Healthy Hints

Please keep your child home if they have fever of 100° or more.  The school district policy says children may return to school when they have been fever free for 24 hours.  Please call the clinic when you have a sick child and let us know the symptoms. We keep track of infectious diseases in classrooms.

Practice good hand washing to decrease the transmission of germs. Remember that good hand washing is the single most effective method of stopping the spread of infection. Once you recover from an infectious disease throw away your toothbrush or toothbrush head to avoid reinfecting yourself.

Sleep- Children aged five to twelve years need ten to eleven hours of sleep every night. Sleep is essential for a child’s health and growth. Sleep promotes alertness, memory, and school performance and can reduce hyperactivity symptoms. Children who get enough sleep have been shown to function better (better grades!) and are less prone to problems.
The best tip for good sleep habits is to follow a nightly routine. A bedtime ritual will help your child relax, fall asleep, and stay asleep during the night.

Typical Bedtime Routine beginning about 7:30 p.m.
• Have a light snack
• Take a bath
• Get dressed for bed
• Brush teeth
• Read a story with them in bed or a quiet place
• Choose clothes, shoes, socks, and accessories for the next day and get them available for the next morning.
• Make sure that the room is quiet and at a comfortable temperature
• Good night, sleep tight!!!

Breakfast- It is very important to eat breakfast. Studies have shown that children who eat a good breakfast do well in school and have better attendance than those who do not. (Dr. Ronald Kleinman, Harvard Medical School). The word breakfast means to “break the fast”. After going for 10 or more hours without food, children’s energy reserves are low and their bodies and brains need fuel, although their activity level may not reflect this.
Ideally you should have 25% of your daily calories at breakfast.

Easy and healthy low fat breakfast:
1. A bowl of non-sweetened cereal with low fat or fat free milk, a glass of fruit juice, and fruit.
2. Oatmeal with milk and fruit
3. Pancakes topped with fruit and milk- very little syrup
4. Bagel or bread with peanut butter, fruit, and milk
5. Granola bar, fruit, and yogurt

Breakfast is served at school at 7:20am every day.
Regular price $1.35
For those that qualify for the free OR reduced program, breakfast is either free or reduced price is 30 cents.

Snacks- The latest lunch starts at 12:30pm. It is very important for your child to have a nutritious snack. If they have no snack it will be five or more hours between meals. Jello and chocolate pudding are not good snacks and will not sustain learning until noon.

Some suggestions for easy and healthy snacks are:
1. Chopped raw vegetables alone or with a small amount of ranch dressing
2. Pretzels
3. Cheerios or other non sweetened cereal
4. Granola or a granola bar
5. Fresh fruit
6. Whole grain crackers alone or with a slice of cheese
7. Graham crackers
8. Mini- rice cakes alone or with peanut butter

WATER ONLY IN THE CLASSROOM… no juice, Kool-aid, or Gatorade
Preparation and/or Organization for school- After school or at night you and your child should review the contents of their homework folder and backpack. Signed papers, reading books, and homework should be put back in so they will be ready in the morning. If the snack is non- perishable, pack it in the small pocket. Designate a place to keep the backpack. In the morning it is much easier to have a good day if things flow well at home before coming to school.

Thank you for all that you do to help your children learn well at school.