Graduation

Yesterday was the end of my first class. Our last lesson was healthy snacks and breakfast. To start off the class we discussed breakfast and what each kid ate each morning. After talking about that, we had them realize how they could make their very own breakfast a little bit healthier just by adding some fruit or other items to it. Out of 12 kids, 11 of them ate breakfast every single day. Carlos, our nutrition educator then talked to them about the importance of nutrition labels and how it effects them. We asked if they had any questions for us and boy did they! They had many "myths" about nutrition they wanted to clear up such as "If they ate bad at one meal, would they be able to make it up at another?" and "Is peppermint going to make them smarter for the FCAT?"  We tried to answer every child's answer one at a time but it was almost time to eat and celebrate! For our last meal together, we made tex-mex nachos. We used turkey meat along with corn, black beans, and seasonings. Some salsa was used along with a dab of sour cream. We had the children chop up some tomatoes and lettuce and handed out some multigrain chips. It was a very lovely afternoon filled with a nutritious snack! After everyone was nice and full, we handed out their books and certificates which stated they completed Kids Up Front by OFL and said our goodbyes to Urgent Inc.

Veggies

This past week in class we covered Vegetables. It was set to create a vegetable tomato base sauce over whole wheat pasta. In the beginning of class I decided to try something different and have the kids help with the chopping first, rather than do the nutrition lesson because we were going to satay the veggies which would take some time along with boiling the pasta. I gave them a variety of vegetables to chop including bell peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, and onions. 90% of the children did not recognize what the eggplant was! I had them guess what it was and they thought it was a cucumber. I think because it was raw and sliced, it was harder to recognize. They complained about the onion making their eyes tear. Carlos, explained to them that the gas in the onion sometimes does that. After they helped me chop the vegetables into tiny pieces I showed them their great work all put together and began to satay them while Carlos taught his lesson. Dayna, another member of FLIPANY was there to assist and passed out raw veggies for them to try. We thought most of them had never tried most vegetables raw, in which we were correct. Most of them enjoyed them but we congratulated all of them for at least trying something new. As Carlos taught them about where vegetables come from and how they are good for our bodies, Dayna and I cooked up the veggies and the pasta. The ending result was very yummy! We are finding that they are retaining what we tell them every week which is very important and telling their parents what they are making and learning in class.

Fruit tasting

Wednesday October 15 was not only my third class but also my 23rd birthday! I will never forget this special class!
I wanted these kids to be able to try fruits they have never tried before, however at my site, Goulds Elementary, these kids have tried foods I have never even heard of! They are very "food friendly" and aware of healthy foods. When I told them last week we were having a fruit taste test this week, they requested certain fruits that needed to be there!
Carlos, my nutrition educator did a great job reviewing what we had learned in the grains lesson. He had brought different grains to show examples and brought them again this week to make sure they had remembered. Of course their sponge-like brains had absorbed everything from last week! This week he played a game with the children making sure they could name a fruit for every letter of the alphabet. It was both educating and challenging. After they had learned about where fruits came from and how they can help us stay healthy, we started our taste test.
The taste test started out with natural peanut butter, honey, strawberry and plain yogurt. These were used as dipping for the fruit. We used both dried and natural fruit to show the children the different tastings of some fruits. For example, we had them try strawberries and dried strawberries. In our OFL book I had them fill out a food chart which they were able to write what they were trying, what it looked, and tasted like. It was very entertaining to watch them try fruits and see their reactions!
This week went very well because although they were not able to help cook anything they were very engaged in how they personally felt about each fruit. Next week is Vegetables which they were very excited about! To hear children say they are excited about vegetables is something to smile about! :)

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Week 2 began and ended just as great as the week one did! I believe that must be a good sign. As the kids entered the classroom, they were so excited for us to actually be there! It was so refreshing as opposed to words such as "ew" or "yuck" which I heard the previous week when helping out Jill, another team member of FLIPANY.
I assisted Jill two weeks in a row, but this week the kids were not so excited to try veggies. We wanted them to try them raw first and then cooked in whole wheat pasta. However, they made it seem like we were trying to poison them. After they veggies were cooked, they did not even notice them inside the pasta as they gushed about how yummy it tasted!
Back to my class on grains, this week was whole wheat banana pancakes in which not one kid forgot what we were cooking today! As I prepared the food, Carlos taught them about the wheat germ and brought different types of wheat and grains to show them from different countries. It was a very nice touch I thought! Their enthusiastic faces lit up when hearing the different grains with their silly names. The things that make ten year olds giggle!
I wish each child could help out more on the cooking because they are so excited to! When telling them next week was fruits they all listed to me all their favoritve fruits that I HAD to bring! They all told me how they were going to make the pancakes toped with strawberries every morning for breakfast. I told them to make them as a surprise for mommy and daddy. We will see what really happens.
Until fruits take over next week....

My name is Allyson Lipp, although I haven't gone by Allyson since I could speak because I prefer to be called Ally. I recently just graduated from Florida State University in Tallahassee and have moved back to Miami, FL where I have been born and raised for almost twenty-three years now. The transition going off to college is a great one but even harder to come back "home." You are sent off to a new city to make new friends that are unfamiliar from your friends in your hometown. It is a hard transition to say goodbye to the people you spend every moment with. These  are the people that shape and build you for your future. My roommates, who were more like my family, helped me when I was struggling through my dilemmas not just of life but of school as well. My undergraduate degree was in Dietetics, which kept me very busy throughout my four years in Tallahassee.

Different experiences bring you to meet different people in all ways. In the summer of 2007 I interned for FLIPANY, Florida Introduces Physical Education and Nutrition to Youth. Their mission was to work with low income children and families making long term changes in their eating habits. We would go to a different after-school facility and teach nutrition education and do a cooking class. After a long and productive summer I was back to FSU to finish school. Now I am back in 2008 and returning to join FLIPANY as an AmeriCorp volunteer.

Yesterday, Wednesday was my first class as a coordinator. I was both excited and nervous. I had only been the nutrition educator previously, but this time I was in charge of the entire class! I had an amazing nutrition educator, Carlos who is a student getting his degree in Dietetics who worked beautifully with the children. He had planned out his nutrition lesson three days before the class and had went over it step by step with me before teaching it. The first class is traditionally supposed to cover an overview of the food pyramid touching each section lightly. For the cooking, we made turkey tacos as an example of a complete meal to represent the whole pyramid. The children who were between ages 8-10 were very engaged and asking many questions. They were very excited to be part of this class, eager to learn and be involved in both the learning and cooking. They are very excited about us coming back next week and that makes me very happy because that means we made an impact! They were able to give us feedback about what they had learned that day as well.

That is it for now. Until next week, my second class!

Ally

FLIPANY