St. John's Healthy Heritage Project

St John's CLC

St John’s Elementary students took part in a program entitled the “Lunch Club project”.  The workshop’s aim was to increase student, parent and community awareness of healthy lifestyle choices such as good nutrition and active living.  

The project was geared to help provide students with basic cooking skills and understanding of the importance of all four food groups by teaching them what ingredients to include and what to avoid.

Through the Lunch Club Project students realized that preparing their own lunches at school eating healthy can be fun. With the loving attention of the seniors group Lionnettes, and careful guidance of St. John’s School Nurse, a strong intergenerational dynamic could also be felt in the school, giving it all more of a family kitchen feel.

The project’s huge success was due to capable partnerships with Bouffe Pontiac who provided a free animator for the Nutrition workshops. Pontiac en Forme provided an animator that helped the children in preparing the lunches. The Lionnettes helped supervise the students as they prepared their lunches, St. John’s School Nurse who monitors their lunches and finally even the town Mayor participated in the activity and found the program “Remarkable”.

Since the start of the Lunch Club Project students are more aware of a nutritional diet and have a greater  variety of interesting recipes and healthy practices.

Check out an amazing recipe and activity book compiled for this project by.. Clicking Here.

Saint Lambert Healthy Heritage Project

Saint Lambert CLC

Students and families of the Saint Lambert area participated in a two-part workshop geared towards promoting the importance of healthy nutrition practices. An innovative aspect was that parents and students would be split into child-cooking and parent-nutritional info workshops and then brought back together near the end of the evening to integrate their learnings while parents enjoyed the outcome of the children’s workshop!

 

“We wanted to show our families that preparing healthy meals (together to strengthen their bonds as a family) does not need to be difficult.” - Natasha MacDonald, CLC Coordinator.

The first workshop entitled “Packing Healthy Lunches”, introduced students to healthy lunch alternatives, with a twist on the traditional tuna sandwich as well as introducing other healthy side alternatives such as sesame noodle salad and green salad.

The second workshop was entitled “How to Prepare Healthy Meals as a Family”. Students and their families were educated on healthy eating practices such as how to get full servings of all essential food groups.  This was followed by strategies for preparing simple yet interesting meals they can take home and prepare with their families.

Students prepared chicken breasts wrapped in pancetta with leeks, and chicken breasts with asparagus and tomatoes to take home and cook as a family. This workshop was successful in helping children understand nutrition and how to ensure they maintain a healthy diet, along with some exciting twists on traditional dishes.  But they also had the opportunity to bond with their parents creating a stronger sense of community. After the workshops students and their families left with their very own CLC Family Cookbook to continue the healthy trends learned with family.

 

The workshops were a huge success.

“You could literally see the excitement on the children’s' faces as they led their parents and grandparents into their cooking area, showing off all their hard work.  The enthusiasm and sense of empowerment was very strong.”

Everyone’s efforts showed in their dishes and parents left understanding the need for attention to food preparation with families, as noted in several parent comments:

“I noticed I need to pay more attention to labels before I buy.”

“I learned that simpler can be better, and to eat less processed foods.”

 “I'm re-inspired to eat properly again.”

Thanks goes to the diligent efforts of partners Sandra Power, Holistic Nutritional Consultant and Margaret Kassab of Simple Gourmet. Their efforts ensured that the workshops ran smoothly and effectively while providing students and their families with the know how to prepare healthy meals on their own. 

St Lambert compiled a great list of documents for this project, including yummy smoothie recipies, a Family Nutrition Workshop and handouts for Packing Healthy Lunches and Cooking with Kids. 

To access all these great resources click here!

Baie-Comeau Healthy Heritage Project

Baie-Comeau

Baie Comeau CLC organized three intergenerational health activities with the support of the CHSSN grant, with the shared goal of bringing both young and old together in mutually beneficial workshops to build relationships and counter social isolation.

One activity was the ‘Hero in 30’, a workshop where members of the 50+ Club worked alongside high school students to learn how to assess the state of a person in physical distress and deal with a crisis situation using CPR and first aid; a highly beneficial skill set important for any age.

The second and third activities saw two groups of elementary school students working alongside members of the 50+ Club to share healthy living habits and dialogue on issues concerning social isolation, increasing empathy and understanding.  

Later in the day, members of the 50+ Club treated students to a heritage and history exchange where they learned about the historical significance and uniqueness of the Church of St. Andrew & St. George, as well as how the building reflects the heritage of the Anglophone pioneers of Baie-Comeau.

Overall the workshops were a huge success through great contributions by the CLC’s partner - North Shore Community Association (NSCA), the 50+ Club and the Church of St. Andrew and St. George. With the help of these organizations the Baie Comeau CLC and community were able to reach their goal for this year of creating ownership and pride in our heritage sites.

The project also supported learning beneficial skills related to crisis management, understanding of local history and continuously promoting a healthy active lifestyle for young and old alike while shrinking the generational gap and social isolation.

Growing up Green at Parkdale

Parkdale CLC

This past year nearly 100 children of Parkdale Elementary had the opportunity to participate in a great new program called “Growing up Green at Parkdale”, which had several interesting components woven together.

The heart of the project is the vegetable garden, and a focus on the mutual importance of both healthy eating habits AND a healthy community. We tried to make the garden a non-stressful environment. Through the initiative children got to work along side their friends as well as teachers, including ALL of Parkdale’s French teachers, which was a great experience considering the English dominant environment of Parkdale elementary. The project was a great success exposing our children and their families to healthy habits; which is an identified goal at Les Tables de Concertations (Youth Planning Table) in our region.

During the project children involved themselves by not only choosing which vegetables the school would plant but also planting with their grandparents helping aid in the strengthening of family and community while learning the importance of healthy living with a particular focus on both French and English.

The booming success of this project was a direct result of our collaborative efforts through our various partners that allowed us to apply for more grants and allow this idea to develop. Of those who made the entireendeavor possible as well as successful EMSB, CHSSN, Quebec en Forme, Vert-Cité (Éco-Quartier of St-Laurent) and AREQ du Ruisseau Raimbault  are amongst the most notable.

Also, the highly knowledgeable horticulturalist hired by the Éco-Quartier  and graphic designer Don Royer (for helping with the creation of the Calendar) were invaluable aids throughout the entire project. No partner is greater than another and thanks to the efforts and contribution of everyone involved the children benefit most of all taking with them not only some soiled hands but also the seeds of success.

 Parkdale created two 2013-2014 School Calendars... Click Here to view!

St Willibrord School-Community Garden

For the third year in a row, teachers at St Willibrord School and CLC have been developing a school-community garden that allows for hands on learning opportunities about plants in French and Science.  In addition, students have the opportunity to grow food that is shared with families in the community. The work of students and teachers promotes healthy eating and awareness of growing vegetables and eating healthy snacks straight from a garden.

In an innovative partnership, the responsibility for the garden is given to a local camp during the summer and returned to the school in September.  This past year featured a partnership with McGill students in urban horticulture who researched the garden, analyzing the current situation and making suggestions for future developments.

Click here to learn more about St. Willibrord’s School-Community Garden.

Nutrition - Making Healthy Snacks. - Growing our own fruits and Vegetables

Making Healthy Snacks - Growing our own fruits and vegetables
Nutrition

Parkdale Elementary

Maria Kanellopoulos, a Cycle 1 teacher at Parkdale CLC worked to develop a nutrition project integrated in French, Drama and Art. As students learned about proper nutrition they developed presentations and participated in the planting of a school garden  This project shows how even young students can play a role in promoting healthy communities.

Students walked to a nearby grocery store where they learned about the food groups through a hands-on experience by shopping for supplies needed for a Healthy Snack Day with their parents.  

Then students prepared healthy snacks which included, zucchini muffins, avocado-salsa dip and onion dip for the veggies and a tangy-sweet dip for the fruits. The students also prepared fruit and vegetable brochettes, fruit salad and veggie pita pizza.

According to Ms. Kanellopoulos “The students were inspired and gained a sense of responsibility, self-esteem, and ownership”. At the beginning of May, the students planted vegetables in class.

Using fabric markers, students colored their pizza ingredients on tee-shirts and performed the song, ''Je suis une pizza'', for their parents. Students shared their nutrition book created in class which included all their work.

Many pictures were taken throughout this process and the parents had the opportunity to see the whole process through a photo slide show.  Ms. Kanellopoulos wrote that “Needless to say, they learned so much through this experience and I also learned so much from my little grade 1's”.

Some of the greatest successes of the project included the "real" learning that took place and the sense of community that was created. Families were brought together.  A lesson learned by the teacher in charge was the importance of organization and having a team to work together to pull off this kind of project.

For more information about this project click here.