Our review of the events put on by National Nutrition Month grant recipients continues this week with a fantastic project organized by Freedom Preparatory Academy Charter School in Provo, UT. This week we are thrilled to feature guest blogger, April Dean, who will be sharing the two great ways that nutrition was featured in her school during the month of March!
First, a school-wide awareness campaign was launched by placing posters in several locations in the cafeteria. In addition, a poster declaring Registered Dietitians as the nutrition experts was placed near the serving line in the cafeteria. Menus which go home to parents and all school personnel featured the “Get Your Plate in Shape” slogan along with selected MyPlate messages for consumers. The Dietary Guidelines “eat more” messages were included on the breakfast menu including information on whole grains, vegetables, fruits, low-fat or fat free dairy, vegetables oils, and seafood.
All students at the school were given the option of receiving 5 “silly bands” of different colors if they agreed to use them to track the fruits and vegetables they eat daily. They started the day with all of them on one wrist then transferred one to the other wrist each time a fruit or vegetable was eaten. Nearly every student participated. The younger students were more likely to continue using the bands for an extended period of time.
All cafeteria workers wore “Get Your Plate in Shape” buttons and ID holders for the month of March. One day we featured beans and all wore t-shirts featuring a large picture of two beans. These were well-liked by students, faculty, administration and staff and drew a great deal of attention and prompted questions. We think it was effective for promoting bean awareness and hopefully, consumption.
The school-wide portion of the grant reached approximately 1100 individuals.
The second project involved working with students in class. The three third grade teachers volunteered to allow their classes to participate. Because of the ever-difficult problem of educating parents as well as children, we enlisted the third grade children to become the “teachers” and their parents as the “students”. The children really liked the idea of giving their parents homework. The children and parents took a pre-test the first week in March. A registered dietitian developed and taught a new simple MyPlate lesson plan each week for four more weeks.
A wonderful Utah RD teaching students about nutrition
As part of their Science grade, they were required to teach their parents, make a goal with them, then return the simple one-page homework. The last week (in April) was a post-test. Lesson topics covered the food groups with “fruits and vegetables” combined in one lesson. The students took home a new lesson plan each week, including educational materials and homework for their parents. Each week, parents evaluated their success at applying the previous principle taught as part of their homework for the new week. Children received a MyPlate sticker for returning the homework and a “Get Your Plate in Shape” pencil upon return of the post-test. Each parent received a refrigerator magnet with MyPlate messages for consumers at the beginning of the project. These were well-utilized and well-liked.
Third graders participating in National Nutrition Month
Post-test results indicate that learning occurred overall on the part of both parents and children. Parent MyPlate awareness increased dramatically as this was the first time some of them had heard of it. The vast majority of parents listed the project as worthwhile and that their dietary intakes improved.
Though we teach nutrition to children at school, parents ultimately decide on the food served as well as the atmosphere at meal time. Parent education is always problematic since they often don’t read materials sent home with the children and are unable or unwilling to attend classes in the evenings or during the school day.
Since teaching something is the best way to learn it, this method helped cement the concepts of MyPlate in the minds of the children while involving their parents in actual behavior changes at home. The NNM materials were great educational tools for the students and parents alike. The in-class project reached at least 300 people.
Overall, we think our National Nutrition Month project was a success!
We definitely agree! Congratulations to Freedom Preparatory Academy Charter School for having such a wonderful NNM event!!