Food, Fun, and Reading

 

Niki Crawson, 4-H Agent, is reading "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" to 1st grade students at BES.

Food, Fun, and Reading is currently being presented at Bonifay Elementary School's 1st Grade Classrooms.

Who knew that learning about broccoli could be so much fun?  At Bonifay Elementary School, learning the My Food Pyramid and making healthy snack choices are exactly what has been taking place in the first grade classrooms.   4-H, Family & Consumer Science Department, and the Holmes County Health Department have teamed up to provide Food, Fun, and Reading!, a unique nutrition and literacy program designed to teach youth about the newest USDA food pyramid by incorporating children’s storybooks with food-related themes and hands-on nutrition activities.       

Within the five classroom sessions, the first graders are exposed to the importance of eating enough servings of each food group, safe food preparation, and the variety of foods available in each food group to make snack time fun and healthy.  From Pizza Wheels to Ants On A Log snacks, these 1st graders are great healthy snack makers!  Even down to the very last scheduled visit, fun activities and educational information were packed into every minute with the children playing active recreational games.

Traci Corbin, Holmes County Health Department Chronic Disease Coordinator, is helping a student spread peanut butter on her "Ants on a Log" healthy snack. 

After covering all of the food groups and physical exercise, these first graders are now experts of the Food Pyramid and healthy

lifestyles.  Teachers have already seen a difference in their classrooms as they report the children bringing healthier snacks to school. 

In addition to this wonderful change in school snacks, the families are getting involved as well since nutritional information, recipes, and kid-friendly websites and games were made available to the parents for additional support and reinforcement at home.

The Holmes 4-H Council and the Family and Consumer Science Department through the Holmes County Extension Service and the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, along with the Holmes County Health Department Chronic Disease Program are dedicated to bringing rewarding events and activities into Holmes County for all youth to participate in and learn by doing.  If your school is interested in educational programming such as this wonderful adventure, be sure to contact contact Niki Crawson, Holme County 4-H Agent, at ncrawson@ufl.edu or 547-1108 for additional information.    

Tropicana Public Speaking Contest

Classroom contests will be conducted by April 17, 2009.

School contests will be conducted by April 24, 2009

County Contest is May 4, 2009.  

This is an exciting time for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students!  Your child is about to begin a fun and important educational journey through the 4-H/Tropicana Public Speaking Program.  The 4-H/Tropicana Public Speaking Contest is an opportunity for your child to learn writing, reading, and speaking skills outside of typical classroom instruction.  This program is underwritten by the Tropicana Corporation and coordinated by Holmes County 4-H.  It has been in school systems across Florida since 1969 and continues to grow each year!

Teachers in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades will set aside part of their classroom time to help students research, organize, practice, present, and critique speeches based on their own topic of their choice!  Topics can by humorous, serious, educational, inspiring or persuasive.  It is fun and rewarding as every child will have a chance to express him/herself on something important to them and have a chance to be recognized with awards. 

The rules are simple:

Speeches

• must be original and written by the student only.
• must be a different topic from each year’s competition.
• must be between 2 to 3 minutes.
• cannot use visual aids (no costumes, posters, props, etc.)

*Note cards are not considered visual aids and MAY be used in the competition.

Speeches are written and presented in the classroom with classroom winners competing at the school level.  School level winners will then advance to the county contest.  County winners receive recognition, a plaque, prizes, and most importantly, a FULL scholarship to participate in the 2009 4-H Camp Timpoochee, which has been a tradition since the early 1920’s! 

Camp fees for 2009 are $200.00 per child BUT by winning the County Grade Level Tropicana Contest, your child would go to camp absolutely FREE.

We hope your child is excited about participating in the 4-H/Tropicana Public Speaking Contest.  Please carefully review all materials sent home with your child prior to the competition. 

If you are interested in assisting your child’s school in this exciting activity, please contact your child’s teacher directly or contact me at ncrawson@ufl.edu or call me at (850) 547-1108.