Tag: “Channel 10”

Children & Mindfulness: part of the school day?

Educators are increasingly recognizing the need for social and emotional awareness

Given the increased challenges that children face these days, more and more educators around the nation are recognizing that social/emotional programming must be part of a school’s DNA.

Rhode Island is part of that trend, NBC 10 News reporter Barbara Morse Silva explained recently. She described the curriculum at Charles Fortes Elementary Elementary School in Providence, where children are engaged in “mindfulness exercises”.

“During half hour sessions, which take place two days a week, they are instructed to stay in the moment, breathe and feel,” Silva reported.

“Feel calm and comfortable and kind of just let everything go for a few minutes,” said Shannon Smith, a school integrative specialist for the Center for Resilience in Providence. “And just notice what’s happening around them.”

Read Silva’s account, including comments by students, teachers, and The Center for Resilience, which works with many schools, teachers, and community members.

Exposing Richmond schoolkids to butternut squash

Butternut squash is on the school menu, and the kids love it!

Channel 10’s latest “exposé” is how local schools are “forcing” students to try healthy foods…and they’re loving them!

According to Barbara Morse Silva’s story, Richmond Elementary School’s Local Food Ambassador Program is trying to get kids to try new foods.

“We started the buzz a couple of days ago,” Principal Sharon Martin told Morse. “We’ve been doing morning announcements for the last couple of days getting the children ready, giving them some background knowledge about what butternut squash is. How it’s grown.”

The program is a partnership between food service provider Aramark, the Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition and Farm Fresh RI.

“We asked them to help us today because we want to know if it tastes good,” said Patricia Roth, a program associate with Farm Fresh RI. “We say, you know, we need to let the farmers know if they should keep growing it.”

So, the kids did just that, with some of them giving the samples the sniff test first, while others dove right in.

“It’s yummy,” said one of the students.

“It was awesome,” said another.

Visit Channel 10’s website for the whole story, the newscast, and a recipe for orange glazed butternut squash with dried cranberries.