Due to the ongoing global pandemic, the Kenton County Schools were closed to outside programming for the 2020-2021 school year to keep the students, faculty, and staff healthy at school.  The Nutrition Education Program (NEP) Senior Assistant of the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service had to get creative to offer programming to the schools.   Partnering with the fourth-grade teachers at White’s Tower Elementary School, it was decided that nutrition education programming, offered virtually, would greatly benefit the students. 

Using Google Classroom, a new platform for the NEP Senior Assistant, she was able to successfully implement the Professor Popcorn virtual curriculum to teach the students about making healthy food choices and adding physical activity to their day.   The NEP Senior Assistant met with the students in their Google Classroom for one hour, one day a week for six weeks.   The NEP Senior Assistant shared the Professor Popcorn Power Point with students and asked questions along the way to reinforce learning.  The four fourth grade teachers would type their students’ responses and questions in the chat box, and the students who were learning from home would do the same.

As a part of the weekly lesson, the NEP Senior Assistant showed a pre-recorded video of an NEP Assistant making a healthy snack and then provided a digital copy of the recipe book so students could recreate the recipes at home.  To keep the students engaged, about half-way through the lesson, the NEP Senior Assistant would share her screen and show an interactive exercise video.  The Assistant, the students (in the classrooms and learning from home), and the teachers would get up and do the exercises along with the video.  One week as the exercise video was ending, the NEP Senior Assistant realized she had forgotten to share her screen with the classroom.  Therefore, the students and teachers had been watching her lead the exercises rather than seeing the video!  She acknowledged her mistake, and comments began to roll in through the chat.   The students from home put smiley faces in the chat, and the teachers said their students in the classroom tried to keep up and do the movements with the assistant.  

In spite of the challenge of learning a new virtual platform, the partnership proved to be a success. Here are some things the students said about the nutrition program:   

1. I have been drinking more milk to get calcium, or I have been drinking water more                   regularly.
2. I have been exercising more and eating healthier.   
3. I have started eating more vegetables.  
4. I have been eating healthier snacks, and my favorite was bell peppers.
5. I have started making the snacks from the videos, and I have been eating fruit for                   breakfast.