Addressing childhood obesity.

Addressing childhood obesity. School districts continue to look for ways to educate students about nutrition and exercise. Here are two interesting new programs. The New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. schools sent more than 235,000 Fitnessgram reports to parents and students. These "report cards" show the results of standards-based exercises that measure body composition, muscular strength, flexibility, muscular endurance and aerobic capacity. When necessary, they include recommendations for improving health-related fitness. "Our use of NYC NYCabbr.New York CityNYCNew York City Fitnessgram is part of our entire approach to revitalizing physical education in N.Y.C. public schools," says Lori Rose Benson, director of the office of fitness and physical education. The goal is to motivate children to become excited about lifelong fitness. In San Diego San Diego(săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. county, students learn about nutrition by growing vegetables. Amy Haessly, a nutrition educator with the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). Cooperative Extension, provides free nutrition resources to teachers. "Kids are more likely to eat a carrot or radish radish,herbaceous plant (Raphanus sativus) belonging to the family Cruciferae (mustard family), with an edible, pungent root sliced in salads or used as a relish. if they started it from a seed," says Haessly. Teachers use gardens to teach a variety of standards, including language arts language artspl.n.The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. (with a journal), math (statistics and measurements), geography and science. Nanette Noonan, a retired teacher, works on an after-school garden at La Paloma Elementary in Fallbrook, Calif. "Everything we grow is tied into the nutrition-based curriculum," says Noonan. She hopes that discussions about the food pyramid food pyramidor Food Guide Pyramid,diagram used in nutrition education that fits food groups into a triangle and notes that, for a healthful diet, those at the base should be eaten more frequently than those at the top. and healthy snacks can promote better overall nutrition. At Pioneer Elementary in Escondido, Calif., Kerry C. Fournier's fifth-graders grow vegetables in their 1,600-square-foot garden. "Even though what we grow-carrots, lettuce, cabbage, onions, peppers--is part of the cafeteria's salad bar, getting the kids to understand the food's nutritional value has been the goal." Happily, the children are quick learners. Fournier now goes through the lunch line and sees the children recognize--and reach for--items they've grown. www.nycenet.edu/physed www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension