OntonagonCounty Extension
725 Greenland Road
Ontonagon, MI49953 / P: 906-884-4386
F: 906-884-2582 / E-mail:
Web: msue.msu.edu/OntonagonDirector: Frank Wardynski
May 2008
Healthy lifestyles education provided for families in Ontonagon CountyAmerican children continue to be at risk for incidence of obesity and chronic diseases. To help address this issue in Ontonagon County, MSU Extension staff members deliver healthy lifestyle education through in-school programs.
Family Nutrition Program (FNP) associate Stacey Somero and 4-H program associate Jody Maloney presented sessions on nutrition and fitness to nearly 250 students in pre-school through third grade classes at the Ontonagon and Ewen-Trout Creek Elementary schools.
Students learned the importance of eating a balanced diet low in fat and sugar. They also discussed the importance of eating a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Kindergarten students were excited to learn about the USDA Food Guide Pyramid and shared stories about their favorite fruits. The older students easily recognized and named each food group and knew why each was important to their health.
During the session on physical fitness, the emphasis was put on the importance of achieving 30 minutes of daily exercise along with reducing the time spent on watching television and playing video games.
Due to the long winters in Ontonagon County, instruction focused on how to achieve the 30 minutes of indoor exercise along with the importance of drinking plenty of water each day. / Demonstrations on animal yoga where given with participants learning to stretch like elephants and eagles. In response to the stretching information, the children discovered new ways to stretch like their favorite animals and scarcely realized they were exercising.
The most popular session continues to be the hand washing program in which the proper steps in washing hands are demonstrated. After washing their hands thoroughly, the children apply a special glow lotion on their hands and place them in a "germ machine."
In the area where germs are still present, a glow appears which demonstrates where the students need to pay more attention too when washing. Throughout the program, some children insisted on calling Somero "the germ lady."
When third grade students complete the four educational sessions, they participate in making a fun, healthy snack using an item from each food group as a special treat for "graduating" from the nutrition program.
Snacks were chosen that the students could easily make at home with little help.Children were able to identify what food groups theingredients came from and were quick to recognize the many reasons the snacks were healthier than candy bars.
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/ Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the state link the research of the land-grant university, MSU, to challenges facingcommunities. Citizens serving on countyExtension councils regularly help select focus areas for programming. MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners,the state through MichiganStateUniversity and federally through the US Department of Agriculture.
Healthy lifestyles--continued
Though family nutrition education has been ongoing, reactions have been positive to the school-based nutrition programming.
One grandmother shared how her grandson came home and insisted that he start eating healthier. In response, she is now packing fruit for his daily school snack.
In another family, a four-year-old boy brought home the food pyramid picture he hadcolored and described each food group to his mother.
Two years ago Somero and Maloneydistributed Dole Five-A-Day cookbooks to students in the same schools. One third grader recognized a healthy snack recipe as coming from the cookbook and said, "I never liked bananas before this but now I love them."
These stories demonstrate how MSU Extension’s FNP and 4-H programs are actively making Ontonagon County a healthier place for children and families.
Panda-monium over China art
The 4-H China Art Exchange, conducted in cooperation with the People's Republic of China, is a global education program using art for in-school and after-school learning experiences.
The program’s goal is to develop bridges of awareness, understanding and appreciation of other cultures. The program has been presented for the past two years in the OntonagonAreaElementary School and this year 4-H expanded the program to not only children in school but also to the public.
In 2007, Ontonagon fourth grade students participated in the art exchange by submitting their paintings in a statewide contest. A painting by Daymin Heikkila was selected from the hundreds of submissions and sent to China along with the artwork of 49 other Michigan youths.
When asked what he wanted Chinese children to know about his home, Daymin said, "that we have many sports and hobbies that many people like to do--like art--just for fun."
This year, 12 fourth and fifth grades students submitted artwork for the exchange. / To celebrate the 2008 Chinese New Year, students learned about China through the art exchange and paintingpandas, bamboo and blue herons mimicking thestyle of Chinese brush painting.
Caitlyn Frazer, a member of the 4-H Krafty Kids club, drew a picture titled, “Sleeping In,” which was selected for the 2009 Art Exchange.
Staff members from 4-H and the Ontonagon Township Library hosted a Chinese New Year celebration.More than 20 people attended the event and tasted a variety of traditional Chinese New Year foods such as long life noodles and red bean paste.
In addition, librarian Eric Smith led the children in a traditional Dragon Parade.The children decorated the dragon’s scales and picked out red envelopes to see who had the good fortune to lead the parade and carry the dragon head.
MSU Extension is Building Strong Families in Ontonagon County
MSU Extension’s Building Strong Families program stresses the importance of positive parenting in a child’s development from birth to age three. The program has servedOntonagon County for more thanfive years with funding froma grant from Strong Families/Safe Children.
Program instructor Kathie Preissis currently working with five familiesreferred by social services specialists from the MichiganDepartment of Human Services.
Preiss focuses on helping parents understand how children grow, using positive disciplinary methods by setting limits, the consequences of the children not meeting those limits and the importance of having a daily routine in the home.
As a result of the program, sixty percent of participants feel they have made positive changes when disciplining their children and have learned how to communicate with them in a positive manner.
Parents also said they understand their children better and handle disciplinary situations patiently instead of by yelling and screaming.
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or veteran status. Issued in furtherance of MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Coon, Extension Director, MichiganStateUniversity, E. Lansing, MI48824