I hope everyone enjoyed those lateral thinking puzzles. They really make you stop and think. We are set in our ways and our one track thinking and we look for similarities in things without often stopping to think that it might be different from our preconceived ideas. I think our busy schedules fuel that fire. This class in creative problem solving really gave me a new perspective and I am happy to be free now to think "outside the box".
So right now I am using a computer at the community center here on base, so sorry, no pictures on this post. I don't have any access here. I am actually on a free period from subbing for high school math/physics this week and I ran out to do a quick errand on base and was TEMPTED by the computers with free internet access, so I just have a few minutes to say hello and I have not forgotten about all of you.
As soon as I have some more time I am going to post with my problem solving technique that I did my class report on last week. It was developed by the same guy that came up with lateral thinking and I think you will really find this technique fun too. There is a creat book by Higgins called 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques. Amazon is selling it for $12.50 plus shipping. If you work somewhere that you are often confronted with problems or are in a managerial position and sometimes problems present themselves or you need new ideas, you might want to get a copy of this book for your office. Not only was it a text book in our class, but I have heard from some people that they already use this tool. I can't believe I didn't know about this before, like say in college, where I always had something come up that needed to be solved. Great book, and very colorful!
So, next I wanted to mention something else that I noticed here. Since I have been subbing for the majority of the past 2 weeks I have paid attention to the morning announcements. During this time they announce the school meal. While I notice there is no breakfast program (this school is small and most kids live directly behind the school in base housing), the lunch program sounds well organized. I assume this is DOD schools everywhere and the general menu planning, but keep in mind this is a small island and we only get food shipments every so often.
Let's take today for example...I heard them mention carrot sticks with fat-free ranch dip and fresh fruit. Other times I hear salad (including a chef salad), whole wheat wraps, baked chiken and there is always fruit on the menu. When I think back to my days in HS this was not the typical fare. I am very impressed byt the menu offerings here since they don't get much choice past one or two entrees. Well, they can always rbing from home. One student I noticed brings food that she reheats in a microwave she has access to. So I think school lunches are a lot different that what I remember.
What about all of you, do you know what they offer for school lunches around you? Do you think American schools are heading in the right direction? Or is it that they just offer some seemingly healthy choices on occasion to keep up a healthy appearance?
Have a great day! I am back to work now.
5 comments:
Oh wow, their lunches DO sound healthy! whole wheat wraps? Chef salads? It's music to my ears! My brother is in middle school (13 years old) and I always look at his menu that my mom puts on the refrigerator. There are some healthy options, such as the sweet potato fries I saw the other day! But there are also some not so healthy options (hash browns often). PLUS about 6 out of thirty days it's Chef's Choice. Basically they throw together all the leftovers they have, probably. That idea sort of scares me. I think I will be packing my kid's lunch on most days!
WOW, I can totally relate to this one!My school recently contracted with a new caterer called "Health E-Kids Lunch". Anyways, it'a huge improvement from past years (STILL not 100% up to par BUT not bad). Today for example the non veg option was a whole wheat wrap with turkey, lettuce and tomato,side of carrots and grapes. The veg option was a green salad with raisins, and pita with hummus! WOW.
My only concern is that the portions are wayyy too tiny for the kids. They are in school for 7 hours.. they need more fuel than that. But its a step in the right directions!!
I used to love subbing by the way.. it's fun.. what a great learning experience! :)
Sounds like a great book!
I have to say I don't like the school lunch program here in Vegas, it's very disappointing. I did part of my community rotation at the school food service and they just serve pre-packaged frozen meals. Also the rd there was so excited about her massive cinnamon roll operation. When the do serve veggies they're the canned yucky kind so of course the kids just throw them away. While many schools are moving in the right direction, I don't think Vegas is quite on the wagon yet.
Great lunch program! I don't know what they serve in the schools where I live. I really should look into it though. In high school, I remember they served a $1 plate of pasta that was just pasta in butter (A LOT OF BUTTER), your standard square pizza slices, cheeseburgers, and tacos. We also had a school store that sold ice cream and boxes of cereal. Needless to say, I rarely ate anything from the school cafeteria.
I'm not sure about the school lunches around here, but I would like to take a minute to sound off (okay complain) about the cafeteria here at work. I work on the main campus of a large federal agency and we have a couple of cafeterias that specialize in fatty comfort foods. Seriously. About the only healthy option is the salad bar, and it's a pretty sad salad bar at that. I wonder if the adults around here would eat healthier options, if they were available.
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