CHICAGO, March 26 /PRNewswire/ — Allison Slade, co-founder and principal of a small start-up charter school in Chicago called Namaste, couldn’t keep up with the phone calls from educators across the country who had heard about the school’s innovative approach to fighting childhood obesity and giving children access to high quality education.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070326/AQM062A )
Now, thanks to funding from Mars, Incorporated, she directs them to http://www.namasteshares.org/, a first-of-its-kind web-based community that allows schools throughout the country to adapt the techniques and tools successfully used at Namaste. Made possible by an educational grant from Mars, Incorporated, the Namaste Shares! online program showcases the school’s groundbreaking approach that has attracted the interest of administrators, teachers, parents and healthcare professionals nationwide.
At a time when many schools have dropped P.E. class and been criticized for the food served in the cafeteria, Namaste’s approach is clearly resonating and providing educators with an alternate route to consider. The site now draws traffic from teachers and parents across the country seeking small — and large — ways they can impact their own schools or their own children’s education. Citing Namaste as inspiration, the following schools around the country have incorporated new healthy changes to their own curriculums:
— The Merrill Elementary Healthy Living Charter School in Oshkosh, Wis.,
has introduced a “morning meeting” in every classroom (K-5th grade)
including stretches and movement, and once a week brings the entire
school together for a big group “morning meeting” session. In
addition, all teachers are trained in yoga and incorporate yoga
principles in the classroom, above and beyond P.E. class.— In Kelly Little’s two- and three-year-old class at the Leesburg
Presbyterian Church Preschool in Leesburg, Va., she incorporates
stretching at Circle Time where children pretend to pick fruit off
trees and pull veggies out of the ground, to reinforce healthful food
choices. When the children get restless, she holds small exercise
sessions to keep them focused and energized, with them pretending to be
different animals in line with comprehension at that age. Little has
also adopted two of Namaste’s principles — Breathe and (talk to your)
Brain.
“Our phones have been literally ringing off the hook since we opened our doors three years ago, and Namaste Shares! has been instrumental in allowing our mission of teaching physical fitness, nutrition and health to flourish beyond the walls of Namaste,” said Allison Slade, co-founder and principal of Chicago’s Namaste Charter School. “We are thrilled that our small school in Chicago is inspiring others to apply our philosophy and curriculum to their own programs, at a time when one out of three children in this country is overweight or on the brink of becoming so.”
“Namaste Shares! provides an ideal model for school-based interventions and health and wellness education, and we think it’s extremely important to share these best practices with other schools to encourage healthy habits in and out of the classroom,” said Marlene Machut, director of health, science and nutrition communications for Mars, Incorporated. “Mars has a long history of commitment to health and wellness, including recent announcements around restricting advertising to children, new, healthier products for kids and teens, and supporting Namaste Shares!.”
A View Inside the Classroom and Cafeteria
At NamasteShares.org, educators and parents can log on to the Web site to view video of Namaste in action. The curriculum and classroom materials are available, along with links to the resources used at the school. A full “curriculum map” is featured — including objectives aligned to state academic standards and activities to implement the objectives. Photos and videos of Namaste teachers and students help to demonstrate the activities and assessments.
The site also includes a teacher bulletin board, which allows educators from across the country the chance to share the ideas that are working (or not working) in their schools. Parents can find tips on how to bring the Namaste philosophy to their child’s school and tools for integrating healthy habits into their child’s everyday routine at home.
The funding for Namaste Shares! was provided by Mars, Incorporated — a company dedicated to health and well-being. For more than 25 years, Mars has supported nutrition research and innovative approaches to nutrition education. To date, Mars, Incorporated has contributed $200,000 in monetary and in-kind support to Namaste.
Established in 2004, Namaste Charter School takes a holistic approach to education by focusing on physical exercise and diet along with developing skills in general courses such as math, science and literacy. Namaste Charter School is located at 3450 S. Hermitage in Chicago.
Mars, Incorporated, is a privately-held company that produces some of the world’s leading confectionery, food, petcare, beverage, and health & nutrition products, and operates in more than 65 countries. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars, Incorporated employs more than 8,000 associates in the United States and 39,000 associates worldwide with 39 manufacturing facilities nationally and well over 100 manufacturing facilities globally.
Mars, Incorporated currently employs more than 1,000 full time associates in the state of Illinois and adds more than $100 million to the local economy through salaries, wages and benefits expenditure. There are facilities in Chicago, Burr Ridge and Mattoon.
