PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS: NMAChas provided professional development
days and training sessions for more than 150 area teachers and youth club staff members
over the past year. Trainees receive instruction in all aspects of the nutritional,
fitness, language arts, math, science, gardening, music, and art-based activities
that are a part of the twelve-lesson ES curriculum. We have now expanded to include
a 12 to 24 week curriculum that can be offered inside the school year or during the
summer months. Teachers learn a variety of creative ways to reinforce the health
concepts highlighted in the curriculum on a daily basis, and receive an ES Instructor's
Manual, which provides complete instructions for carrying out the projects successfully.
The curriculum also includes Extension Activities and Home Links for parents and
guardians, with activities sent home at the end of each week for parents and children
to do together.
To arrange for a half day or full day training session in your area, contact NMAC
through Email Us.
OBJECTIVES:Eating SmART encourages children and their families to:
increase structured physical activity to at least 30 minutes per day
eat a healthy breakfast
increase fruit, vegetable, and whole grain consumption
drink more water
choose low-fat snacks
read labels/shop wisely and prepare/consume balanced meals
GARDEN PROJECTS: NMAC builds children's learning gardens at each site where Eating SmART classes are taught, featuring themes such as the Pizza Garden, Soup Garden, Salsa Garden, and Three Sisters Garden. The children help with garden design, planting, maintenance, and harvest. Visiting Chefs teach related culinary skills. Nutrition, fitness, and art are an integral part of the program. NMAC has helped to develop gardens with Boys and Girls Clubs, Head Start, and other youth groups in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Alamogordo, Ruidoso Downs, Carlsbad, and at several sites on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. In 2011, NMAC helped build children's gardens with Lincoln County Head Start at three locations in Ruidoso, Hondo, and Capitan. In addition, NMAC is currently working with the US Forest Service to establish a network of community gardens in Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs, and the Hondo Valley, with produce donated to local food banks.
Visiting Artists Series: Eating SmART provides enrichment activities that expose our youth to the best of the local arts community. Each week, we coordinate classes in the visual arts, creative writing, music, and dance led by professional artists. The children receive nutritional guidance and eat healthy snacks while taking part in exercise through dance, movement, and collaborative games.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW: Eating SmART (ES) is a nationally award winning nutrition and fitness program for children developed by NMAC in 2007. ES motivates children to make healthy food choices and increase physical activity through engaging art, music, literacy, and gardening activities. In 2011 NMAC provided nutritional and summer enrichment services for about 1400 youth at 10 sites spanning 5 counties in New Mexico. Through our on-site gardens, children learned about environmentally friendly gardening and composting methods, while they shared in the preparation of healthy foods.
THE NEED: New Mexico Alliance for Children has offered the Eating Smart Wellness curriculum side by side with our summer food distribution for the last five years.
Eating Smart addresses the issues of childhood hunger and of America's rising childhood obesity and diabetes rates by encouraging children to develop a life-long commitment to an active lifestyle and healthy dietary habits. The program offers a variety of organized, non-competitive, non-gender specific, and fun physical activities in which children of all skill levels can participate and experience success.
Eating Smart works across the curriculum to strengthen physical health and motor skill development, language and reading skills, social skills, and problem solving ability. Children engage in hands-on activities that promote awareness about why certain nutrients are important to our health. Parents and teachers stay involved through workshops, family cooking and dance classes, and community gardening.
