School Wellness
Kent County Coordinated School Health Program (KCCSHP)
http://www.kccshp.weebly.comKCCSHP works with income-eligible schools in Kent County interested in improving the health of their students. The Kent County Health Department is one of the community agencies working together to support schools in their mission to promote healthy behaviors of students and create a healthy, positive learning environment.
KCCSHP partners support schools through:
- Sending trained facilitators to lead school staff through the Healthy School Action Tool (HSAT), a free, online tool which helps schools assess their nutrition, physical activity, asthma management, violence and injury prevention, and tobacco free policies and environment.
- Supplying access to local community resources to help schools implement their action plan.
- Giving three years of direct support for action planning, implementation, and evaluation.
- Providing up to date resources to develop sustainable and measurable environmental changes in their school building that offer consistent messages about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity.
For more information on the program and/or if your school is eligible please contact:
| Dawn Davies, Public Health Educator Kent County Health Department 616-632-7296 dawn.davies@kentcountymi.gov |
Stephanie Marino, Extension Educator Kent/MSU Extension 616-336-3265 marinos1@msu.edu |
Action for Healthy Kids (MAFHK)
http://www.actionforhealthykids.orgAction for Healthy Kids is the nation’s leading non-profit and largest volunteer network fighting childhood obesity and undernourishment by partnering with schools to improve nutrition and physical activity to help our kids learn to eat right, be active every day, and be ready to learn.
Michigan Action for Healthy Kids is a vibrant state coalition of more than 1800 health and nutrition professionals, parents, students, physicians, business leaders, and other community members who take action in their schools, communities, and regions to make positive change. As the largest Action for Healthy Kids Team in the country, Michigan has a strong voice at the state and national level.
The Michigan Team has a regional leader presence throughout the state. Kent County Health Department staff co-chairs the West Michigan coalition. Click on Michigan Action for Healthy Kids Regional Map for more information and/or to contact a region leader in your area.
Get Involved!
Are you concerned about the health of Michigan’s youth? If the answer is yes, join forces with leaders across Michigan who are taking action to improve students’ well-being through better nutrition and physical activity in schools. Register now to become a member of Michigan Action for Healthy Kids!
Nutrition Education for School Age Children
Elementary Nutrition Education Series
Available for elementary school children 1st through 6th grades. The series
consists of four sessions. A single class nutrition introduction course option
is available for schools with a limited time allowance. Lessons include age
appropriate nutrition concepts and fun activities, handouts for students and
information to send home to parents.
Middle/High School
One hour presentations topics include :
- Food and Disease
- Physical Activity and Your Health
- Nutrition and the Media
- Label Reading
- Fast Food Facts
- Body Image
Classroom presentations can be tailored to your class needs.
Contact Sarah Haan or Dawn Davies at (616)-632-7290 for more information.
Healthy School Action Tools (HSAT)
The Healthy School Action Tools (HSAT) includes an online assessment to help your school identify ways to create a healthier school environment and action planning tools to help make those ideas become a reality. If you represent a Michigan school and want to find out what you can do to improve your school's health, visit the HSAT website and register to complete the assessment and access the action plan.
The HSAT assessment consists of questions which apply to topic areas including:
- Asthma management
- Healthy eating & nutrition
- Physical education & physical activity
- Tobacco-free lifestyles
- Violence and injury prevention
Public health educators are available to assist schools in improving their school health environment. If you are interested in assessing your school’s health environment and would like assistance in getting started, please contact Dawn Davies at (616)632-7296 | dawn.davies@kentcountymi.gov.
Resources
HSAT Resource Guide Provides links to resources that will help you in completing the HSAT Assessment and defining actions that are most likely to make a difference during the Action Plan stage. Resources are organized by topic and by module within topic area.
Healthy School Toolkit - Your Guide To Action! - Use this toolkit to help your school district adopt its Local Wellness Policy. The kit was developed by Michigan Action for Healthy Kids and provides the information, resources, and tools needed to assist schools in providing an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity habits of students, their families, school staff members, and the community.
Michigan's Healthy School Success Story website encourages schools to share their successes, be recognized for their efforts and inspire other Michigan schools. The website includes an easy online form for submitting success stories and enables schools to review published success stories by topic area for proven ideas.
Student Health Survey (SHS) is an online survey designed for Michigan schools to determine the nutrition and physical activity knowledge, beliefs and behaviors of their students. Visit this website to learn more about how the SHS can help you determine how your school's environment is impacting student health.
Michigan Team Nutrition
Team Nutrition is a national movement designed to motivate, encourage, and empower students, families,
schools, and the community to work together to support healthy lifestyles by making it easier to eat
healthy and be physically active. TN encourages students’ (grades pre-K-12) and their families to:
eat a variety of foods, eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and calcium rich foods, eat lower
fat foods more often, and be physically active everyday.
Join Team Nutrition today! There is no cost to join Team Nutrition Michigan Schools.
Fuel Up to Play 60
Fuel Up to Play 60 is a fun, interactive program that allows students to decide how to make their school an even healthier place. They can put their ideas and plans into action to help everyone eat healthy and get active. They can take fun challenges with their classmates along the way to have the chance to earn prizes; they can even be recognized on our website for their efforts!
Enroll today at: www.fueluptoplay60.com.
Game On! The Ultimate Wellness Challenge
This program challenges America's elementary schools, their staff, students, and the families they serve
to incorporate healthy food choices and physical activity into their daily lives and into the culture of
their school community. This no-cost step-by-step online guide provides all the information and resources
you need to host a successful school wellness program in your elementary school during the entire school
year and beyond. Working together, we can help students eat better and move more. The Game On! framework
features over 35 Eat Better and Move More Challenges, for students grades K through 6, that emphasize
healthy eating and physical activity before, during, and after school-even at home!
Nutrition Explorations
Provides nutrition education, information, and resources for teachers, parents and kids.
Guides, school programs and menu. Developed by the National Dairy Council.
