Is BMI ever TMI (too much information)?
As you read this, somewhere in a gym in a school in Georgia, a student may be stepping onto a scale – backward – to comply with state law. Georgia is one of the latest states to mandate that schools track fitness levels and calculate body mass index (BMI) in an effort to combat childhood obesity, and provide parents with reports on their students’ physical composition and fitness. Read more on this CNN education blog.
Can online games influence what kids eat?
Children are an advertiser’s dream, and if you have any doubt about that, just take a stroll through a toy store or your local grocer’s with one of these trusting, impressionable tykes in tow. You’ll know what I mean.
As if the ads on TV for the latest toy, fast food, sugary snacks and fat-laden meals weren’t bad enough, now researchers say you have to worry about another insidious way that manufacturers are appealing to the youngest among us — advergames. Read more in TIME Magazine.
Fort Collins school’s fitness lab provides new exercise options
Boltz Middle School sixth-grader Tate Thurgood, 11, is a fitness junkie.
She loves exercising and participating in the school’s Fuel Up to Play 60 club – a nationwide movement promoting healthy exercise to prevent obesity. But earlier this year, poor weather often prevented her from getting the exercise she craved. Read more in the Coloradoan.
Girl’s death highlights allergy safety in schools
Most kids can freely snack at recess, but a growing number of American children have food allergies that can lead to serious reactions if the wrong ingredient gets into their mouths.
Ammaria Johnson, 7, of Virginia, died January 2 of cardiac arrest and anaphylaxis, according to a statement from Chesterfield County police. The girl had received a peanut from another child unaware of Ammaria’s allergy, police said. Ammaria ate the peanut on the playground, and then approached a teacher, who took her to the school clinic. School personnel, responding police officers and firefighters were unable to save her life, and she was declared dead at Chippenham Hospital. Read this CNN report.
About our First Person series:
First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others trying to improve public education. Read our submission guidelines here.