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T E A M N U T R I T I O N 1

Volume 8, No. 1 Team Nutrition 	 3101 Park Center Drive

	 Room 632,

	 Alexandria, VA 22302

•	 HealthierUS

School Challenge

•	 Local Wellness

Policy

•	 What’s New in

Team Nutrition

•	 Join the Team

Announcing the New

MyPyramid for Kids

What’s NEW in nutrition? New Dietary 

Guidelines and a new food pyramid. In 

January 2005 the latest version of the 

Dietary Guidelines for Americans was published, 

followed by the new MyPyramid in April. The 

Dietary Guidelines are the foundation of the 

MyPyramid graphic, which was developed 

specifically for the general public as a tool to 

help them easily understand the scientific 

information about diet and physical activity.

To help elementary students, parents, and teachers 

understand the new MyPyramid graphic, Team 

Nutrition developed MyPyramid for Kids, along 

with companion educational materials. Children 

ages 6-11 will find this to be an exciting new graphic 

that encourages them to “Eat Right. Exercise. 

Have Fun.” Core messages in MyPyramid for Kids

explain the changes most children need to make in 

their food choices and how parents and educators 

can help them make these changes. The new 

resources include:

• An interactive Web site 

• Three levels of classroom lessons, 

covering grades 1 to 6

• Posters for the classroom and 

cafeteria

• Tips for Families, a mini-poster 

for kids and their parents

• MyPyramid for Kids worksheet

• MyPyramid for Kids coloring page

• MyPyramid Blast Off, an exciting 

new interactive computer game 

Middle and high school teachers should use the 

MyPyramid: Steps to a Healthier You posters and 

mini-posters with their students, since they are an 

older audience.

Go to teamnutrition.usda.gov to see materials and 

order online from www.ntis.gov/USDA/

MyPyramid.aspx.

What’s

Inside

MyPyramid explains

that you need to:

•Make Half Your Grains Whole

•Vary Your Veggies

•Focus on Fruits

•Get Your Calcium-Rich Foods

•Go Lean with Protein

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Food and

Nutrition

Service
2 T E A M N U T R I T I O N

A

new USDA initiative recognizes schools that

take a leadership role in helping students learn

to make healthful eating and active lifestyle

choices. Many schools have already made 

changes by improving the quality of the foods served, 

providing nutrition education, and offering more 

physical activity. 

Can your school qualify for a HealthierUS 

School Challenge award? Take the quiz 

below:

•Does your school provide a healthy 

school nutrition environment? 

•Do your school meals meet the 

Dietary Guidelines? 

•Do students have opportunities to 

be physically active and to learn about 

nutrition? 

•Are you a Team Nutrition School? 

If you answered “Yes” to the questions above, then 

you are on your way to qualifying for an award. 

HealthierUS Schools can be certified as either Silver 

or Gold Team Nutrition Schools, according to criteria 

established by USDA. These criteria address the 

foods offered inside and outside the school cafeteria, 

the availability of nutrition education and physical 

HealthierUS School Challenge

Go for the Silver! Go for the Gold!

activity, and student participation in the school 

lunch program. Ultimately, USDA would like to see 

all schools take the Challenge: Go for the Silver! Go 

for the Gold!

USDA issued the HealthierUS School Challenge 

during National School Lunch Week 2004. Initially, 

the Challenge has been limited to elementary schools. 

It will expand to higher grades in following years.

More information is available on the Team Nutrition 

Web site. This includes a self-assessment form, 

application procedures, and links to pertinent 

materials. An interested school should download the 

form, convene a review panel that includes school 

officials and parents, complete the review, and submit 

it to the school’s State agency responsible for the 

National School Lunch Program. State-approved 

assessment forms are forwarded to USDA for review 

and final approval. Certification as a HealthierUS 

School is for 2 years beyond the year of approval.

As of January 1, 2006, there were 54 Gold winners, 

representing three States, and three Silver award 

winners from one State. You may still be able to be 

the first in your State to receive an award! Review 

the information on the Team Nutrition Web site 

(teamnutrition.usda.gov, click on “Healthy Schools”) 

and TAKE THE CHALLENGE! 

The revised messages are:

• Eat a variety of foods

• Eat more fruits, vegetables, and 

whole grains

• Choose calcium-rich foods

• Eat lower fat foods more often

• Be physically active.

Please check the Team Nutrition

Web site regularly to find out about

updated and newly developed Team

Nutrition materials: 

teamnutrition.usda.gov.

To reflect the new 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid graphic,

Team Nutrition will be revising many of its materials beginning with the Team Nutrition Messages. 
T E A M N U T R I T I O N 3

D

id you know that the U.S. Congress established a

requirement that all local educational agencies

(LEA), including public, private, and residential child

care institutions participating in federally funded school

meals or milk programs, must develop and implement a

local wellness policy by the beginning of the school year

2006-2007? Your LEA’s policy must address nutrition 

guidelines for all foods and beverages available on 

campus, nutrition education, physical activity, and 

other school-based activities to promote student 

wellness.

Has your district already begun the process of 

convening a committee to develop a local wellness 

policy? If your district or schools are already involved 

in a Coordinated School Health Program, Team 

Nutrition, or the Carol M. White Physical Education 

Program you may be well on the way to meeting the 

local wellness policy requirement. Wherever you are 

in the process, USDA and other national groups want 

to make your job a bit easier.

Working with the Department of Education and the 

Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USDA has 

made information and technical assistance available 

for schools and State educational agencies. Be sure 

to check out the Local Wellness Policy Web pages, 

linked from USDA’s Team Nutrition Web site at 

teamnutrition.usda.gov. You will find lots of valuable 

information there, including:

• Policy requirements (the law)

• Who should be involved

• Steps to take immediately to 

create a local wellness policy

• Model policies you can adapt 

to meet your local needs

• Links to additional resources

Your local wellness policy has the 

potential to affect the lives of many children. 

If you are already developing and implementing 

a local wellness policy, congratulations! If not, 

consider volunteering for this important task.

Local Wellness Policy

T

he congressional mandate 

for local wellness policies 

was included in the Child 

Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization 

Act of 2004. Team Nutrition is committed

to helping schools and State education agencies

fulfill the intent of this law—establish healthy

school nutrition environments, and reduce

childhood obesity and chronic diseases related

to poor nutrition and physical inactivity.
4 T E A M N U T R I T I O N

Fruits & Vegetables Galore: Helping Kids Eat More

Fruits & Vegetables Galore is a guide to help school foodservice professionals plan, 

purchase, protect, prepare, present, and promote healthy, delicious fruits and vegetables 

for their customers. Use Fruits & Vegetables Galore to help rejuvenate your cafeteria with 

colorful fruits and vegetables. Dress up your serving line to draw attention to fruits and 

vegetables. Solicit the cooperation of teachers by providing them with teaching tools or by 

supporting their educational efforts. Compete with commercial options for your students’ 

business. Use all these materials to get students excited about eating healthfully. 

Fruit and Vegetable Challenge Poster Kit

This activity packet combines the Fruit and Vegetable Challenge poster from Fruits & 

Vegetables Galore with a dry-erase marker and instructions for classroom use. Teachers 

can use this as a math lesson as well as an incentive for students to eat more fruits and 

vegetables. Team Nutrition School foodservice managers planning a fruit-and-vegetable 

emphasis can order copies for the classrooms to encourage student participation.

Offer versus Serve

Offer versus Serve (OVS) is a comprehensive training package for school districts to use to 

train school foodservice staff. It contains training modules for each of the menu-planning 

systems – Traditional Food Based, Enhanced Food Based and Nutrient Standard Menu 

Planning. It also contains a Resource Guide for schools, a video and a CD containing all 

the transparencies and activity sheets. This full kit is for districts, not schools. The 

package includes an order form for districts to use to order additional copies of the 

Resource Pack for the schools they train. Prior to conducting Offer versus Serve training, 

State agencies and school districts should order additional resource packs to be distributed 

to their trainees. 

Getting It Started and Keeping It Going

Getting It Started and Keeping It Going is a “how-to” guide for Team Nutrition School 

Leaders. It is divided into three sections - Welcome which introduces Team Nutrition, 

Getting It Started which provides steps for new leaders to follow to get their program 

underway, and Keeping It Going which helps current leaders identify Team Nutrition 

materials and ways to use them in their program. The guide is provided to new Team 

Nutrition Schools as they sign on. 

Left side of outer case

Case 

opening 

is on 

this side

in Team

 Nutrition

What’s

New

We have been busy developing new materials for you. 

Here are some of the newest items in the Team Nutrition collection of technical

assistance and nutrition education materials and training. If you don’t have

your copy yet, go to the Team Nutrition Web site to order these free items online.

Go to teamnutrition.usda.gov and click on Resource Library to find the online

order form.

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T E A M N U T R I T I O N 5

Getting Your Message Out: A Media Guide for Team Nutrition

Getting Your Message Out is a compilation of material previously developed for Changing the 

Scene, Community Nutrition Action Kit, School Activity Planner, and Get Growing...from the 

Ground Up. This guide consolidates the information in one location, for easy reference and use 

to help schools make the most of opportunities to gain public support for their Team Nutrition 

activities. You do not need to order this guide. It is distributed to all new Team Nutrition Schools 

as they sign on. 

Making It Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories

A follow-up to Changing the Scene, Making It Happen! tells the stories of 32 schools and school 

districts that have made a wide variety of innovative changes to improve the nutritional quality of 

foods and beverages offered and sold on school campuses. The most consistent themes emerging 

from these case studies are that students will buy and consume healthful foods and beverages and 

that schools can make money from healthful options. Included are a variety of materials developed 

by some of the schools and contact information for each story. Copies have already been shipped 

to recipients of USDA’s Changing the Scene kit, child nutrition State agencies, Action for Healthy 

Kids State teams, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grantees involved in 

school nutrition and health. This was a joint project of USDA and CDC with support from the 

Department of Education. 

Popular Team Nutrition Events—An Idea Book

An adaptation of a Michigan publication, this booklet provides schools with 23 different events 

they can use to get their students involved in fun learning activities. Ranging from daily health 

education messages over the school announcement system to a community-wide health fair, there 

are lots of choices to fit any school’s needs. Schools receive a copy when they sign on as a Team 

Nutrition School. 

NFSMI Training

The National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) under a cooperative agreement with 

the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), is providing training for school lunch and child 

care program cooperators at State agency and association meetings. The training is on a variety 

of topics - from using the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs, to Feeding Infants, 

and Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace. The State selects the topic from a long list of Team 

Nutrition and NFSMI materials, and NFSMI provides the training and handouts. Most sessions are 

60-90 minutes long; however, longer sessions have been provided. The training is free of charge 

to the States. Contact Ellen Leppa at NFSMI: 800-321-3054, or eleppa@olemiss.edu for more 

information.

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Eat Smart. Play Hard.TM Marches on Over 5 Years Later!

The Eat Smart. Play Hard.TM Campaign has a great new look. The revitalized 

spokescharacter, Power Panther and his nephew, Slurp, will appear in various 

educational and promotional materials. Visit “What’s New?” at www.fns.usda.gov/

eatsmartplayhard for more information and updates. 
6 T E A M N U T R I T I O N

Join the Team...

Become a Team Nutrition School

Becoming a Team Nutrition School will 

help you focus attention on the important 

role of nutritious school meals, nutrition 

education and a health-promoting school 

environment 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.

Goal:

Team Nutrition’s goal is to improve children’s 

lifelong eating and physical activity habits by 

using the principles of the Dietary Guidelines 

for Americans and MyPyramid.

Team Nutrition has three implementation 

strategies: 

• Healthy school meals that meet student 

expectations

• Nutrition education that is fun and focused 

on behavior

• Support from school administrators, parents and 

other community leaders

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 whole grains

•Choose calcium-rich foods

•Eat lower fat foods more often

•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 Team Nutrition School, you will be the first to 

receive new materials to help you plan and carry 

out activities for your students and their families. 

You also have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to use the Team 

Nutrition Web site teamnutrition.usda.gov

to order additional support material and access 

additional resources.

Complete the School Enrollment Form on the next page. 

Fax it to: 703-305-2549

Or mai l it to: Team Nutrition 

 3101 Park Center Drive, 

 Room 632 

 Alexandria, VA 22302

At the same time, provide a copy of the enrollment 

form to your foodservice director and to the Team 

Nutrition Leader at your State agency. If you do not 

have that address, contact your school foodservice 

director or check the Team Nutrition Web site. If you 

have questions, mail or fax them to Team Nu­tri­tion 

at the above address. Also, email can be directed to 

teamnutrition@fns.usda.gov.

W e l o o k f o r w a r d t o h a v i n g y o u J O I N T H E T E A M !
School Principal, Printed Name School FoodService Manager, Printed Name

Signature Signature

Date Date

• Support USDA’s Team Nutrition goal and values.

• Demonstrate a commitment to help students meet the 

Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

• Designate a Team Nutrition School Leader who will 

establish a school team.

• Distribute Team Nutrition materials to teachers, 

students and parents.

• Involve teachers, students, parents, foodservice 

personnel, and the community in interactive and 

entertaining nutrition education activities.

• Participate in the National School Lunch Program.

• Demonstrate a well-run Child Nutrition Program.

• Share successful strategies and programs with 

other schools.

We certify our school does not have any outstanding overclaims or

significant program violations in our school meals programs.

Our Team Nutrition School Leader is:

❑Ms. ❑Mrs. ❑Mr. ❑Other

First Name ast Name

Title School’s Name

Total Enrollment School Grades (K-12)

School District School County

School Address

City State Zip Code

Telephone ( ) Fax ( )

E-Mail address

P lease Check one or more of the Appropriate grade ranges:

❑ P (Preschool: PreK) ❑ E (Elementary: K-5/6) ❑ M (Middle: 6/7-8) ❑ H (High: 9-12)

we agree to:

Team Nutrition School enrollment form

submit one for each school

P l ease T ype or print

T E A M N U T R I T O N 7
i n t e r n e t

E- m ai l

w ri t e

p h o n e / f a x

Contact us via the Internet/World Wide Web at the 

following URL (Uniform Resource Locator) 

teamnutrition.usda.gov

E-Mail us at Team Nutrition On-Line at our 

Internet mailbox, teamnutrition@fns.usda.gov

Write us at: 

3101 Park Center Drive, Room 632 

Alexandria, VA 22302

Phone: (703) 305-1624

Fax: (703) 305-2549

for more Information

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Food and Nutrition Service, CND

3101 Park Center Drive, Room 632

Alexandria, VA 22302-9943

First-Class MAIL

POSTAGE & FEES PAID 

FOOD & NUTRITION 

PERMIT NO. G-39

In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from 

discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability