BROWARD COUNTY, FL - One of the functions of Extension Education's Family Nutrition Program (FNP) - a partnership between the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and Broward County Parks - is education. Currently, for instance, FNP is teaching youth at Colbert Elementary School in Hollywood, through a series of six lessons presented to first- and second-grade students. The curriculum, aptly titled YUM, includes lessons on MyPlate, grains, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and protein.

As FNP staff have already discovered, the program has benefits not only for the young students, but also for their instructors, who are provided with supplementary classroom materials that allow them to reinforce the information taught during the series. One second-grade teacher at Colbert Elementary shared that, spurred on by the program, her students have expanded their knowledge of nutrition and are now more likely to choose fruits and vegetables over highly processed foods.

The teacher also shared with staff the unsurprising news that her second graders love the program's food tastings. One recent tasting (part of the lesson on "MyPlate and Proteins") treated participants to whole-grain tortilla chips with hummus, a food most of the students had never tasted. Many overcame their initial reluctance and eventually admitted they were glad they tried it. Some children asked about how hummus is made, while others wanted to know where their parents could buy it for the family.

This is just one example of how a classroom lesson results in knowledge gains that extend into the larger community. At the end of the nutrition series, the teacher said she was so happy with the Family Nutrition Program that she is already looking forward to having it be a part of her curriculum next year.