(NAPS)—Appropriate school wear helps children dress for academic success. Uniforms, spirit wear and clothes following dress codes can encourage a feeling of community spirit and promote school safety. Educators and parents find that following a dress code at school and at after-school events can make it easier to monitor who is a student—and who isn’t—and may aid in reducing peer pressure.

As a retailer for IZOD Approved School Wear and a popular shopping destination for back-to-school, JCPenney is committed to positive youth development by supporting after-school programs across the country.

From August 4 through 17, you can help increase after-school opportunities by rounding up your purchases to the nearest whole dollar. The entire difference will stay in the community to benefit a life-enriching after-school program that inspires kids to be smart, strong and socially responsible.

(NAPS)—If you find mornings stressful—particularly during that time of the year known as “back to school”—you’re not alone. Adjusting to a new schedule with demanding workloads and new experiences can be a difficult transition that takes a lot of energy from the entire family.

Fortunately, there are practical ways to manage that stress. Here are some tips:

When it comes to planning your meals, convenience is key, especially in the morning. New Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas combine great-tasting favorite breakfast items, such as fruit and granola, into one delicious offering, which will make your morning routine that much more enjoyable.

One minute in the microwave can streamline the morning routine with the all-in-one combination of fruit and warm toasted granola on an oven-baked cinnamon and maple-flavored crust.

As breakfast products such as fruit, cereal, snack and energy bars, and yogurt are gaining in popularity*, Kellogg is meeting consumers’ needs with this new, convenient breakfast option. This unique and flavorful introduction can offer breakfast enthusiasts a great-tasting option with the convenience they want.

Available in Strawberry Granola and Mixed Berry Granola varieties, the frozen breakfast pizzas join other Eggo favorites, such as Homestyle, Buttermilk and Blueberry waffles, for a family of products designed to simplify your morning.

(ARA) – It’s that time of year again: back-to-school season. Amidst the jam-packed schedule of a child’s school day, it’s nice to know there is one area where parents make a difference: lunchtime.

The mission is to create a nutritious lunch that your hungry kids will look forward to eating. To help, here are five creative tips to selecting healthier options.

1. Color, color, color: Kids love color so make it a point to pick a different color for each day/week (or better yet, let them pick) and add it to your child’s lunch in fun ways. For example, on a purple day pack a small plum or handful of grapes. Red is fun if you pair raspberries and strawberry yogurt for dipping, and peaches or baby carrots make delicious orange options. It’s not only a fun way to get them excited about lunch, it helps introduce new fruits and vegetables they might have been uninterested in trying before.

2. Portion control: Finding pre-portioned snacks can help save both time and calories. Instead of reaching for bags of chips that can be higher in fat, try low-fat pretzels or 100-calorie snacks instead. For example, Snyder’s of Hanover offers a wide variety of items in its 100-Calorie Lunch Pack line, including Minis, Sticks and Snaps Pretzels as well as Eatsmart Naturals Veggie Crisps. Snyder’s also offers a variety pack of Peanut Butter and Cheddar Cheese Pretzel Sandwiches available in compostable outer packaging. Single serving snacks are perfect for on-the-go parents who appreciate the simplicity of putting a bag in a lunch box. For more information and snack ideas, visit www.snydersofhanover.com.

3. Fun surprises: Yes, some kids are content with the same lunch day after day after day, but for the ones who need variety, make it fun. Change it up and do something unexpected. For example, ever thought of making breakfast for lunch? Why not? Pack two or three small whole-grain pancakes with fruit and yogurt for toppings. To replace sugary juice, pack homemade fruit-flavored water in a reusable bottle. Jazz up a typical sandwich by cutting it with a cookie cutter, and wrapping it in wax paper tied with a bow. A knock-knock joke or little stickers can add even more fun.

4. Choose a theme: For example, create a picnic theme with turkey tortilla roll-ups and fruit kabobs. For a tea party theme, make miniature sandwiches and include sliced cucumbers with fruity-tea. The possibilities are endless, so get your kids involved and asked them what fun lunch themes they would enjoy.

5. Plan ahead and save: While packing lunches might seem too time-consuming, it doesn’t have to be. Make Sunday a preparation day for the week ahead and get the whole family involved to help out. Pick colors (see tip No. 1) you might include or prepare little note cards with jokes. By planning ahead, you’re less tempted to give in to packing more expensive, quicker options and instead you can save money by looking for deals and using coupons. Snyder’s of Hanover, for its part, is placing a special coupon book in 1 million Lunch Packs. The coupon book includes $6 in coupons from a variety of brands, as well as its own Snyder’s of Hanover products, along with a $10 subscription offer for one year of Sports Illustrated Kids magazine. For more details visit Snyderofhanover.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Left to right (rear) Dan George, CTA Superintendent/School Leader; Jenifer Adams, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation; Kyle Bohl, CTA Director of Student Services; Jennifer August, CTA Parent Association President. (front) Lizzie August, Jennifer August’s daughter and former patient at HDVCH.

CTA joined the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation for their first ever Make Change Campaign for three weeks during the month of May AND the Chargers raised $1,077.46 in that short time span.  “Our K-5 elementary children really caught the spirit of this campaign,” said Dan George, Superintendent/School Leader at Creative Technologies Academy.  “Our elementary raised about 80% of our total with a lot of pennies!”

“No doubt, a great deal of the enthusiasm for this project is the knowledge that one of our own has benefited from the skills, services, and compassion of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital,” continued Mr. George.  Lizzie August, a CTA kindergarten student and daughter of CTA Parent Association President, Jennifer August, received long term care last summer and into the school year at the hospital.  “This project fits in well with our service learning program and our character education program.  Our kids are learning the value of giving back.”

As the winning school in the campaign, CTA will be featured in the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation’s For Our Kids newsletter and 4th grade teacher, Amy Burton, who headed up the campaign in the elementary school, will be interviewed by Tommy and Brook on STAR 105.7!

On May 4, 2010 five students from Creative Technologies Academy used the high school awards ceremony as their platform to tell the students and parents about their painting. The painting is on a 4’ X 5’ canvas and it was a cooperative artistic endeavor by five students:  Erin Willis, Amber Bowen, Tyler Felty, Grace Van Enk, and Maria De la Fuente Villaverde.

“The painting represents the students’ view of life,” stated Gabriella Olsen, the CTA art teacher.

As shown in the picture, the students took the idea of a tree and showed how its life was affected by the seasons of the year. On five branches were words written to express what is needed to make it through life—Laugh, Family, Friends, Love, and Learn—and beneath the tree are the words “Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can.”

“It reminds us all of what it takes to enjoy life to the fullest,” said Amber Bowen, a senior at CTA.

Whether the students are showing their accomplishments through their studies, on the court, or through the fine arts, CTA is always in celebratory mode as we are proud of our students’ gifts and talents. Keep it up Chargers!

CTA held its Prom on May 6, 2010 at the Boulder Creek Golf Club with 87 students attending.  Kote Obetts and Carrie Rodgers, both seniors, were elected King and Queen by their peers.  An “After Party” was held at Northfield Lanes for two hours of Rock-N-Bowling.

On April 19, 2010 Cedar Springs Public School District received their second Kent County Chairman’s Award for district-wide energy savings. The third annual Green School Awards Program was hosted by Kent County and the Kent ISD.  The ceremony recognized the extensive work of students and educators for their environmental efforts.
We are excited to partner with Kent County in presenting these awards to our schools,  said Kent ISD Superintendent Kevin A. Konarska. The students and educators earning them are great examples of the energy and enthusiasm schools are bringing to critical environmental issues.  They are making a real difference, including saving millions of dollars for taxpayers in energy and recycling.
The Cedar Springs District-wide Energy Management program began in May 2004 and has saved the district more than $1.1 million.  This savings is the direct result of the students and staff working together to make a positive impact on the environment and the school district.
We have managed every aspect of our operations to save wherever possible.  Our efforts range from closely monitoring large complex mechanical systems to turning off computers on a daily basis,  said Cedar Springs Public Schools Energy Manager John Willette.
With the state’s economic difficulties this savings becomes even more important.  Every dollar saved through the ongoing Energy Management Program is a dollar available for the critical work of educating the children of Cedar Springs.

As a school district, we know that the safety and security of our students is of the utmost importance.  We further recognize that the ability for schools to communicate immediately and reliably during a crisis is invaluable. In order to ensure our ability to effectively communicate with parents, we have chosen to implement an enhanced communication tool called Alert Now.
AlertNow provides instant notifications to parents and staff within minutes even if the school phone lines are down. This system will allow us to make timely contact with parents and staff via phone calls, email and eventually text messaging.  In addition to the emergency communication benefits, we can also use this system for non-emergency communications such as parent reminders and attendance calls.

With the current state of the economy, and the number of Americans who have taken on more debt than any other generation, it has brought to light the importance of teaching our youth about the importance or personal financial responsibility. At the end of March a group of Cedar Springs students put their knowledge to the test.
Mr. Busen’s Modern Business II Class took part in the National Financial Capability Challenge. Over 76,000 students representing every state completed the Challenge. The following 10 students scored in the top 20th percentile of students nationwide:
Paul Flores
Austin Frandsen
Ken Hoogerhyde
Cody Kidder
Kyle Larsen
Nick Machuta
Zach Magoon
Shayne McCann
Krista McGrath
Spencer Snider
Congratulations to these students for demonstrating the skills necessary to be financially responsible adults.

I slipped into the second grade classroom a few weeks ago to observe our high school economics students teaching economics principles to the 2nd graders at their various centers.    The room was crackling with energy.  The econ students gave animated, energetic presentations and the 2nd graders jumped right in – no attention problems here!  I was amazed to see that even some of the reluctant students from both age groups came out of their shells to participate. It was a wonderful learning experience for both “teachers” and pupils!
Robbie Coxon, Director of Academics

My second grade students are expected in social studies to learn and understand the basics of economics. So, I arrived at the following question: How can I effectively teach my second graders to grasp such advanced economic concepts as opportunity cost; human, natural, and capital resources; and specialization, in an authentic and meaningful way so that they are able to connect and thus, understand them? I decided to employ the help of Mr. Mike Vanden Berg, the high school economics teacher. We decided that the best way to benefit both groups of students was to incorporate multi-age cooperative learning opportunities involving the grouping of his students with my own. The high school students developed level-appropriate lesson plans complete with hands-on activities that would best suit the needs of my students. The lessons and activities involved my second graders moving from one group to the next, all the while learning from and interacting with the high school students.  All students from both levels were actively engaged and involved in the learning process. As a teacher, it was so wonderful to observe students learning from each other! This experience has exceeded my expectations, and I hope to incorporate more multi-age cooperative learning opportunities in the future!
Carrie Paddock, 2nd grade teacher

When Mrs. Carrie Paddock asked me if my 11th grade Economics class could help her 2nd graders learn and understand the economic concepts of opportunity cost, factors of production, and basics about running a business, my first thought was, “I don’t have the time to take a few days to do this.”  However, once I thought about it, the benefits far outweighed the three days this activity took my class.
I placed my Econ class into groups, each charged with the task of teaching one or two of the 2nd grade standards.  Beyond that, I instructed each group to come up with an activity or a creative way to teach the concepts on a 2nd grade level.  One group brought in different types of candy to teach about opportunity cost.  Another group worked with the students to create paper pizzas to teach about different factors of production.  A third group worked with students to create Valentine cards, teaching about different types of capital.
The 2nd graders worked well, learned much, and enjoyed the company of the older students.  The high school students thoroughly learned the material that they taught, and were forced to truly understand the concepts in order to relate the information to a second grade level.  The whole experience was wonderful for my high school students, who not only gained a deeper understanding of economic concepts we had learned in class, but also grasped the responsibility of being  role models to our next generations here at CTA.  This type of activity has great academic and social benefits for both sides involved, and is something that I plan to implement with greater frequency in years to come.
Mike Vanden Berg, Social Studies