Adair County Head Start L.E.A.P s (Literacy, Eating and Activity for Primary) Again  

I am the Nutrition Education Program Assistant in two Counties Cumberland and in Adair County and I was in need of more clients for my programs both Adults and Children.

The Adair county Head Start facility needed more Community education partners for their students. It had been 3 years since the Head start facility had a regular extension person visiting to help educate their students. The Adair County Family and Consumer Science Agent had left that position, and it had taken a long time to replace her. I contacted the director of the head start and was greeted with enthusiasm. Yes, they would love for me to come and teach the LEAP program which had previously been delivered by the FCS Agent and said the children had loved it.

They had two classes each with 20 students with 2 teachers and 2 assistants with other various aides and support staff. It was well run, and the children were eager to learn. The classes each had students with attention deficit behaviors, more in comparison to our local head start in Cumberland County. I felt in the beginning this could be an added problem, for example theses children tend to wander away or cause a commotion that distracts the other students while I am reading to them. However, when I was in a routine of regular visits and doing the LEAP reading program along with fun taste tests and physical activities all the students seemed to be calmer and more attentive.

While visiting the head start and doing the LEAP program I also provided the children’s families with Nutrition tips and Newsletters for feeding their families which helped keep them informed about what their child/ren were learning in my head start classes. The Area director Lake Cumberland visited one day and took pictures and videoed my class for the area advisory committee to show what the partnership provided at this facility.