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Healthy Lifestyles Curriculum

March 2013
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News Bulletin
February March 2012 2013 Bridgeport Child Development Center II A program of One Hope United 514 W. 31st Street, Chicago, IL 60616 312.949.4015

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Overall Health Exercise

Nutrition Environmental Sustainability

Look closely at nutrition, package labels to find healthiest foods

When shopping for healthy food for our families, reading nutrition labels can be helpful but also confusing. Most people know the label lists how many calories are in a serving, but other pieces of information are important, too. While whole, fresh foods are always healthiest, families on the go often rely on packaged foods. Here are some tips to make healthier choices: Ingredients lists start with the main ingredient. A healthy first ingredient might be a whole grain, fruit or low-fat milk -- not sugar. There are many terms for sugar, some even sound healthy -- like molasses or dehydrated cane juice. Usually anything listed as syrup or ending in ose is sugar. Seek packages with a short list of ingredients, under five if you can, and the names should be foods you recognize, not chemical names. Nutrition labels list the recommended daily amount of each nutrient for adults, based on 2,000 calories per day. Most children need much less than that. Food labels list the amount of calories per serving. However, many foods and drinks typically consumed by a child in one sitting, such as a bag of chips or a bottle of juice, might actually say they contain two or three servings. Avoid saturated or trans fats and hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, found in many cookies and crackers. Choose mono- or polyunsaturated fats instead, found in foods such as almonds, pecans, avocado, fish and olive oil. Limit high-sodium foods. Childrens favorites such as soup, pizza and macaroni and cheese often have a high salt content. Common unhealthy ingredients in foods children enjoy include BHA (breakfast cereals); sodium nitrites and nitrates (lunch meats and hot dogs); food dyes (candy and cereals); caramel coloring (soda); and monosodium glutamate (MSG) or hydrolyzed vegetable protein (packaged soups and noodles; seasoning packets; chips). Examining box claims Fat-free foods, such as frozen yogurt, often are high in sugar. Packages that say all-natural ingredients can be misleading. Read the ingredient list to find out what is really in the product. Look for foods labeled USDA Organic, 100% Organic or Organic. Made with organic ingredients means some ingredients are organic, not all. Also, look for products that say 100% whole grain, rather than just whole grain.

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March 48: Head Start Program Self-Assessment >

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Early Dismissal 2:30 p.m. No After School Care Jacksons birthday

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Meeting Topic: Ages & Stages Child Guidance

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March 2529: Spring Break School Age All-Day >

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Resources: 1. American Academy of Pediatrics, www.healthychildren.org 2. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm 3. The Mayo Clinic, www.mayoclinic.com 4. KidsHealth, www.kidshealth.org

YOUR TRUSTED PARTNER IN EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION

CENTER NEWS
From the Directors Desk Brigette Davis
Gong Xi Fa Cai! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! Best wishes and Congratulations! Have a prosperous and good yearthe year of the snake! The children had a great time wearing their traditional clothes and celebrating the lunar New Year. We thank all the families who participated in making this years event memorable.

Year song along with using traditional Chinese instruments provided by Ms. Regina, thus making this years celebrations one of our best! We continued our study on transportation. This past month, we explored airplanes and creatures that fly. The children had the opportunity to construct their own airplanes out of wooden sticks and paring. We also compared which airplane model flew the farthest and graphed our results. The children are also focused on increasing social-emotional skills, such as cooperation, sharing and friendship, to ensure their success in kindergarten. We would like to remind parents of our second home visit and parent/teacher conference coming up this month. Please stop by the classroom and sign up for a day and time that works for you. Thanks!

Classroom 201 Ms. Stacey & Mr. Tony

February was a month of strategy for Room 201. We introduced the children to the game, Abalone. This is a multiple award-winning game that boasters both math and reasoning skills. Children must think long and carefully before making their move. Another strategic game the children enjoyed learning was, Othello, deemed as the game that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master! There are virtually endless strategic tactics to play with. Most of the students beat the staff! This month, we also taught the children to knit. We first watched a short video on knitting and then cast our needles. Each student was given his/her own ball of yarn and began knitting a scarf. Our goal is to complete the scarves by mid-March. Wish us luck!

PARENT/CHILD AT HOME ACTIVITY

Classroom 1 Ms. Angie, Ms. Ling & Mr. Mathew

This month we have welcomes Ms. Ling to our classroom. Ms. Ling has already taken the lead on several experiences and learning opportunities for the children. She had them create a traditional dish, which the children helped to create, and has led the children in many songs, stories and activities. All the teachers and students are very happy to have Ms. Ling working with us! This month has also begun a study on clothing. We introduced the topic through the story, Jennies Hat, which has led to a great deal of story retelling, sorting and creative play surrounding making ornate, rather than boring kinds of clothes (a sophisticated vocabulary is always a focus in the classroom). The teaching team has also used the story, Caps for Sale, as a way to introduce the idea of sequence, inference and patterns. A special shout out to Ryan L. and Bernice for their Lego-brick structure located for a week at Ms. Barbaras desk. The structure took over three hours to complete and included a massive amount of different patterns.

Classroom 3 Ms. Yan and Ms. Bernadette

Room 3 had a very exciting month! We started off by participating in the Chinese traditional celebration of the New Year: The year of the snake. The children created a sensory snake which consisted of three parts. Each part looked and felt differently. The children used crayons, glue, tissue paper and felt. When our masterpiece was completed, we hung the snake on the wall in our dramatic play center. The children made 3-D lanterns, which we hung around the room from the ceiling. The families came in the Friday before the New Year and participated in our celebratory potluck breakfast and the center dragon and dance parade. We also talked about love, in honor of Valentines Day. The children learned the I love you song, from Barney, made cards, hearts and wrapping paper to share with their families. We then kicked off a new study on transportation. Many of the children were excited when we left on our neighborhood walk and were fortunate enough to watch an ambulance and fire truck drive by with sirens and lights blazing! It was a great experience to start off our study! The children agreed we should first learn about the fire station and all the vehicles that are connected to it. As a friendly reminder, we would like parents to phone the center when your child will be absent from school. We are required to document the reason as to why the child is not present. If possible, we would like all children to arrive by 9:30 a.m. We would like to incorporate gym time at Bridgeport 1 from 9:3010 a.m. Thank you for your cooperation!

Classroom 202 Ms. Kyara and Mr. Joe

We were so busy the month of February! The children educated the staff on the traditions of the Chinese New Year. We had fun making lanterns and dragon masks. We also discussed the African American culture, learning about historical figures such as, Martin Lutheran King and Rosa Parks. In the spirit of the season, the children organized a small celebration for Valentines Day. In addition, we have begun implementing the S.T.E.M philosophy to our every day projects, incorporating science, technology, engineering and math to our daily group actives and in the classroom. We have also begun to utilize the centers conference room as a quiet space for those children needing additional structure during our homework period.

In the movie Toy Story, battery-run astronaut Buzz Lightyear thinks he can actually fly - and when he does try to fly, he yells, To infinity and beyond! So what is infinity, exactly? In math, infinity means that numbers just keep on going: no matter how big a number you can think of, you can always add one and just make a bigger number. Were sorry, Buzz, but theres no way to go beyond infinity. But as we look at some other milestone numbers, well see that even non-infinite numbers can be pretty big and pretty cool.

Wee ones: What is the biggest number you can count to on your fingers and toes all together? Little kids: What is the largest two-digit number? Bonus: What is the largest threedigit number? Big kids: While you may know Google as a search engine, there is actually a very large number called a googol that is a 1 followed by 100 zeroes! How many more zeroes does this number have than in a thousand? Bonus: How many more zeroes does this number have than in a million?

Happy Chinese New Year to all our families! We would like to take the time to say, thank you for helping make our celebration a success. The children worked hard on learning and singing their New

Classroom 2 Ms. White, Ms. Regina and Ms. Tiffany

ANSWERS: Wee ones: Count your fingers and toes! Little kids: 99. Bonus: 999. Big kids: 97 zeroes. Bonus: 94 zeroes.