212 - (FSNEP) Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program
Title
Kindergarten 5-A-Day Program
Impact Statement
This was the third year for the kindergarten 5-A-Day Challenge program all about fruits and vegetables. Last spring the curriculum coordinator contacted me and offered to fund the program if I would take it county wide. This year we received funding from the Board of Education to fully fund this program at all 6 Elementary Schools at a cost of $650.00. At the end of the school year the board of education called and gave us an additional $450.00 to go ahead and buy the incentives for next year and they had secured funding from the local hospital to pay for all foods used in the program. Expenses include 8 prizes per classroom and foods for a taste testing party, and fruit parfaits in each room. The expanded program allowed us to reach a total of 350 students and 350 parents. (Each week, a parent packet goes home, with suggested activities for them to do with their child.) This four week educational series gave us an opportunity to not only teach about the importance of fruits and vegetables in their diets, but we also receive weekly reports from home on how many fruits and vegetables the children were eating each day of the week. There is a prize drawing each week from the forms brought back, also a prize is given to the child reporting eating the most fruits and vegetables in the weekly report. There is an ongoing contest between the classrooms to see which room can bring back the most forms, this is how we make a contest out of the program. Between 50-60% of the students returned the challenge forms each week and the teachers said that was very good. Those reporting showed a consumption of a three week average of 31.5 servings of fruits and vegetables a week. Which is just shy of the recommended 35. The first week the numbers are not very high, as we progress with the program, the numbers do increase, the teachers report seeing more fruit snacks sent to school instead of cookie and candies. We hope some of the families continue to encourage these youngsters to each more fruits and vegetables. At the conclusion of the program a parent survey is sent home, some of the parent comments were as follows:
*”Although the program was to raise children’s awareness of healthy eating habits, it was a family project, we all participated to see how many servings we were eating.”
*”I’m really glad they did a program like this. I have always had a problem getting Tyler to try new foods. But since this program he has been more open to try new things. Thank You!”
*"It would have been nice to have had this program earlier in the year, simply because she is eating so much healthier and the best part is she wants to."
*"Thank you for giving the encouragement and motivation to get my child to try new things. It has made a big difference in eating healthier."
*The teachers gave us great feed-back, they said the kids would talk about fruits and vegetables all week, and looked forward to our visits. Also many of the teachers are using the Dole Web site to incorporate fruits and vegetables into other subject matter curriculum.
Over the past several months, I have shared this program with new and old agents. I am in the process of putting all the parent newsletters, reminders, and various components of this program on a disk to share with others who have asked for it.