The problem:  

According to the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, “school readiness means that each child enters school ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences that best promote the child’s success and ability to be ready to grow, ready to learn and ready to succeed.”   The Kentucky Kids Count Data 2022 reveals that 44% of KY kindergarteners were “kindergarteners ready to learn” and 18% of Gallatin County kindergarteners were “kindergarteners ready to learn”.  The Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood also states “Kentucky recognizes that children develop and learn at different rates and times. Not every child will master all the necessary skills and behaviors prior to Kindergarten. These skills and behaviors are NOT USED to determine school eligibility. In Kentucky, all children who meet the legal age requirement are entitled to enter public school.  Families, early care and education providers, schools and community partners must work together to provide developmental experiences that promote growth and learning, to ensure that all children enter school eager and excited to learn.”

According to the University of Kentucky Family & Consumer Sciences’ (FCS) LEAP Program Curriculum, “young children need help to develop lifelong healthy eating and physical activity habits.  As children grow, they change physically, mentally and socially.  MyPlate shows what and how much children should eat to meet their physical needs.   Physical activity is also important for physical health, as well as social and cognitive development.   Physical activities for young children should be developmentally appropriate, fun and varied.  Finally, hand washing is a health concern for young children.  Children who have been taught proper hand washing techniques get sick less often and miss less school.”  

The educational program response:  

LEAP for Health was developed through a collaboration of the Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Department for Health and Family Services and the University of Kentucky.  The curriculum is a series of 32 lessons that use storybooks and activities to teach children about nutritious foods, healthy eating habits, hand washing, food safety and being physically active.  The target audience is primary children and their caregivers.  The curriculum was originally designed for children 3 to 5 years old.  Lessons have been added for children up to age 8 so that the curriculum covers preschool through 3^rd grade.  LEAP newsletters are designed to encourage caregivers to talk with their child and reinforce healthy habits.  

The schedule for the year included:

My Plate and Jack and the Hungry Giant/The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Focus on Healthy Snacks and Smelly Ghost and Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie

Dental Hygiene and Healthy Eating and Clarabella’s Teeth 

Think Your Drink and Rodeo Ron and His Milkshake Cows

Making Food Healthy and The Little Red Hen Bakes a Pizza

Trying New Foods and Green Eggs and Ham

Physical Activity for All and Dinosaur Diner and IQ Gets Fit

The children completed hands-on projects such as how to create a MY Plate, how to properly brush their teeth, how to construct their own pizza, how to make a smoothie in a bag, how to do fun exercises and how to dance using dance streamers to achieve physical activity.  Parents received the LEAP newsletter each month that informed them of the highlighted book, hands-on activities and foods that the children learned about and tried.  The children also took home their hands-on projects.

The participants/target audience:  

The Gallatin County Cooperative Extension Service Family & Consumer Sciences Agent, Ronda Rex and 4-H Youth Development Agent, Lora Stewart collaborated with the Gallatin County Lower and Upper Elementary School Librarian to conduct LEAP once a month throughout the school year.   Ronda also collaborated with OVEC (Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative Head Start) to conduct the LEAP curriculum each month.  The program reached 326 primary students (3- to 4-year-olds and K-3^rd grades).   

Other partners (if applicable):  

The Family & Consumer Sciences Agent, Ronda Rex, also incorporated activities from the University of Kentucky FCS Laugh and Learn Playdate curriculum into the LEAP classes at OVEC for the 3- to 4-year-olds.   Laugh and Learn consists of learning activities that are relevant to children’s development and coincide to help celebrate holidays and seasons.  The 3- to 4-year-olds at OVEC learned about healthy snacks through LEAP story books and mastered fine and large motor skills by creating either a LEAP or Laugh and Learn project.  Some of the motor skills included:  how to create a pizza, how to create an image of self, how to choose healthy for MY Plate, how to brush your teeth, how to make a musical instrument and how to dance with dance streamers to achieve physical activity.  

Program impact or participant response:  

At the beginning of each class, the Librarian and Extension Agents discussed with the students about their learning goal for the day and how to reach their goal.  An end of year evaluation with Librarian, Amanda O’Connor, revealed that each child achieved their learning goals for each class in each grade.  

“OVEC is committed to providing quality education services to the children and families it serves. This commitment includes establishing a foundation for children from as early as six weeks and up to age 5 that focuses on skills needed to be successful when entering school age programs, also known as School readiness Goals.  This progress is shared with parents during Home Visits and Conferences and is used to set learning goals.” (Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative Head Start Programs website)  

Success Story submitted:  July 2023

Sources:  

University of Kentucky Family & Consumer Sciences Literacy, Eating, and Activity for Primary (LEAP)) Youth Health Curriculum   

https://kyecac.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx   

https://www.ovecheadstart.org/gallatin-county  

https://www.ovec.org/