Photo credit: Farm to School
Farm to School (F2S) is a nationwide program that promotes the health of children, farms and communities. Through broad initiatives such as hands-on culinary classes, farm visits and school gardens, the lessons integrate culturally aware nutrition education into the classroom curriculum. Each state puts its own spin on F2S programs; in Wisconsin, F2S is run by a partnership between the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and AmeriCorps.
Joe Liverseed is a F2S Specialist with Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers (SSCHC), on Milwaukee’s South Side. He’s pursuing a master’s degree in social work at UW-Milwaukee. He works with elementary students at six South Side schools in lower-income neighborhoods to implement some of the F2S programs, with an emphasis on nutrition. He notes that SSCHC has offered F2S in Milwaukee since 2015, although because it’s so broad and can include many types of programs and efforts, there has been F2S activity in Milwaukee for years.
“The biggest strength is that it reaches kids in a new way, emphasizing hands-on, experiential learning,” Liverseed says. He incorporates a healthy snack at the end of each lesson and involves the students in the preparation. He breaks up each lesson with a game to incorporate physical activity. “A lot of people don’t think that cooking and making a healthy snack is education, but it’s so important that we do this, especially at a young age.”
Liverseed says the F2S work is accomplished through a strong support network including the SSCHC, DPI and supportive teachers. He also credits neighborhood organizations such as the Milwaukee Food Council, UW-Extension FoodWIse, Food Right, the Urban Ecology Center and others who support F2S’s multi-faceted programs.
Engaging Children in Food Discussions
In Shannon Reed’s bilingual second grade class at Lincoln Avenue School, the students eagerly greeted “Mr. Joe” as he walked in with a tote of plastic food models, a bag of apples and a jar of peanut butter. Liverseed began reviewing a previous lesson about the MyPlate nutrition guidelines established by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Then, focusing on the “traffic light” guide, Liverseed explains that, just like how a traffic light tells you if you have to stop, to slow down or if it’s safe to go, we have to ask if the food we eat is a red light food, a green light food or a yellow light food.
“Green light foods are super healthy. They make us go, giving us energy and nutrition,” he explains. When asked for examples, the young students called out strawberries, vegetables, salad, bananas, apples, watermelon and mangoes, or proteins like dairy and meat. The students also recognized red light foods—chips, or “grease,” such as from hamburgers or French fries. “Yes, all the yummy, tasty junk foods are in the red light,” Liverseed affirms.
What about pizza? “Let’s talk about pizza,” and Liverseed explains the difference between pizza with greasy meats and way too much cheese (red light!) or pizza with vegetables, which makes it little healthier, putting it in the yellow light category.
Liverseed held up plastic food models, and the children guessed the appropriate traffic light color in which each belonged. The lesson was broken up by an exercise in the school’s gym that corresponded with the traffic light lesson. The class then returned to the classroom to watch Liverseed demonstrate how to use an apple corer, which generated an “Aww!” of amazement from the kids as he produced 12 perfect apple slices. The children received samples, along with a dollop of protein-rich peanut butter for dipping.
Liverseed keeps the snack demonstrations healthy, easy to prepare and economic. “I teach them simple stuff that they can do themselves at home. I try to foster independence so they’re not asking their parents to make these snacks for them,” he says.
For more information, visit dpi.wi.gov/school-nutrition/farm-to-school.
