By Alyssa Havlovic and Kristen Houska, Extension Educators in Lancaster County
School Enrichment Nutrition Kits (SEK) is a nutrition education kit program developed specifically for grades K–5 which teaches students about health, nutrition and physical activity. This program addresses the interests and needs of the students, the teachers and the school by meeting national health standards and Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) health curriculum objectives.
Each of the grade-specific kits contains a teacher curriculum with five lessons, including science experiments, posters and wall charts, interactive games, food models, activity sheets, audio files, books, videos, puppets and much more. All materials, including lesson plans, are included in the kits. This allows teachers to be fully equipped to confidently teach nutrition and physical activity within their classrooms.
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL ENRICHMENT KIT PROGRAM
In 2000, LPS teachers and administrators requested assistance from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County staff to develop kits containing hands-on nutrition education experiences to supplement LPS’s mandated health curriculum.
New and existing grade-specific educational activities from national, state and local resources were used to develop the program, with guidance from Registered Dietitians.
The program initially reached grades K–5 in the title I schools (schools with greater than 50% of students participating in free- or reduced-price lunch) with funding assistance through SNAP-Ed and was called the Nutrition Education Program (NEP) School Enrichment Nutrition Kits (SEK).
In 2011, a USDA grant funded expansion of this program into grades K–2 in the non-title I LPS schools (schools with less than 50% of students participating in free- or reduced-price lunch). Then in 2017, a Team Nutrition Grant allowed for the expansion of the program into grades 3–5 in the non-title I schools as well.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS & FUTURE DIRECTIONS
In 2018, Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County worked with LPS to offer all paper activities from the nutrition kits in an online format to save on printing costs. Grades 3–5 are now able to utilize the curriculum in a hybrid model of hands-on activities and online worksheets. This model has saved Nebraska Extension approximately $14,000 in the past two years.
This school year, LPS is piloting the SEK curriculum as part of a core health curriculum. Each grade level has pairs of teachers that have taken 10 SEK activities and added instruction wording around the lessons to make it fit with LPS’s overall instruction format. After this pilot year is complete, Nebraska Extension will be partnering with LPS to host a district-wide summer 2021 training on the overall revised health curriculum. For the 2021–2022 school year, teaching health will be part of LPS’s core curriculum.
KIT PROGRAM USED ACROSS NEBRASKA, AND BEYOND!
Based on the success in Lancaster County, the School Enrichment Nutrition Kits program has been implemented in schools across Nebraska. Over the past 20 years, the nutrition kit program has impacted over 120,000 Nebraska students in more than 6,480 classrooms!
Nebraska Extension has received requests from other Extension programs across the nation and the Czech Republic to utilize the SEK curriculum and replicate the kits. Nebraska Extension’s goal moving forward is to continue utilizing the nutrition kits in their current hands-on format and adapt the curriculum to an online format for others to utilize outside of the state.
“Nebraska Extension has been a true lifeline for our Elementary Health curriculum. In survey after survey, our teachers repeatedly indicate that these kits engage students and they always look forward to teaching nutrition. We feel that it greatly benefits our students.”
—Matt Avey, LPS Health Curriculum Specialist
“I have used it in my classroom every year since it has been available. The lessons are well planned and thought out. The students get excited for the hands-on activities and really understand each lesson. The lessons go with what we are teaching in health, or go beyond what we are teaching. I love that you can pull a folder out and everything is there, ready to go.”
—Lincoln Public Schools Teacher