Running head: CHOOSE MY PLATE

Clarissa L. Jaucian
Choose My Plate Assignment
Arizona State University
PPE 310
March 24, 2016
Dr. Lineberry

CHOOSE MY PLATE

Introduction
A child spends 5 days a week at school, for a total of 10 months out of the year. During
this time, he or she is eating two meals a day at Stevenson Elementary. Some students may be
eating breakfast at home or bringing a lunch that was packed by their family, but most are eating
what is provided for them. For this reason, a close inspection of the provided food was necessary.
Looking at one day in a snapshot, it was easy to determine what the health composition of each
meal was to determine if they aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for American and the National

CHOOSE MY PLATE

Standards for School Meals. Once completed suggestions for the improvement of healthy food
options could be made, along with a reflection of the Stevenson food options.
Choose My Plate Analysis
Stevenson Elementary is a Title I school, which means that a majority of the students
receive free or reduced lunch. Additionally, the school offers free breakfast to every student
every morning. Due to the schools status it is part of the National School Lunch Program, which
means that it adheres to the USDA guidelines (NSLP, 2016). According to the National Standards
for School Meals, the goal is increase the frequency with which students receive: whole grains,
fruits, vegetables, meat, and reduced fat or fat-free milk (2012). It is also necessary for the health
of the student to keep the meals within the recommended caloric guidelines for age, as well as
reducing the sodium content of meals (NSSM, 2012).
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2010), a 6th grade female should
consume between 1,400 and 1,600 calories a day. The breakdown of macronutrients should be as
follows: 45%-65% Carbohydrate, 10%-30% Protein, and 25%-35% Fat. A healthy diet will
include: fruits, vegetables, protein, whole grains, and milk or milk products. Looking at the
meals for this hypothetical 6th grade student, she has had at least a serving of each of those
categories with breakfast or lunch. The caloric intake for both meals is still within the
recommended amount and the sodium limit has not been reached. Up to this point of the
students day, she has met the recommendations laid out by the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans.
Application
The school is currently working within the guidelines that dictate the nutritional
composition of the school meals, but from what has been observed there could be more offering

CHOOSE MY PLATE

of vegetables. Stevenson does a good job of offering fresh fruit with both meals of the day, but
the offering of vegetables during lunch is often of the starchy variety. The students will receive
some form of potato offering, either mashed potatoes or potato cakes. Very rarely does one see a
true offering of a low-calorie, nutrient-rich vegetable side. For this reason, one very big change
that should be made is to incorporate more varieties of vegetable sides for every lunch time
offering.
Another recommendation would be to offer protein with every meal, there are some
occasions where the lunch entre is a funnel cake or French toast sticks with syrup. There is not
another form of protein offered to supplement this meal. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans
state that some form of protein should be included in every meal. Whether the protein be of the
meat variety or vegetable variety. If the lunch option is geared towards breakfast foods, then eggs
should become the protein part of the meal. Either way, protein in some form should be included.
Lastly, fruit juice should not be offered any longer with breakfast or lunch. If an
additional drink is necessary than water will be supplied instead; students are not drinking
enough water on a daily basis. Although the juice boxes are small quantities, they contain a high
amount of sugar. Often times, the juice box is chosen over the milk carton for students who
would prefer to have an option other than milk. For this reason, water bottles would be the
healthier option.
Reflection
Teachers play a very large part in a students life, they become a role model for education
and should also be a role model for healthy living. When teachers talk about healthy living or a
balanced diet, they should also be living that same lesson. Both teachers and students can log

CHOOSE MY PLATE

their food, both at school and at home. This way students feel like their teacher is invested in
healthy living habits and not just passing it along to the kids.
Giving students the tools to live a healthier life is not only about learning the why of
healthy living, but also the how. Resources like MyPlate are tools that students can use outside
of class and beyond the grade they apply it in school. Asking students to make life changes
means that they need to keep themselves on track when away from the teacher. Once students see
how these types of resources are used and how they can help, it is important to have discussions
with the class as a whole. Talking about what types of food are unhealthy and which options they
should choose will help students to become more aware.
Nutrition is only one part of becoming a healthy person, students need to learn about
physical activity as well. Each child should be getting 60 minutes of activity a day; teachers can
talk about different activity trackers that will help students to become more aware of how much
they are moving throughout the day. It is easy to assume that the day-to-day activities are enough
to meet the recommended amount for a healthy student or adult, but an activity tracker can
quickly show how much activity is really missing everyday. Using MyPlate can help them to
keep an eye on their nutrition and their activity levels in one place.

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http://clarissajaucianppe.weebly.com/healthy-leadership.html

References:
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010, January). Retrieved October 25, 2015, from
http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2010/.
MyPlate. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/about.
National School Lunch Program (NSLP). (2016, January 13). Retrieved from
http://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp
Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. (2012).
Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, 77(17). Retrieved
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf.

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Points (5)

teria
Exemplary
CHOOSE MY PLATE
7
Introductio Introduction was
well organized and
n
created a plan for
the paper
SCORE:
x1
ChooseMy

Plate
Analysis

SCORE:
x1

Application
of results
and
proposed

changes
SCORE:

x1

Summary/

Reflection
SCORE:

x1

Writing
SCORE:

Points (3)

One breakfast and

one lunch (or 2
restaurant options)
were evaluated
Results reflect a
hypothetical
student
Screen shot was
included

Contained a very
detailed application
of National
Standards for
School Meals
Contains very
detailed
applications of
Dietary Guidelines
for Americans
Contains very
detailed
discussions for 3
changes to improve
nutrition
A summary of the
current state of the
schools nutrition
was included
Summary of
changes were
included
A detailed
reflection
regarding how this
teacher knowledge
of students impacts
your students
inside and outside
your classroom
Proper grammar
and punctuation is
used throughout
the proposal

Proficient
Introduction was
somewhat organized
and created a plan for
the paper

Points (1) Needs

Only one breakfast or

lunch (or 1 restaurant
option) was evaluated
Results reflected a
hypothetical student,
but not enough
information was
provided
Screen shot was
included, but
incomplete
Contained a somewhat
detailed application of
National Standards for
School Meals
Contained somewhat
detailed applications
of Dietary Guidelines
for Americans
Contains somewhat
detailed discussions
only 2 changes to
improve nutrition

A summary of the
current state of the
school in terms of
nutrition was included
but did not
align with paper
A summary of the
proposed changes was
included but did not
align with paper
A general reflection of
how this data impacts
your students

Most grammar and

correct punctuation is
used throughout the
proposal

Improvement
Introduction was
disorganized and did
not create a plan for
the paper

Only one breakfast or

lunch (or 1 restaurant
option) was evaluated
but was incomplete
Results did not reflect
a hypothetical student
Screen shot was not
included

Contained little detail

on the application of
National Standards for
School Meals
Contained little detail
on the application of
Dietary Guidelines for
Americans
Contained little detail
or only included 1
change to improve
nutrition

A summary of the
current state of the
school in terms of
nutrition was not
included
A summary of the
proposed changes was
not included
A reflection of the
practical data as it
relates to your
classroom was
missing or incomplete

Many grammar and

correct punctuation
issues are found
throughout the