This year a group of Lower School faculty has formed a learning community in order to focus on promoting health and wellness in our school. We have done classroom activities to examine sugar content in common foods and taught more about dental health. This month, we are launching the “Eat a Rainbow” challenge so that students can learn the importance of eating a variety of colors of fruits and veggies. We want to help children understand that they need vitamins and nutrients from these foods in order to keep their growing bodies healthy.

The official “Eat a Rainbow” challenge will be next week, from April 30 to May 4. This is where you, as the families, have an important role to play! We would like to encourage each child to try at least one new fruit or veggie during that week, in addition to keeping track of whether or not they eat at least one fruit or veggie from each color of the rainbow. While this is an optional activity, we hope that there will be lots of excitement amongst the students about being able to complete their rainbow within the week!

As an incentive, we will host a “smoothie party” for the class with the highest participation in the challenge. Also, on Friday May 4, we would like students and faculty to wear wacky rainbow colors as a culminating celebration of our week!

Please see  this guide for additional information about the nutritional value of different fruits and veggies, as well as some ideas for incorporating more variety into your family’s routine.