Jonesboro School District

2506 Southwest Sq.

Jonesboro, AR 72401
(870) 933-5800
Monday, 20 April 2015
Parents of Kate Goodnight
4908 Prospect Farm Road
Jonesboro, AR
72401

RE: Childrens Health and Nutrition

Dear Parents,
As your childs classroom teacher, I would personally like to inform you on a
few aspects of childrens health and nutrition as correlated with child development.
After spending a great deal of time getting to personally know your child I feel as
though it is my duty to inform you of a few very simple ways to better insure the
later success of your child. Health and nutrition are active participants in your
childs overall growth and development, to increase your learning a bit more in such
a subject area would be overall very beneficial to your child-a healthy body leads to
a healthy mind.
Overall, nutrition for children is based on the same principles as that of
nutrition for adults, however because children are constantly growing their
nutritional needs change as well. Listed below are the nutritional needs of your child
based on age and gender:
Ages 2-3 Boys & Girls
1000-1400 Calories
1-1.5 cups of fruit
3-5 ounces of grains

2-4 ounces of protein

1-1.5 cups of vegetables
2-2.5 cups of dairy

30-40% fat of daily calories 45-60% carbs of daily calories

19 grams of fiber

500 milligrams of calcium

Ages 4-8 Girls*

1200-1800 Calories
protein

Ages 4-8 Boys*

3-5 oz. protein

1200-2000 Calories

3-5.5

1-1.5 cups of fruit

vegetables
4-6 oz. grains
2.5-3 dairy

1.5-2.5 c. vegetables 1-2 c. fruit

2.5-3 cups dairy

1.5-2.5 c.

4-6 oz. grains

*Both boys and girls need 25-35% fat, 45-65% carbs, 25 grams of fiber, and 800
milliliters of calcium.*
Ages 9-13 Girls

Ages 9-13 Boys

1400-2200 Calories
oz. protein

4-6 oz. protein

1.5-2 c. fruit
vegetables

1.5-3 c. vegetables

5-7 oz. grains

dairy

2.5-3 cups dairy

25-35% fat

45-65% carbs

26 grams fiber
1300 ml calcium

1600-2600 Calories

5-6.5

1.5-2 c. fruit

2-3.5 c.

5-9 oz. grains

25-35% fat

1300 ml calcium

3 cups
45-65% carbs

31 grams fiber

Along with knowing the proper amounts of food for your developing child, it is also
important to know why each food category is prevalent to your childs growth and
development-these are listed below.
Calories: units of energy your childs body needs to function properly
Protein: helps your childs body build cells, break down food into energy, fight
infections, and carry oxygen
Total Fat: great source of energy for children and are essentially stored by the body,
also used in helping the body properly use some of the nutrients it needs
Carbohydrate: the bodys most important source of energy, helps your childs body
use fat and protein for building and repairing tissue
Fiber: helps promote bowel regularity in children, also plays a role in reducing the
risk of heart disease and cancer later in life
Calcium: essential in helping to build your childs healthy teeth and bones, also
important for blood clotting and nerve, muscle, and heart function
Knowing what proper nutrition for your child really is is one thing, however
implementing the use of this information can be considered the hard part for most
parents. Between work, school, and extracurricular activities most families are
stretched thin when it comes to dinner/family time-the important thing to remember
is that your childs nutrition will reflect all other aspects of their life (behavior,
performance, adaptability, and even cognitively). By simply skipping TV time for the
night, cooking dinner vs. eating takeout, and playing with your child outside you can
dramatically affect the health and wellbeing of your child. Consider adding options
like family walks, weekly meal preps, and getting enough sleep into your regular
schedule, you may be surprised by how much it can actually make a difference.

This letter does contain a great deal of information regarding what nutrition
looks like for your individual child, as your childs classroom teacher and best
advocatory (second to you as parents/family) I hope this was helpful information.
We will be having more information to come about a workshop or classroom theme
on health and nutrition. As always if you have any question, concerns, or comments
please feel free to reach out.

Sincerely,
(Classroom
Teacher)
Jonesboro Kindergarten Center
618 W Nettleton Ave
Jonesboro, AR 72401
(870) 933-5835
Monday, 20 April 2015
Superintendent/ Food Services Director/ Production Manager
Jonesboro School District
2506 Southwest Sq.
Jonesboro, AR 72401

RE: Childrens Health and Nutrition

To whom it may concern,

Over the past year as a classroom teacher at the Jonesboro Kindergarten
center I have personally observed and learned a great deal of valuable information
that can be used to better our school within the upcoming years. Recently as a class
our new topic has been gardening, we have been learning about the necessary
items a plant needs to live, the parts of a plant, and even different types of seeds
and the types of plants they will grow. The students absolutely adore this lesson and
have thoroughly enjoyed growing their own bean plants, however while one student
was writing in his plant journal (tool used to document the periodic growth of each
individual students bean plant) a statement was made that suggested food was a
problem at home. This individual made the statement that they wished it possible to
take the bean plant home and grow enough beans for his whole family. After doing a
bit of research I found that this particular student is a part of the free and reduces
lunch system here at school. After having this situation arise, a thought of
inspiration crossed my mind-improving the health and nutrition of children within
our schools. While this is an idea that is currently being implemented, I did a bit of

research and thought of a few thing our schools could do to better educate parents
and children on the importance of health and nutrition in children as well as give
them guidance on how to do just that.
While doing my research, I found that in 2013 two hundred eighty-nine
thousand two hundred fifth-teen (289,215) students in the Arkansas School System
were receiving free and reduced lunches. While this number dropped significantly
from the year before (471,867) it was still considerably larger to other prior. I also
found that to receive a free meal the household income must be below 130% of the
Federal poverty threshold, to receive a reduced-price lunch, the household income
must be below 185% of the Federal poverty threshold (U.S. Office of Management
and Budget). The average household income in Jonesboro, AR is $39,388 as
compared to the national average at $54,759-that is a $15,371 difference. The 2015
Poverty Guidelines states that for a household of 3-4 people (Jonesboros average
size being 2.93) the poverty line is $20,090 -24,250. Although the average
household income is greater than that of the poverty line, 2,879 children are
receiving free and reduced lunches.
I feel as though my job as a classroom teacher is to care for each individual
child and their needs, some of those falling under the health and nutrition category.
I have taken the time to look into a few options on educated our community on the
importance of childhood health and nutrition such as parent workshops,
newsletters, health and nutrition school wide classroom theme, using fresh and
local produce, as well as creating an organization within our school district to
support those families struggling to provide adequate nutrition for their child. It is
very important that we do implement ideas such as these due to the fact that a
childs overall health and nutrition effects much more than meets the eye. Children
who do not receive adequate nutrition are often delayed developmentally,
experience behavior problems, have many health problems later in life, and even
less likely to thrive in academic situation. By hosting a health and nutrition
workshop for parents, teaching them ways to promote healthy living while on a
budget/time crunch, what exactly healthy living is, and the difference between a
childs nutritional needs vs. an adults you are actively decreasing the likely hood of
having children experience the effects of inadequate nutrition in early stages of
development. The same goes for a newsletter, by sending out a weekly letter on
tips and tricks to keep healthy living and nutrition active in your home parents are
more apt to actually try something new for their child. By having a school wide
theme of nutrition you are teaching children (and parents alike) how important
nutrition is, as well as showing school support on such a large issue. By using fresh
and local produce (yay for Jonesboro being a farming area) children are receiving
more nutrient dense food (compared to processed and frozen food). This can also be
used as a learning opportunity to teach students where their food actually comes
from and came to be. I also feel as though by implementing the start of a program
designed to help those families of students on free and reduced lunches you are
bettering the community as a whole as well as the future of those children (and
families) involved. No child should go without a meal, for the school to make an
effort in fighting for those children who do not receive adequate nutrition is a huge
deal of support.

Nutrition in the early childhood years so greatly effects a childs overall

development it is important to make sure children receive what they need. As a
safe place for children to come to, to gain an education, and learn to better
themselves it is prevalent that we do just that, starting with insuring all students
receive nothing less. I look forward to working with you in the hopes of further
developing and implementing better nutrition for our students.

Scenery,

_______________________
Teacher)

(Kindergarten Classroom