More About Clean Plates

A comment:

I think it is fantastic that David has grown in to an eater. David is so precious and reminds me of a little girl that was so shy when she started at GS and has blossomed into a beautiful little girl. I think by the time David is six he will be just as outspoken as the little girl is now. I do have to admit that I can certainly understand the blog comment about the clean plate club. If in fact it is being used to get the children to try things that is one thing. If it is to teach the children to clean the plate that is another. I will be the first to admit that I think you do a wonderful job at feeding the children and teaching them to branch out. I know that a lot of times the last thing some of the children have to eat that day will be what you feed them so kudos to you. If you have never had an overeating disorder you can't really relate. The last thing a child should be taught is to clean a plate...and rewarding them with candy is insanity!! I know the reward has to be enticing but maybe it just isn't a good idea! The parfaits were a great idea last week. Maybe that could be the reward. It is just a suggestion. You have a fantastic program and I wish I were little again so I could go there each day. I believe the initial comment about the clean plate club was just a genuine concern.

Response:

Most Americans over eat. But what I am finding out is that it's not about how much we eat, it's about the choices on the plate. Cleaning a plate filled with fruit, vegetables, and healthy portions of whole grain foods and a proper amount of meat and cheese is different than forcing someone to eat an over filled plate of processed carbs, a lot of greasy poorly cooked meat, gravy, white bread and fake butter filled with trans fats. Telling a child to finish his milk is probably a good idea; telling him to finish his soda is quite another story.

Many of us grew up eating over cooked, poorly arranged, variety-less sameness night after night. And those of us who were told to clean the muck off our plates grew up, and the choice to clean a plate or not became a new choice, as there was a new choice of what to put on the plate! The question remains - clean what?

According to a new article about fruits and vegetables, we are supposed to eat 4.5 cups of them a day. I've tried, and I just don't eat that much food, and most people know I'm no light weight!

The whole idea at the GS is to learn to eat different foods so that we can make those wonderful choices that enhance our lives and lead the next generation of children to very long, very healthy lives free of illness and physical trials, but that won't happen if we cater to a narrow spectrum of food choices and experiences.

As for candy, adults have to look at candy as a legitimate food with a time and place. Interestingly enough I brought some ginger candy to school. It is potent enough to take nail polish off, and the kids loved it. Did they love it because they crave sugar calories or because it was different and had an interesting taste? It's hard to know. Ginger brings down cholesterol; it warms people plagued with chill; it soothes stomach problems and much much more. Ginger has been used as a medicine for years. Where else but cookies and candy will a child get to eat ginger?

In the same mode, dark chocolate is also good for you. It is an antioxidant. Mix dark chocolate with cranberries and peanuts and you have the same components as the wine from Sardinia that is said to actually fortify the arterial system. Did you know it is fundamentally better for you to eat a snickers bar than six saltine crackers?

The idea that chocolate would be served after meals is not a bad idea. But without preparation, without structure, half the kids would be eating just to get the chocolate and half would be leaving other things on their plates to make room for the chocolate.

So when you consider all these variables and eating choices, it all comes back to the plate. What are we cleaning? What are we eating? What are the meal choices we make to both eat and to serve, and how can we continue to make all our choices better?

The Garden School Tattler

We had another "inside" day, but the kids were great. The longer we are inside, the bigger the buildings get and the more engineers we claim for the good of man.

We accomplished a lot today. We've been talking about volcanoes from the infamous iron center of the earth and the kids are all ears. We talked about how the rest of the planet worked - water cycle, plants and animals, air, etc, and then we went "down, down, down," to the very core of the world where the hot stuff is and then we talked about how the earth belches and then throws up. They all thought this was hilarious, but it's an image that works. We watched a movie on volcanoes put out by Nova.

The bigger kids played a game of fill in the squares which means they took a blank 100 square number chart sheet and filled in the numbers as I called them out. They needed to figure out in 100 squares which one was the 66th square, the 37th square, the 54th square in fifteen seconds. They did a miraculous job. I could not have been prouder of all of them.

We painted today - hearts and flowers in the form of coffee filters. The kids seemed to enjoy this. I sat with they little kids and had time draw people which I promptly hung but the front door. They are wonderful and fun. I especially like Ian's. Emma had a grand smile on her face as she began to discover that her person had shape and form. She is such a delight. Cole was just as excited. That's why I love the threes. They always are so lively about discovery and they never say, "I can't do that," they just plunge into the task and do it.

Abby and Aidan discovered that the gerbils who have escaped their box love tissues. So they were offering the gerbils tissues this afternoon to see where they drag them to see where they are living in the pet room.

We had kiddie-wiches and teen-wiches today and the kids got to choose between soft wheat bread and more adult wheat bread, and most plates were pretty much emptied into hungry kids. I always double my cheese and of course I use real cheese. We served fresh green grapes and carrot sticks and dip and chips for fun, and of course milk.

I really stretched for snack today. I'm trying this golden mean thing. I read about bread all weekend and the ideas out there are nearly preposterous - whole wheat bread causes pancreatic cancer; white bread causes bowel cancer; sandwiches are bad because we shouldn't mix carbohydrates with protein, sour dough bread is the only... so what to think. Well, ideally, I suppose we should be grazing, but most of us can't bend that low comfortably, and we don't have a long enough digestive tract, so we're stuck using our brains to figure all this out.

I think the golden mean is using both whole wheat and white flour and creating a wide variety of recipes the kids like and offer a variety of tastes as well as a wide variety of nutrients.

Today I put some dark chocolate into a baking dish, melted it in the oven while I made caramel on the stove, and then over the melted chocolate, I put a box of Kashi, and then dribbled the caramel over that to make the whole thing stick. Jana cut it in bars and the kids loved it; it was good for them and also had a modicum of sweet they crave.

By using the worlds goods with a positive sense of joy and fun, we can eat great stuff, be satisfied and be well fed with grace and ease.

Caramel:

same amounts (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, 1 cup - depends on how much you want or need) of the following: brown sugar, white sugar, Karo syrup, cream, butter and milk. Boil until thick but not burned.

Moving off food and onto more fun:

Miss Beve brought an album of candid pictures of the children she's taken the last few visits. They will be on sale at the Valentine's Day party. Each picture is $3.00. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Beve is a fabulous photographer and we are lucky to have her.

We will have a Valentine's Day card swap on Wednesday morning. Your child will deliver his cards to every child a la musical chairs. It's a lot of fun, and the kids love opening them. We will have our party at 3:00 with a 15 minute dance and a table full of goodies.

All in all, a great day!

More on Food

Judy,

David never even ate until he came to the Garden School. I think your approach has worked wonders on his appetite. He may not always love what I serve at home, but he understands that we don't waste food, and you have to at least try something new. Ironically, things he hates are the worst things for him. Case in point, I had some left over cool-whip from some dish I made over the weekend. When I was at the grocery yesterday I bought some beautiful strawberries, and I thought they would be fun to have with the cool-whip. He didn't want any part of it at all. He insisted that he eat the fresh strawberries without anything else, sugar...etc. If that isn't proof that your style works I don't know what is. Thank you again for taking such wonderful care of the kids each and every day.

Mary Beth

Thank you Mary Beth for all your help and encouragement. David is an excellent example of a picky eater who does fine. David chooses what he will eat and he eats it. There is never any problem with him. He eats some things and not others, and sometimes we have a "clean plate" which at the GS means a child tried something new and enjoyed his lunch.

Here is a comment recently posted on the blog:

I think teaching children to clean their plates in hopes of earning a food "reward" is a problem. We have long taught our child - eat until you're full - then stop; don't clean you plate so you can get a candy bar. I think it sends a terrible message to our children. As an adult with a weight issue, I do not want to pass this behavior on to my child. I can still hear my mom saying "clean your plate".

Response:

I think the question here is why we are offering prizes for "trying new foods." That's what we are doing. The fact is, there are some children who aren't just eating until they are full; they are just passing by a plateful of food in order to wait till snack because they know snack is cookies. These kids can wait all day because they have made a habit out of it.

Every child at the GS is capable of trying new foods and each one has shown us that they can, but lately, there have been a few children who have decided that they don't even want their milk, and that's sad because we are building bodies now, not ten years from now.

I suppose it's a matter of a point of view about food, and this point of view comes from home.

Is a meal made with affection, as food often is, something someone can simply regard as garbage?

Do we want to tell our children that food is disposible, unimportant and that all food is the same? Is a candy bar the same as a salad or an apple?

Do we want to teach them that it's OK to pass by the good stuff because dessert is coming?

The message at school is: If you try new things and put in an effort, there will be a reward down the lane. It's not a matter of over eating; it's a matter of being open to new things. It doesn't matter what the reward is, it's a matter of learning that new things won't hurt.

The State requires that each child be served the same thing and that the amount is the same. It seems rote to me, and I hate it. I'd much rather have children choose their food, but I'm bound by the State to put a 1/4 cup of this and that or a 1/2 cup of this or that on every plate.

Establishing likes and dislikes with the State order is more difficult and at the same time even more important. These likes and dislikes need to be real and not imagined. Good eating habits begin now - not later. "I don't like that because it doesn't look like the boxed kind" or "I don't like that because it didn't come from a fast food restaurant" is not a real response; it's an imagined response.

Establishing good eating habits does mean to eat until we are nearly full. It's probably a good idea to leave the table just a little hungry, but that's not what we are talking about. We are talking about establishing an openness to variety which leads to good health. The best diet is a broad spectrum of foods.

We will continue to offer new things at school so children have a real appreciation of the world's choices. The choice to eat or not to eat will always remain with a child, and rewards will be lovingly given at appropriate times.

Why is My Child Gaining Weight?

Comment: Lots of parents have asked me to "watch the seconds" with some of the kids. Here's an article that might help sort out why some children pack it on. When you break down food into groups, there are very few - protein, dairy, fats and carbohydrates.

When you break down carbohydrates, you get two groups - one kids love and one kids are so so about. When you really take a look at a child's diet, you see that fruit, vegetables and whole grains which are supposed to be a big contributor to any diet are so limited and so rarely eaten...

But what takes the place of the calories a child really needs? Sugar.

Read the article; it's from Baby Fit. You might be surprised about some food, and then remember that we are slowly introducing better carbohydrates at school. It's been a bit of a battle, but if it means children develop better habits and are healthier for it, it's a battle worth winning.

Sugars are simple carbohydrates. When we typically think of sugar we think of such things as granulated, brown, powdered, raw, or cane. However, things like honey, syrup and molasses are also sugars. You'll also find it used in things like jam, jelly, soda, pies, cakes, cookies and candy bars.

Your body needs carbohydrates to supply the energy that is necessary to function and perform. Complex carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, whole grain products and dried peas and legumes provide the same energy but are less likely to be converted and stored as fat.

It is generally recommended that pregnant woman get about 55-60% of their calories from carbohydrate sources, which includes both simple and complex carbohydrates. However, complex carbohydrates are the best choices.

So in a 2000 calorie diet, about 1200 of your calories should come from carbohydrate sources--that's 300 grams of carbohydrates.

Sugar (simple carbohydrates) will be included in this total, but you should limit it to a small portion of your daily selections.

To track carbohydrates in your Nutrition Tracker, go to "My Plan". Scroll down and click "Add Nutrient to Track/Change Nutrition Goals". On the new screen click "Add another nutrient to track". Then select "carbohydrates" from the drop-down list, and "Save" your changes. The program will automatically add the recommended grams of carbohydrates you should consume based on your recommended calorie level.

The "Please KISS Me" Plan can be a great help for selecting meals that promote complex carbohydrates while still including some sugar.

Vermont

Burlington Free Press

My Turn: Child-centered learning works best

By Laurel Bongiorno

February 4, 2007
What's the purpose of early childhood education? What do we mean when we talk about "quality" programs?

The primary goal of an early childhood program is to stimulate growth and development, while igniting intellectual curiosity. At this age, children are rapidly developing cognitive, language, social and motor skills. They play, discover, explore, try out new tasks, go to new places, and act curious. By offering a "child-centered" setting, high-quality early education programs promote this.

Students often come to my Preschool Curriculum course with a picture of a preschool experience as teacher-directed. Children are expected to sit quietly in a circle and listen as the teacher talks. At a specific time, everyone eats snack. At another specific time, the children all do the same art project. Does this sound like a high-quality preschool classroom? My students think the answer is yes.

But this is not the most meaningful picture. In fact, this picture needs to change. Children learn through experience; this experience is called play.

Picture a child-centered setting in which the teacher has specific goals for learning, focused on play. The room is filled with busy, noisy children making their own choices at learning areas. There's a water table with tubes and funnels; there's an art area with paint, glue, feathers, colorful paper and scissors. There's a teacher sitting cozily with children in the book area. Some children are at the snack table; others are in the dramatic play area, playing restaurant with menus, money and pretend food.

If the purpose of an early childhood program is growth and development, how is that happening here?

The water table teaches science and logic. The children are exploring liquids; they are adding to their scientific and mathematical vocabulary by learning such words as pour and funnel, more and less, full and empty.

The art area focuses on creativity. Cognitive skills develop as the children explore color, shape and texture. Motor skills expand as children use scissors to enhance their collage designs. The book area is a place to develop literacy skills, while children interact, think, move, speak and even learn to negotiate ("I'll be this, and you do that ...") in the dramatic play area. Play is rich with learning opportunities.

Before we can discuss the need for pre-K funding, we need to speak the same language. We need to understand that quality early childhood programs provide valuable learning opportunities through child-centered activities like play. We're not talking about 4-year-olds at desks, taking notes with pencils. We're not talking about robbing children of their childhood.

Quality early childhood programs in Vermont should be a place of wonder and joy, of learning language, of developing curiosity, of reading, of gaining a sense of self, of learning to interact with others. They should lay a solid -- and invaluable -- foundation for the years of learning to come.

Laurel Bongiorno is an associate professor of education at Champlain College and president-elect of the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children.

Comment: She's right. Play is probably the most important part of a child's day - that and drinking his or her milk. Everything should be play, even those group moments like today when we acted out Noah's Ark.

Canada

Winnipeg Sun
By JOYANNE PURSAGA, SUN MEDIA

Two wild playground visitors surprised kids travelling between day care and elementary school yesterday.

Slavica Maric, a supervisor at Carpathia Children's Centre on Grant Avenue, said a pair of red foxes were spotted shortly after 8:30 a.m., as staff were walking kids across the field to J.B. Mitchell School.

"At one point we stopped and the fox was right in front of us, maybe a few metres away," said Maric. "At that time you are scared because if they get closer to the children, how will the children react?"

Maric said the animals ran off as soon as the children came near.

She said one fox darted into traffic and narrowly missed being hit by a van on Lanark Street, but for the most part it was a rare sight the kids took in stride.

"They were beautiful animals, lying in the snow and resting," said Maric. "There was a lot of excitement."

Kim Perring, director of On The Move day care, located in the same building as Carpathia, said the children's reaction was mixed.

"Some of the kids were frightened, and one little guy was trying to call (the foxes) like a pet to see them," said Perring.

ANIMAL SERVICES

Perring called Animal Services for assistance, but the animals quickly ran off the property and did not require removal.

She said a staff member at the agency told her it was likely a female fox was being chased out of her natural habitat while in heat.

J. B. Mitchell rang its bell a few minutes before the regular 8:50 a.m. scheduled time. The principal said the incident was handled quite smoothly, despite the fact staff at the day cares and school has not dealt with foxes on the property before.

"Everybody was pretty calm. A few kids were just a little concerned about what would happen to the animals," said Marie Giasson.

Comment: I loved this because it's true - kids love stuff like this. We're in a rural area as well. We had a coyote in our back field just three weeks ago.

Curry

Comment: We've been using curry from time to time to flavor rice and the children seem to like it. So I went on Internet to find out how this combination of spices benefit or don't benefit what we eat, and this is what I've found. I thought it was really interesting. It's from the BBC News:

Curry 'may slow Alzheimer's'

Turmeric is the crucial ingredient

A spicy ingredient of many curries may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease, say researchers.

A team from the University of California at Los Angeles believes that turmeric may play a role in slowing down the progression of the neurodegenerative disease.

The finding may help to explain why rates of Alzheimer's are much lower among the elderly in India than in their Western peers.

Previous studies have found that Alzheimer's affects just 1% of people over the age of 65 living in some Indian villages.

Vindaloos

Drugs with similar properties could potentially be used as preventative treatments for Alzheimer's disease

Dr Richard Harvey

Turmeric is found in everything from mild Kormas to the hottest Vindaloos. The crucial chemical is curcumin, a compound found in the spice.

Alzheimer's is linked to the build up of knots in the brain called amyloid plaques.

Turmeric reduced the number of these plaques by a half.

The researchers also found that turmeric had other health benefits.

It aids digestion, helps fight infection and guards against heart attacks.

In the study, middle aged and aged rats were fed a diet rich in curcumin.

All the rats received brain injections of amyloid to mimic progressive Alzheimer's disease.

Not only was there less evidence of plaque build up in the curcumin-fed rats, they also outperformed rats on normal diets when carrying out maze-based memory tests.

Curcumin also appeared to reduce Alzheimer's-related inflammation in the brain tissue.

Researcher Dr Sally Frautschy said the compound had potential as a treatment for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease - particularly in tandem with anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.

Dr Richard Harvey, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Curcumin has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

"Drugs with similar properties could potentially be used as preventative treatments for Alzheimer's disease."

However, Dr Harvey warned that it could be many years before such drugs were made widely available.

The Garden School Tattler

What a day! Calm at school, but nearly all the faculty had "issues" with one thing or another like Miss Jana who woke up to her little one throwing up and discovered that her furnace at quit working at 2:00 in the morning. Molly's husband started a new job today and on the way, his car broke down, so she had to get Snigglefritz out in the 4 degree weather a lot sooner than she had hoped.

Miss Kelly and I are going to give a workshop at the Spring 4C Conference on Cooking for children. Since I have been asked to be on the nutrition subcommittee for the United Way Early Childhood Coalition (sounds important!) I'm just going all out. I asked Miss Kelly to help because she sells Pampered Chef kitchen equipment, and I find the materials absolutely essential in working with food. So we will combine efforts and put on a great show. It's March 10.

In addition, the Garden School is sponsoring a puppet workshop in May with Mary Jo Huff. All our people are welcome to come. Dinner will be served. We will probably do this in May.

The kids were outstanding today. They politely listened to some words on Asia and in my class, practiced some handwriting techniques. Please correct your children when they begin their letters on the bottom line, or write up. Even though they get the thing looking vaguely recognizable, they really need to begin to make the letter correctly because it will all come back on them later when they can't keep up.

Today we sorted playing cards and lined them up according to number. Reading numbers is important, and the class seems to be doing very well.

We will be working with rice this week. If you have a bag of rice you don't use and would like to donate it, we'd love to have it.

If you have a copy of Ricki Ticki Tavi, please let me know.

Would anyone like to review new children's features? I get new releases from promoters because of my column on WFIE, and I would like someone with a small child to watch this stuff and tell me what they think. If anyone is interested, please let me know. I can review these things, but I want to know what the child thinks.

Maestro sends his regards.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly in Food

Fruits, Vegetables, and Cardiovascular Disease

There is compelling evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The largest and longest study to date, done as part of the Harvard-based Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, included almost 110,000 men and women whose health and dietary habits were followed for 14 years. The higher the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables, the lower the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. Compared with those in the lowest category of fruit and vegetable intake (less than 1.5 servings a day), those who averaged 8 or more servings a day were 30% less likely to have had a heart attack or stroke.(2)

Although all fruits and vegetables likely contribute to this benefit, green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and mustard greens; cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kale; and citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit (and their juices) make important contributions.

Increasing fruit and vegetable intake by as little as one serving per day can have a real impact on heart disease risk. In the two Harvard studies, for every extra serving of fruits and vegetables that participants added to their diets, their risk of heart disease dropped by 4 percent.

Comment: Fruits are so easy to serve. Unlike meat, they are peal and eat or just eat. It doesn't make sense to avoid these foods!

From Harvard

"Eat your fruits and vegetables" is one of the tried and true recommendations for a healthy diet. And for good reason. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can help you ward off heart disease and stroke, control blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent some types of cancer, avoid a painful intestinal ailment called diverticulitis, and guard against cataract and macular degeneration, two common causes of vision loss.

What does "plenty" mean? More than most Americans consume. If you don't count potatoes - which should be considered a starch rather than a vegetable - the average American gets a total of just three servings of fruits and vegetables a day. The latest dietary guidelines call for five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day, depending on one's caloric intake.(1) For a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight and health, this translates into nine servings, or 4½ cups per day.

Over the past 30 years or so, researchers have developed a solid base of science to back up what generations of mothers preached (but didn't always practice themselves). Early on, fruits and vegetables were acclaimed as cancer-fighting foods. In fact, the ubiquitous 5-A-Day message (now quietly changing to Eat 5 to 9 A Day) seen in produce aisles, magazine ads, and schools is supported in part by the National Cancer Institute. The latest research, though, suggests that the biggest payoff from eating fruits and vegetables is for the heart.

Comment: More, more and more again.

Cooking with Vegetables

This week we will be studying Asia. We will try to introduce the children to a variety of Chinese foods. I found this article which is splendid. Personally, I use tomatoes in stir fry. I just add them before serving so they are barely warm. These are the kinds of articles which are helpful.

Vegetables: The Chinese Passion

by Angela Chang

Food: Vegetables

Spring Volume: 1995 Issue: 2(1) page: 13 and 14

---

Adapted from a forthcoming book by Angela Chang

Once a student approached with this question: I heard the Chinese are wonderful with vegetables; do you have any advise for an American mother trying to raise her child to be a vegetable lover? Pleased with her enthusiasm, I suggested that she start exploring Chinese vegetarian products herself. Indeed, the Chinese are known for having the most varied and sophisticated ways of cooking vegetables, but that’s not the sole reason for their fondness for vegetables. The real reason lies in the marvelous variety of vegetables and vegetarian products which provide for wide ranges of taste and texture; both necessary for preparing casual and elaborate meals.

Without the presence of meats, producing a tasty meal can be a difficult task for novices, but not for a skillful vegetarian chef and for those trying to mimic them. Herbs and seasonings aside, talented chefs and home cooks employ greens (fresh, dried, and/or pickled), and saute them in hot oil to bring out their natural flavors.

Chinese people are attached to their native vegetables as American folks are to tomatoes and potatoes. Even when living abroad, Chinese will go out of their way to find available greens and other vegetarian treats. They have created a positive demand for Chinese and other vegetables. This seems to have had a positive impact on the eating habits of this country; the increasing addition of Chinese vegetables in supermarkets is definitely a highlight to shoppers. Many American vegetable lovers have taken a further step, they join Chinese who shop at Chinese markets and some have even grow Chinese vegetables in their own backyards. Although the Chinese people love vegetables and eat a great variety of them, except monks and nuns in Buddhist temples, most are not strict vegetarians as are many Westerners.

The Chinese know the ideal way to cook vegetables; they cook them with a little meat. After absorbing the rich taste from this meat, cooked vegetables become extremely palatable and more often than not, disappear faster than the meat in their very own dishes. Perhaps you can see why well cooked vegetables are such valued foods on a Chinese dinner table, and why meats have secondary importance in the Chinese diet. People of Chinese ancestry know how to flavor greens and other vegetables with meats and with various sauces and spices making their vegetables never boring.

When pressed for time, or too tired to cook an elaborate meal, Chinese home cooks resort to shortcuts to assemble a quick meal. These include opening cans of baby corn or straw mushrooms and readying a fresh vegetable such as snow peas or cucumbers. They stir-fry these together with slices of sausage or Canadian bacon for a fine rich taste. Another shortcut is to use frozen vegetables such as cut spinach, mustard greens, or french-style green beans. First squeeze out their water, then stir-fry them with marinated ground pork; add garlic, oyster sauce, and/or chili bean paste for additional flavoring. These dishes may be humble, but they certainly make for satisfying meals.

Chinese home cooks are adventurous in seeking out new additions to their vegetable repertory. Nothing with good taste is left out, whether domestic or exotic. Naturally, common American vegetables are on thier daily menus, as well. A brief glace at how Chinese cooks treat two ordinary vegetables can provide ideas for some of old favorites or new taste treats.

Carrots: They are both great decorative vegetables and basic ones in Chinese cooking. They are used widely in stir-fried and salad-type dishes, and as part of the filling for dumplings. When stir-fried with more tender vegetables such as snow peas or celery, always add the carrots first for even texture in the final dish. When used in Chinese-style salads, carrots should be marinated in salt and vinegar for some minutes to soften them, bring out a better taste, and an improved texture.

Tomatoes: Because of their high water content, tomatoes do not go well in all stir-fried dishes. However, they have many uses in Chinese home-cooking. The tomato is excellent in sweet and sour sauces or hot and sour ones, in a sour sauce with beef, in tofu, and in seafood dishes. It also matches well with eggs in stir-fried and soup dishes. The bight red color of the tomato makes this vegetable a beautiful garnish for both hot and cold platters, as well.

STIR-FRIED TOMATOES WITH EGGS

Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon chopped scallions, white part only
1 large tomato, cut in cubes
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
salt to taste
1 Tablespoon chopped scallions, green part only
5 large eggs, beaten well

Preparation:
1. Heat one tablespoon oil and sizzle scallions until light brown.
2. Add tomato and oyster sauce and a dash of salt. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat the rest of the oil and fry the green scallion parts a few seconds and then pour in the eggs. Let them bubble a few seconds, then stir allowing the egg to set slowly.
4. Add the tomato mixture, mix thoroughly, and serve.

Approximate nutrient analysis:
per serving, when serving four persons. Each serving has 288 calories, 9 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate, 315 mg sodium, 27 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, and 264 mg cholesterol.


VEGETARIAN GOLD COINS

Ingredients:
1 cup grated potatoes or taro root
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup grated carrots
½ cup Bisquick
2 large eggs, beaten separately
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1.2 cup flour
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cups oil for deep frying

Preparation: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Steam potatoes or taro for fifteen minutes until tender, then squeeze out extra moisture.
3. In a large mixing bow, mix all vegetables, Bisquick, on egg, sesame oil, salt, and sugar. Blend well until a dough forms that is soft and smooth.
4. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and shape dough into small balls, about 30. Bake them for twenty minutes or until firm. Flatten each ball into the shape of a coin.
5. Allow the vegetables to cool slightly, while they do, make a batter of the other egg, half cup of water, the flour and the rest of the sesame oil. Coat each coin-shaped piece with batter.
6. Deep-fry the battered vegetable coins in small batches until golden brown. Drain well and swerve immediately. Cooked left-overs can be heated in your oven, uncooked ones frozen for future use.


Approximate nutrient analysis
(per person, when serving four persons; assuming two tablespoons frying oil is absorbed.)
491 kilo calories, 9 grams protein, 71 grams carbohydrate, 879 milligrams sodium, 19 grams total fat, 6 grams saturated fat, and 106 milligrams cholesterol.

Child-care centers, health officials butt heads over school food


KVOA.com - Tucson,AZ,USA

TUCSON, Ariz. Child-care centers that don't have licensed, commercial-grade kitchens are being cited by state regulators for not sticking to prepackaged foods.

State health inspectors say the rules are aimed at reducing the risk of food contamination. But some child-care centers say they're just trying to feed children healthy food.One Tucson center was cited recently for slicing fresh peaches as a snack for preschool students.A center in Vail was cited for serving children mini-bagels with cheese, and little pizzas made with English muffins.


Comment: A state licensed kitchen is not a hard thing to do. It's time consuming but anyone who knows how to cook can do it. Depriving a child of "sliced peaches" is a crime. Prepackaged food for the most part is junk and has little if any nutritional value. Cooking for children should be an absolute given in early childhood and it should be a pleasure.

Closing Down...

By SARAH A. WEBSTER

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

As part of its cost cutting, Ford Motor Co. is closing seven day care centers in Michigan, Kentucky and Missouri that provide care for nearly 900 pre-schoolers and infants, a company official confirmed Friday.

The facilities, which are jointly supported by Ford and the UAW, will be closed by the end of June, Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt confirmed. They also offer kindergarten classes.

He refused to discuss the costs associated with running the facilities, but said the decision to shutter the centers because of the company’s “business realities and the current restructuring initiatives.”

On Thursday, Ford posted an annual loss of $12.7 billion, the biggest annual loss in the company’s 103-year history and the second-largest ever among domestic automakers.

Both Ford and UAW leaders agreed to close the centers, but parents were not involved in the decision. Parents were slated to be notified Friday afternoon, although some found out ahead of schedule and called the Free Press.

Hoyt said that Ford has 29 “Family Service and Learning Centers” nationwide. But only seven offer childcare services.

“The childcare is what’s being discontinued,” Hoyt said.

The centers, which also offer educational and fitness classes, will remain open to workers.

Elizabeth Drotar, a salaried worker at Ford and a mother in her 30s, breastfeeds her infant during breaks at work at a center in Dearborn that is closing. She said the news was devastating.

Drotar’s husband also works at Ford, and she said her family feels Ford’s financial pain acutely these days. One of the reasons she decided not to take a company buyout was because she didn’t think she’d find another daycare center that was as good.

“I understand the financial troubles, but they didn’t even see if there was anything they could do to cut costs,” she said in a telephone interview Friday.

“I’d be willing to pay more, but they didn’t even approach us. … There are going to be a lot of parents who are very upset.”

The center she uses cares for more than 100 children on Rotunda Drive, between the Southfield and Oakwood. It’s a free-standing building that was constructed for use as a daycare. It is managed by Bright Horizon Family Solutions, a Watertown, Mass. company that operates day care centers.

Ford has been named 10 times, including last year, to the Working Mother Magazine 100 Best Companies list, which recognizes companies for their family-friendly policies. The child-care centers were one of the reasons cited for the recognition.

The centers closing are
• Michigan
• Pestillo Center - Ypsilanti
• Yokich Center - Sterling Heights
• Livonia Center
• Bill Ford Center - Dearborn
• Dearborn West

Outside of Michigan:
• Kansas City, Mo.
• Louisville, Ky.

Comment: The business world has a lot to learn when it comes to investing in the future - namely children.

Oregon

Teaching toddlers early

By Jim Hart

The West Linn Tidings Jan 24, 2007

Gone are the days when kids are not allowed to attend school (kindergarten) until they are either 5 or 6 years old, depending on their age as of Sept. 1.

Enter the era of early childhood education.

For the past three years, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District has conducted a program that is exemplary across the nation.

A number of the district’s programs have been initiated based on the latest research in education, but none more important than early childhood education (ECE), according to Margaret Allen, principal at Bolton Primary School.

Among the more than 8,200 district students are 30 whose ages are between 12 and 36 months. Those students attend school once a week with a parent, while another group of 105 students, who are either 3 or 4 years old, often find their parent as a volunteer in their classroom.

“The district’s pre-school program has been recognized as unique in the state of Oregon and state-of-the-art nationally,” said Assistant Superintendent Thayne Balzer. “Our program is becoming a national exemplar for quality in early childhood programs.”

The district’s ECE program is unique because it is a part of a public school district; it is based on acquiring language skills; it is taught by certified teachers who have specialized in language and early development; it provides support and learning for parents; and it is funded with tuition rather than tax dollars.

Currently, the district offers kindergarten at every one of its primary schools, but the younger students may only attend at Bolton, Cedaroak Park and Boeckman Creek primary schools.

The key to the success of these ECE programs, Allen said, is two-fold: They are literacy/language based and there is maximum family involvement.

“All learning, from this age on, is based on kids’ ability to use language,” Allen said. “It’s all about bringing the kids real-world things and adding to their vocabulary. And the second component that is absolutely critical is family involvement.”

One of the ways families are drawn into the education of their children at Bolton, for example, is what Allen calls “Family Day.”

On those days, everyone available from each pre-school student’s family comes to school for the duration of that day’s classes. Those days include time with the teacher, time with the kids and time for parents to talk among themselves. The adults also are given printed material to help them through the challenges of being a parent-teacher.

Parenting is one of the most difficult jobs anyone can have, Allen said, and the district’s early childhood education program is designed to help parents with that responsibility.

At each activity area, Allen said, there is printed material describing how to work with young children in that activity as well as a list of words to use that will help build their vocabularies.

The ECE program’s root benefit, Allen said, is training parents to be better teachers at home.

“Parents are the foundation,” Allen said. “They are the first and primary teachers for their children. So, if we can help them do that job, they not only help the one that is in pre-school but also their whole family, including brothers and sisters.”

Some statistics help draw a picture of the importance and impact of early childhood education. Of the students who have entered local kindergartens in the past three years who have not attended the district’s ECE program, only about 70 percent met the state’s benchmark standards. But of those who went through local ECE classes, 98 percent met state standards and have not required special education services.

Those parents apparently understand the impact, Allen said, because 87 percent of ECE families attend Family Day.

It was the First Teacher program, where parent and toddler come to school together, that convinced Allen that Family Day would be a good idea.

This alliance between the school and each family has future benefits that Allen has seen in the three years that the district has offered the First Teacher program (12-36-months of age) and the 12 and a half years it has had pre-school classes.

“This gives you a strong partner with your school from the very beginning,” she said. “What you have then is parents coming to your parent organization who already are sold on your school. They want to volunteer and help the school.”

And having kids of all ages at one school, Allen said, helps the school feel more like home to the youngest children.

The foremost method young children use to express themselves, explore their world and learn how to relate to others is play, and ECE teachers use play to help kids learn.

Play at Bolton, for example, is similar to what might happen in anyone’s backyard, Allen said.

“During that play, what’s happening is problem-solving and learning to cooperate and negotiate,” Allen said. “There also are leadership and language skills that are learned through social interaction.”

Research that supports ECE started in the 1960s, but at that time researchers weren’t sure why some kids were early readers. They thought the kids were just smarter.

“But 24 years later, they did the study over,” Allen said, “and this time they looked at the early readers and found out that their moms had large vocabularies and read lots of books to their kids.”

The ECE curriculum is similar at Bolton, Cedaroak Park and Boeckman Creek primary schools, and a professional study group meets each month to keep it that way. The group includes teachers and assistants from each school.

“Our long-term goal,” Allen said, “is to make (ECE) available at every school in the district.”

Comment: This is spectacular. Love to have parents come and play. Miss Amy came and played with Alex the other day and it was pure fun.

Georgia

Taking Child Care To A Higher Level!

Are you looking for a high quality learning and child care facility? Are you looking for employment? Then this is the place for you...

By Kate Bergdahl

Kids-R-Kids school – We hold the future. If you are looking for high quality child care combined with learning with a playful twist, than this is the place for you and your family. Kids-R-Kids at 3036 Old Atlanta Road, Cumming, Ga. 30041 is a state-of-the-art facility. They have a well-trained attentive staff whom are caring and safe (free internet monitoring). This innovative school is equipped with a cafeteria, four playground equipments, computer lab, library, upstairs gymnasium, large covered patio, water park and much more!

The Kids-R-Kids curriculum is devoted to academic development as well as social and emotional. The curriculum includes Language, Literature, Phonics, Art, Dramatic Play, Science, Math, Music and Movement, Creative Writing, Spanish, French, Sign Language, and Physical Education. The curriculum is tailored for age-appropriate activities. Manners, self-help skills and school readiness are important social and emotional skills are taught here, which in turn will help the children as they grow into adults. Nutrition is the base to a healthy body and brain. Therefore, Kids-R-Kids pride themselves on giving and teaching your children the knowledge of good nutrition. They provide this by family-style service of well balanced breakfasts, lunches, and snacks planned and prepared by an on-site cook. Vegetarian meals are also available.

Hurry! There are a limited number of slots available for the school-aged summer camps. Imagine 10 weeks of summer adventure and fun filled field trips to stimulate and teach your children. Your kids will jump at the opportunity to join and be involved.

Comment: I just loved this article because it's a lot like us. I hope this is the new trend in early childhood. Learning, playground as important, and nutrition.

The Garden School Tattler

Today is "I can do it all by myself day." It should be an eye opener and it should be fun. We are still working on Africa.

Too bad about the snow. Some of our young young children don't remember what it's like for it to snow and snow.

We will have pancakes today for breakfast. Some of you have asked about the recipe: I triple this so there are plenty.

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
milk to desired thickness usually about 2 cups.

It's an old recipe and one you can save or add things to. For adults, add flax. walnuts and cranberries or for Saturday mornings, add those big chocolate chips. For interest add banana chunks, coconut and make your syrup strawberry (strawberry jam heated in the microwave) All these additions take seconds.

Make pancakes on a griddle if at all possible. If not, make one big one at a time in the center of a frying pan at medium high heat.

I make our maple syrup with tw0 cups sugar and one cup water and flavoring. Boil 3 minutes.

The picture I'm posting is something Susie sent me. They are new in Japan and in Italy. I think they are mmmmm. Let's say I would have been more inclined to try them in my youth. Personally, I'd rather do yoga.

Garden School Alert!

There is a two hour delay today in both Warrick and Vanderburgh Counties, so we are delayed as well and will open school about 9:00 with a hot breakfast for the children.

As we have said before, we follow the public school closings. I hope this doesn't inconvenience you; we consider it a safety factor.

I hope the kids enjoy the snow.

The Garden School Tattler

So many things to think about, so many things to do!

I don't know if you've noticed, but we've gone to block time teaching. It came from a brainstorm the faculty had not long ago one weekend. What it is is a division of school time into teaching blocks. These blocks define the children's day. Every teacher is not needed every day all day, so teachers chose blocks corresponding to the teaching they do, and presto bingo, we have a really happy staff and some really good classes going on.

This week we've been studying Africa as a continent. We've looked at the geographical layout, the rain forest area, the deserts, the plains and Madagascar. Today we will learn an African song and play some rhythm instruments to accompany it. We will look at Egypt in Fine Arts tomorrow.

I read an article in a dentist's office not long ago that spoke of empty space on walls as soothing. I think that's the trend in early childhood - empty walls and soothing. Not at the Garden School! Soothing is for home where we find a place to get away from the market place and the crowds. School, on the other hand, is supposed to stimulate minds and keep us suspended with what is going to happen next! School is supposed to be a burst of interesting things to explore and discover and see and touch and smell and think about. You won't find us removing the plants, painting over the murals or pulling artifacts down off the shelves to make room for -- the dullness and mind deadening qualities of nothing. I promise.

Blood drive today - just a reminder that blood is always needed. Please be generous and give!

Michigan

DetNews.com

Too Soon?

Debate heats up over teaching Three Rs -- and even foreign languages -- to preschoolers

Shawn D. Lewis | The Detroit News

OCHESTER HILLS -- Josh Hatch squirmed with excitement in his first Spanish class.

"Amarillo," the 3-year-old confidently yelled when his teacher, Roxana Castillo, held up a yellow card and asked the class what color it was. After just a few repetitions from Castillo, Josh's pronunciation -- amar-EE-yo -- was flawless.

Their homework -- yes, homework for 3-year-olds -- included practicing appropriate Spanish words on a sheet with pictures of sketches of parents and siblings.

Josh attends Abiding Presence Preschool in Rochester Hills, where kids between 3 and 5 years old are learning Spanish, along with math, English and socialization skills. They are among a new generation of children whose earliest education is designed to help them navigate a global market. Many parents, teachers and business leaders believe the standard school starting age of 5 is simply too late and that it's never too soon to leap over the competition for entrance into the best schools and on to the most lucrative careers.

But not everyone agrees that pushing toddlers to excel is the way to go.

"I think adults are projecting their own competitive natures onto their children," said child psychologist Sally Bloch of West Bloomfield. "I think it's stupid. What's the rush? We keep speeding them up with no clear benefits. What is the benefit of reading earlier than 5? What's next? Making kids walk earlier? What is the benefit of that? And as far as learning foreign languages, I can see if it is part of a child's rich culture. But if not, I don't think it will pay off."

Dee Dee Herberling of Rochester Hills, whose daughter Meredith, 5, attends Abiding Presence said she believes, however, that earlier education lays the foundation and makes kindergarten easier eventually.

"We lived in Germany for two years and my son, who was 3 at the time, was totally immersed in the German language for six months. He picked it up very quickly," she said.

Not only do younger children pick up languages more quickly, but also they tend to better retain all forms of learning, experts say.

And studies prove it.

The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study, one of the longest-running studies of the effects of preschool education, indicates that children who attended preschool are 30 percent more likely to graduate from high school, less likely to go to jail and more likely to surpass their nonpreschool counterparts in areas such as income and home ownership.

Boy's progress thrills mom

Chris Hayes of Detroit is thrilled with the progress her 4-year-old son is making in his preschool class at MacDowell Elementary School.

"The difference between my 4-year-old and his older brother is remarkable," she said.

"His older brother did not go to preschool, and my youngest son is much farther along than he was at that age.

"I was cooking dinner and I had to turn around and look at him when he said something like, 'Well, actually, Mom …'

The preschool really brought him out of his shyness," she said. "He went in not really knowing anything, and now he knows his ABCs, he can count to 100, and his language skills have really improved, along with his social skills."

Local business leaders say they, too, have a vested interest in quality early education.

Alysia Green, project coordinator for Automation Alley in Troy, believes a strong preschool education system can generate economic rewards.

"One of my responsibilities is work force development," she said. "We want kids to get a proper start and we must build awareness among businesses so we'll be able to draw from a strong, wide pool of candidates so we won't have to go out of state, and that begins with good early childhood education."

But it's not always that easy because preschool can be expensive for parents who don't qualify for Head Start, a federal preschool program, and the state-funded Michigan School Readiness Program.

Sally Anglim of Rochester Hills pays nearly $3,000 annually for her two children to attend Abiding Presence two days a week.

"We're kind of in the low middle range (of preschool prices)," she said. "Some charge close to $2,000 a year for two days a week (per child)."

Standards being established

But the prekindergarten options available to children should be of a good quality, and the governor is doing her part to see that it is.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm last year created the Michigan Early Childhood Investment Corp., which is charged with establishing standards for early childhood development activities to be implemented statewide.

"The way we propose to improve the quality in our programs is through a quality rating system for all regulated child care facilities," said Lindy Buch, director of the Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services at the Michigan Department of Education. "This would allow us to provide a ladder from a minimal level to a highest level and give incentives, rewards and technical assistance helping programs to improve with training and financial incentives."

Comment: To answer why is this important, the answer is, because children want it. There is play and there is learning play. It's all play, so why not make it real?