The Healthiest State Walk has been an annual event since 2011. The event's slogan for this year is "Walk More. Connect More" and encourages participants to walk with others.

The Annual Walk is a great way to promote school wellness and support Iowa’s goal of becoming the healthiest state in the nation. 

The Healthiest State is encouraging Iowans to participate on social media with the hashtags #GetYourWalkOn2018. Register your school walk or view walk resources!

The theme this year “School Lunch: Lots 2 Love,” is designed to help schools highlight what makes their cafeteria such a special place for students to visit every day. Below are some ideas to celebrate: 

• Bulletin boards can spark students’ interest and extend an exciting invitation to learn. Check out Iowa Team Nutrition's collection of bulletin board ideas! 
• Costumes, Uniforms or Accessories can make an event fashionable and fun with employees wearing buttons, aprons, hats, T-shirts, or costumes.
• Promotion -  Find a collection of promotional materials on the SNA webpage.  
• Music can set the stage for a fun lunchroom event, but it is great for regular days too! 
• Invite guest servers – a principal, high school athlete, police officer, or local celebrity.
• Feature school nutrition employees and highlight what they enjoy about their jobs. 
• Invite parents to school lunch! 

Share your great ideas and events with schoolmeals@iowa.gov or on social media using #IAschoolmeals to be entered into a drawing for a 5 gallon salad spinner! 

Team Nutrition Cooks! is a new series of cooking-based nutrition activities for afterschool programs, for children around ages 8 to 12 years old. These activities can spark children’s interest in trying new foods and help empower them with skills for independence.

Team Nutrition Cooks! contains five modules and each module is centered around a recipe that can be prepared along with an instructional video.

Availability: Printed materials will be available soon. The entire resources is available online on the Team Nutrition webpage.

Iowa Team Nutrition has developed new signage to assist in the identification of a reimbursable meal at breakfast and lunch. The resource is available to download and print on the Iowa Dept of Education's School Meal Communication webpage. If you would like editable versions please contact schoolmeals@iowa.gov.

Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise has announced members of a new team that will review and recommend statewide standards for physical education and health. The Physical Education and Health Standards Review Team met for the first time Thursday, Sept. 6.

“Our goal is to ensure students have access to a high-quality learning experience in all subjects, including physical education and health,” Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise said. “The development of statewide standards will further strengthen instruction in these important subjects.”

For more information and to see the list of team members, click here.

Iowa Ag Today is a set of 6 student readers targeted to 4th grade students, but can be adapted. Each issue is aligned to the National Agriculture Literacy Outcomes as well as the Iowa Core science and social studies standards. Each issue comes complete with a teacher guide, student assessment, and student worksheet.

All six issues are being made available to Iowa educators free of charge while supplies last. Minimal shipping and handling charges do apply. Click here to order!