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A suburban Atlanta school principal claims to have a simple solution to improve test scores, reduce discipline problems, and improve student health: ban sugar. FoxNews.com (January 29, 2009) reports that for the past ten years, Yvonne Sanders-Butler, the principal of Browns Mill Elementary in Lithonia, Georgia, has required students to participate in daily physical exercise and eat healthy foods. Her school enforces a strict ban on sugar. According to Butler, standardized test scores increased 15 percent at the school within the first year of the program. She said discipline problems decreased by 23 percent. Student health has improved and obesity at the school has been virtually eliminated.

"For me, it was not just about educating children about reading, writing, and arithmetic," Butler said. "If these people were going to be successful, I had to ensure that they were going to be healthy."

Initially, Butler's sugar-free program faced resistance from skeptics who feared it would bust tight school budgets. The principal said she paid nutrition experts, who revamped the school cafeteria menu, out of her own pocket. And ordering the new food items in bulk ended up saving money.

"In nine years, we have saved $425,000," Butler said. "We've done that not by cutting back but actually by having more fruits and vegetables."

Seventeen other Atlanta-area schools have implemented the program, and Butler said she has received hundreds of calls from educators and health officials around the world wanting to learn more about her "sugar-free zone."

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Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul by Rusty Keeler, is an inspiring, yet practical resource on bringing outdoor playspaces to life. It describes how children relate to the natural world, gives many examples from around the world of how early childhood professionals and parents have planned and constructed natural playscapes. Included are blueprints, step by step instructions, and tip sheets such as "20 Ways to Create Natural Playscapes," and "15 Free or Low-Cost Things to Enrich Your Playscapes."

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