Reda E. Fugate

Perry County SNAP-ED Assistant Senior

November 16,2022

Let me tell you what is on my plate

                The Perry County Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Senior was invited to do a series of Classes for (LEAP) Literacy, Eating, and Activity for preschool/primary with one of the local elementary schools first grade class. The University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program curriculum LEAP helps students understand the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. The SNAP-Ed Assistant Senior would play a game with the students called let me tell you what is on my plate. The students loved playing this game, in turn they were learning what healthy foods were and the correct serving sizes for their bodies along with the importance of getting physical activity each day.  

                On entering the classroom for the last visit the teacher informed the SNAP-ED Assistant Senior the first-grade class was now teaching the higher grades what was on my plate by going into the cafeteria during lunch and informing the other students what was on their plate and what food category their would fit in on my plate. The teacher also stated that the students were now telling their parents to pack them healthy food for lunch. After teaching the lesson on vegetables, the SNAP-ED Assistant Senior presented the class with jicama to sample. The SNAP-Ed Assistant Senior had nick-named the jicama the platypus of vegetables because it grows in the ground like a potato, tastes like an apple, and peels like a turnip, hance the platypus of vegetables. One of the students in the class had told his grandmother he had eaten the platypus of vegetables in class that day. The grandmother emailed the SNAP-ED Assistant Senior asking what she had given her grandchild in class? They were wanting to buy some for home. Surveys were given at the beginning and at the end of the series of classes with

improvements of 80% in physical activity, 92 % of improvement in diet quality in two or more categories. 100% (65 of 65) children in first grade improve in one or more core area.