey Bennett.
Photo courtesy of TSJC
Nail competition at TSJC
The Cosmetology Department at Trinidad State challenged
students to a nail competition. Area professionals judged the
entries. The entry by Mariah Mock, above, placed first in the
nail competition, second place went to Mariah Coca, and third
place was a tie between entries from Christina Sanchez and
Jeanna Pedri.
DEVELOPMENT
How does watching
television affect the
brains of young
children?
By Martha Holden
Demand Media
Children under age 5 are actively
growing, learning and developing hab-
its that will shape their mental, physi-
cal and emotional health. At a critical
period to the child’s body and brain
development, any undesirable influ-
ences can have lifelong mental and
health effects on the child. Television
viewing among kids has been linked
to both positive and negative impacts
on early brain development, behavior
and health.
The Growing Brain
Most young children plug into the world of
television long before they start school. The
early childhood period is a critical time for
brain development. According to the American
Academy of Pediatrics, a child’s brain under-
goes immense growth during the first three
years of life, with the brain’s mass tripling in just
the first 12 months. The stimuli experienced
during this period have significant effects on
the child’s brain development. For infants and
toddlers, images on television screens differ
significantly from those in the real world. The
inability of the child to perceive the difference
between the two worlds can have lasting ef-
fects on vital functions, including language
development, vision and memory, cognitive
development and attention.
Language Development
Young children learn most efficiently from
interacting with other people. The parent-baby
relationship is crucial for social interactions
and mental stimulation. With a television, this
relationship is profoundly affected because of
reduced parent-child interactions and engage-
ment. According to the American Academy
of Pediatrics, a toddler’s brain is genetically
equipped to learn from social interactions with
caregivers and other children. Reduced par-
ent-child relationships often contributes to less
conversational interactions between the par-
ents and children, something that can slow the
acquisition of language skills and cues.
Cognitive Development
High levels of television consumption during
the early childhood period can have modest to
adverse effects on subsequent cognitive de-
velopment of kids. Scientists suggest that the
visual and auditory output from television nega-
tively affects the levels of attention, creativity,
problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills
of young children. Watching non-educational
programs on television can get in the way of
playing, exploring and interacting with parents
and other children, thus undermining learning
and academic engagement. Too much screen
time for kids can interfere with vital activities,
such as reading, homework completion, atten-
tion, sleep and eating habits — which can then
affect your child’s cognitive outcomes.
Vision and Memory
Even though television watching is a pas-
sive activity, understanding the messages
portrayed requires particular skills, including
listening, memory and visual skills. In the first
three years of life, young children cannot fully
comprehend such messages since many of
these skills are only beginning to develop. The
visual language used on television screens is
often too difficult for kids to decode, and hence
the level of information retention is called into
question.
Social Skills
The American Academy of Pediatrics sug-
gests that kids under age 2 should not watch
TV because of their inability to understand the
existing relationship between television and re-
ality as portrayed. It further recommends that
well-designed programs and age-appropriate
viewing thereafter can help teach children liter-
acy skills, language skills, problem solving and
appropriate social behavior. Preschoolers learn
more from educational TV when they watch
such programs in the company of an adult than
if they do so alone.