Becoming a Team Nutrition School will help you focus attention on the important role nutritious school meals, nutrition education and a health-promoting school environment play in helping students learn to enjoy healthy eating and physical activity. It will provide the framework for team efforts by school nutrition staff, teachers, parents, the media and other community members.

Team Nutrition has three behavior-focused strategies:

• Provide training and technical assistance to Child Nutrition foodservice professionals to enable them to prepare and serve nutritious meals that appeal to students.
  
  
• Promote nutrition curriculum and education in schools through multiple communication channels to reinforce positive nutrition messages and encourage students to make healthy food and physical activity choices as part of a healthy lifestyle.
  
  
• Build school and community support for creating healthy school environments that are conducive to healthy eating and physical activity.

All program materials encourage students to make food and physical activity choices for a healthy lifestyle. They focus on five behavior outcomes:

• Eat a variety of foods
• Eat more fruits, vegetables and grains
• Eat lower fat foods more often
• Get your calcium-rich foods
• Be physically active

Team Nutrition Schools have these common values:

1. We believe that children should be empowered to make food and physical activity choices that reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

2. We believe that good nutrition and physical activity are essential to children's health and educational success.

3. We believe that school meals that meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans should taste good and appeal to children.

4. We believe our programs must build upon the best science, education, communication and technical resources available.

5. We believe that school, parent and community teamwork is essential to encouraging children to make food and physical activity choices for a healthy lifestyle.

6. We believe that messages to children should be age appropriate and delivered in language they speak, through media they use, in ways that are entertaining and actively involve them in learning.

7. We believe in focusing on positive messages regarding food and physical activity choices children can make.

8. We believe it is critical to stimulate and support education and action at the national, state and local levels to help children develop healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.

As a new Team Nutrition School, you will receive a resource kit (while supplies last) of materials to help you plan and carry out activities for your students and their families. Additional Team Nutrition materials can be purchased from the National Food Service Management Institute (1-800-321-3054). You also have the opportunity to use the Team Nutrition Web Page where you can share your success stories and learn what other Team Nutrition Schools are doing.

Print and complete the School Enrollment Form, provided as a PDF file. Fax it to 703-305-2549. Or mail it to:

Team Nutrition
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 632
Alexandria, VA 22302