Monday 27 August 2012

Apples for the Teacher


Welcome! 

To start off, I thought I should introduce myself and introduce the purpose of this blog. I am the Community Partners Coordinator for student nutrition programs in London and area. As a teacher and professional I know the importance of nutrition and education on our students. There are many of you out there who work tirelessly (often times out of the goodness of your hearts) to improve the lives of students. This blog will be dedicated to those who volunteer, work with or who are interested in the nutrition of students and our youth.

The idea of teachers and apples has gone hand in hand for years, back to the time when apples could persuade a teacher. Education has changed over the years but the symbol of the apple and the teacher still remains. You may have heard the little rhyme:

“An apple for the teacher will always do the trick when you don´t know your lesson in arithmetic.”

Trying to bribe your teacher with an apple definitely isn't the answer to improve your grades. (And probably highly ineffective). Also, if little Johnny had eaten that apple, he might have been better prepared to learn his arithmetic. The main job of a teacher is to impart knowledge. But without the basic needs being met (food), children cannot fully learn. There is a fundamental need to feed the mental, emotional and physical well being of students.

We are all teachers, whether it is professionally or not. If you are in the life of a child, you are a teacher in their eyes. They look up to you and not only are we teaching and helping them learn, we are shaping their lives. This includes healthy life choices and teaching them about proper nutrition.

So the title of this blog is a small shout out to those of you who work so hard to make a difference everyday in the lives of students. To those of you who nourish all aspects of the child; these apples are for you.


The purpose of this blog is to bring you information, recipes, research and any other tidbits you might be interested in. Please join me as I dish out information and ideas for school nutrition programs you can use in your classroom or at home. Feel free to leave a comment below to give me some ideas or suggestion as to what you would like to see.