On March 7, King Albert Public School (KAPS) hosted the City of Kawartha Lakes Great Big Crunch and had students and staff crunch down on apples to demonstrate the impact that healthy school food has on enriching the lives of students.
The Great Big Crunch is a Canada-wide event and annual moment of anti-silence in which students, teachers, parents/guardians, and others passionate about food join the food movement and crunch into apples to make noise for healthy school food.
During the afternoon assembly, the whole school was buzzing with excitement as students entered the gym and were handed their own crunchy apple from Food for Kids – City of Kawartha representative, Megan Curran. Students listened patiently while Curran talked about the initiative and played a few guessing games about different types of apples. At the end of the assembly, Curran started a countdown and all participants took a bite into their apples at the same time, measuring the school’s crunch level of 94 decibels!
“The KAPS staff and students were so fortunate to participate in the first ever Great Big Crunch assembly in our area,” said KAPS principal, Darla McQuarrie. “Good nutrition is crucial in schools and all TLDSB schools are fortunate to be provided with funds to sustain a variety of nutrition programs. As a school, we have learned that a healthy snack helps to support children’s growth, development, and overall health. Healthy snacks also help to promote a positive school environment by sending the message about the importance of nutrition and well-being, as well as ensuring that snacks are available for all students. Healthy snacks can improve academic performance as well by enhancing cognitive function and concentration levels. We have noted at KAPS, that by providing healthy snacks daily we can help to address food insecurity in our school community.”
A shout out to Food for Kids – City of Kawartha Lakes for sponsoring the local apples.