First Baptist Church School’s new Charis Lab program is a hands-on learning experience for the kids and the community. Archives - SB Magazine

New Year New YOU!

SB Magazine — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 21:08:46 +0000

An estimated 41% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, most of which center around health-related goals. However, only 9% feel they are successful in keeping or achieving them. Why is it so challenging to stick with New Year’s resolutions? It may not be related to goal-getters discipline; it may be that the resolution itself isn’t SMART enough.

Setting a SMART goal is a way to guide your resolution to be more Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Defining these parameters ensures that your goal is more achievable over time.

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Popular health-related New Year’s resolutions

Lose weight
Eat healthier
Exercise more
Be healthy

These are great goals, but they need to be SMART. They do not define what “healthy” means. There are no actionable words. It is not specific, and it does not set a deadline. Before setting your SMART goal, take some time to define the why behind the goal.

Define the “why”

If your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, first figure out why you want to lose weight. Then, ask why this resolution is important to you, what you will gain by achieving this resolution,

and if this resolution aligns with your core values. Some examples are:

Increased confidence
Improved relationship with food
Longevity
Decreased medications
Prevention in disease
Increase activity with family members

Now that you clearly understand your “why,” setting your SMART New Year’s Resolution will be easier. Here are three ways to set yourself up for success in 2023:

Make your New Year’s Resolution SMART

If your goal is to lose weight by eating healthy in 2023, apply the SMART method to make the resolution more attainable.

Specific
Making your New Year’s resolution specific applies a clear focus to your efforts. It answers who, what, when, where, and why. Do you want to change the number on the scale, or do you wish to change your body composition–focusing on adding lean muscle mass and decreasing fat mass?

Measurable
You want to track your progress toward your goal. Make it measurable–define how much or how many. How will you know you have reached your goal?

Achievable

Your goal should challenge you, but it shouldn’t be impossible. Have you attempted to lose weight before? If you did, what was successful and what was unsuccessful? Keep that in mind when creating your resolution. Be realistic. Don’t set an overly ambitious goal you know that you cannot achieve.

Relevant

This is the point where you need to reference your “why” again to ensure your resolution aligns.

Is your goal important to you? Or is it a goal you need or even want to achieve? Will it bring you closer to your overall goal?

Time-bound

The deadlines you set for your SMART goals will prevent less critical tasks from getting in your way and hindering progress. You’ll be able to keep your priorities straight when you have the sense of urgency that comes along with a deadline.

Focus on SUSTAINABLE change.

It’s great if you achieve your New Year’s resolution, but it’s even greater if you can sustain it. A sustainable rate of weight loss is half a pound to two pounds per week, which equals about two to eight pounds per month. So if your New Year’s resolution is to lose 30 pounds in a month, this is an unrealistic and unsustainable goal. Instead, 30 pounds in 4 months is a resolution that has the potential to be achieved and sustained over a more extended period.

Often, individuals begin a new fad diet for their New Year’s resolution as a tactic to decrease weight. Unfortunately, fad diets offer fast unsustainable results with restrictive eating plans. In addition, a fad diet is often difficult to adhere to for a month, much less a year. Instead of adopting a drastically new way of eating, consider your current choices and make adjustments. For sustainable changes to your nutrition, focus on the following:

Protein
Protein helps regulate appetite and maintain muscle stores. Therefore, ensure you consume a lean protein source with each meal/snack.

Fiber
Fiber helps regulate appetite, bowel movements, and blood sugar levels. Ensure you have a source of fiber with every meal. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are excellent sources of fiber.

Anti-inflammatory fat

Anti-inflammatory fats like olive oil, avocados, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds help regulate blood sugar levels, are heart-protective, and help you feel satisfied after a meal. Prioritize mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats over saturated and trans fats.

Fun

Don’t forget to prioritize foods you consider fun. Typically, fun foods are more decadent, higher in calories, and lower in nutrients. To feel more in control around your fun foods, normalize them by intentionally incorporating them into your lifestyle. This will help you feel more in control when you are around them in social settings or eating out, which can help you achieve sustainable weight loss.

Enlist help and accountability from a dietitian

Dietitians are food experts. Before beginning any weight loss plan, it is important to consult with your dietitian to figure out the best diet plan that works for you and your individual health goals. Dietitians can also be a source of accountability and help you set sustainable health-related New Year’s resolutions to help you become the healthiest version of yourself in 2023.

Courtney Hammons Butts, MS, RDN, LDN

Weight loss dietitian at Courtney Butts Nutrition.

The post New Year New YOU! appeared first on SB Magazine.

An Innovative Solution to an Old Problem: First Baptist Charis Lab

SB Magazine — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 22:33:07 +0000

By Georgia Blanchard, Sarah Grace Farrell, Kennedy McCalman, Audrey Sanders, Adelynn Walker

Making learning fun again, First Baptist Church School’s new Charis Lab program is a hands-on learning experience for the kids and the community.

Charis Lab is a unique classroom where students get to learn at their own pace and in unique ways. Students start the class with an assessment of their current academic strengths and weaknesses. The students are then placed in various programs to meet them where they are. If a student is below grade level, or if a student is high above grade level, the program will begin at their level. By filling in these learning gaps, students can excel and learn.

Charis Lab incorporates project-based learning on a daily basis. Project based learning means the students are learning academic material in a hands-on way. Any student can choose to join the Charis Lab, instead of a traditional classroom. Charis Lab takes the place of traditional core classes. Instead, these classes are taught through a digital platform. Students complete core classes in Charis Lab and still have their elective classes with their individual grade levels. First Baptist Church School chose to add the Charis Lab to offer a more innovative, hands-on style of learning. The Charis Lab is led by highly experienced teachers, Judith Reeves and Kristi McDonald. Mrs. Reeves guides a group of 3rd-5th grade students and Ms. McDonald guides a group of 6th-8th grade students.

Bill’s Bikes

By Ella Grace Barton, Levi Durr, Gunner Matthews

For the first nine weeks, Charis Lab teamed up with Bill’s Bikes which is a non-profit organization founded by KTBS news anchor, Bill Lunn. The students selected Bill’s Bikes as a program to support because they believed in the mission, and they wanted to help the community while they learned. The students contacted Bill, set up meetings and learning days and set a goal to donate 100 bikes to local students in need.

The Charis Lab students gathered bikes from our neighbors, friends, and family. After we collected bikes, we had a fix-it day. A hands-on day, the students cleaned bikes, made repairs, and learned hands-on skills such as repairing brakes and changing tires.

Divided up into work teams, the students cleaned and repaired close to 100 bikes.

On the giveaway day, “We had families lined up around the building, starting at 6am that morning in the cold.” says Headmaster Dr. James Gillespie. Once the Charis Lab was all ready to start the giveaway a preacher led everyone off with a message and a prayer. Students worked as greeters and helped each family pick out a bike.

100 bikes were given away in 19 minutes!

The Graveyard Shift

By Cayden Maggio, Rowan Martin, Kendall Slack

In October, we went to visit one of Louisiana’s oldest graveyards, Oakland cemetery. Dr. Cheryl White from LSUS was our guide during the experience. We were very honored to be led by such an accomplished historian. The students spent the morning learning the history of Shreveport as told through the eyes of one of the greatest historians in the area. With a focus on Yellow Fever and the early settlers of Shreveport, many students used this opportunity to learn “research” doesn’t always mean reading books! Kendall Slack, a student in the Charis Lab said, “This field trip really made me think about the lives of those before us and how they’ve helped build our society.”

Involving the Community

Through interactions in creating these projects and inviting guest speakers, Charis Lab is always involving the community. Elizabeth Beard Deal from SB Magazine came to speak with the class and discuss what goes into the day-to-day activities involved in producing a magazine! The students began working right away. Dividing into teams, the students set out to create the story of the Charis Lab and its project-based learning style. They have set a goal to be published writers by the end of this school year!

What’s next for Charis Lab?

With the first weeks of school focused on the hands-on skills of bike repair, public relations and hands-on history, the students are now eager to explore their language arts and grammar options – by writing and directing a movie of course! The students are working together to create a short film for submission to the Louisiana Film Prize, Jr competition.

Students in the Charis Lab are showing academic improvement through hands on project based learning experiences and becoming interested in their community like never before – and as middle school students, community means something to these kids! Although they are busy from the morning bell to the afternoon bell, homework is not part of the program. Most of the learning happens while working on hands-on projects. The students love being able to be part of something bigger, but their favorite advantage to Charis Lab is, as student, Kennedy McCalman sums it up, “My mom is able to come home from work and cook dinner because she doesn’t have to help me with homework. We are eating dinner together now as a family.”

Elementary Students who helped create the creative content and outline of the article: Mollie Denham, Elyse Glass, Ethan Johnson, Thomas Redens, EJ Robertson, River Ross

The post An Innovative Solution to an Old Problem: First Baptist Charis Lab appeared first on SB Magazine.