SNAP-Educators will teach four different nutrition education courses in York County schools where 50 percent or more of the students are eligible for the free and reduced school lunch program.
All of these school-based programs include at least six visits from the SNAP-Educator and also include physical activity, food demonstrations or tastings, and hands-on learning that can meet many of Maine’s state learning objectives for health, science, math and language arts.
Here are the four programs that the program is offering this year:
• Eat Well, Play Hard: This program is for children ages 3 to 5 and is offered in childcare settings, preschools, and Kindergarten classrooms. It includes activities that foster the development of healthy food attitudes and behaviors in young children. Sessions are flexible and can be offered weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
• Pick A Better Snack: This program is offered to grades Kindergarten to grade 3 and each session highlights an alternating fruit or vegetable of the month. Each monthly lesson includes explorative learning and a tasting as well as incentives for trying new vegetables and fruits at home.
• Nutrition to Grow On: This program is for grades 4 to 6 and it is science-based curriculum; it embraces a “farm to school” theme and teaches all aspects of the food system including plant life cycles, food advertising and reading nutrition labels. If schools have a garden or an interest in starting a garden, garden-based learning can be incorporated into the curriculum.
• Cooking Matters Teens: This program is offered to middle school and high school classrooms or after school programs, ideally in classrooms with kitchens, but can be brought to the kitchen with portable cooking equipment. The Cooking Matters program offers both culinary and nutrition education and all participants get a course book with nutrition handouts and recipes that we make together in class.
If you are a teacher and are interested in bringing SNAP-Ed into your classroom, contact hwiggins@une.edu for more information.
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