By

Leeanna Saffle,   Central Elementary School

Play:

Snack Smarter Schoolwide

Topics:

Community Involvement

Our school participated in the 21 Day Healthy Snack Challenge this fall. We distributed recipe books to students and staff on our campus that contained information and recipes for healthy snacks. We had a big kickoff for our challenge, which got the kids and staff pumped up to participate. We also reached out to parents to inform them and encourage them to participate in the challenge as well. We did this through posting on our Facebook page, Twitter, emails, and Skyward, which calls students with a prerecorded message about the challenge. During the 21 days, students were to select and eat a healthy snack containing a fruit or vegetable. They were to keep a log of their snacks and report if they noticed differences in how they felt when eating healthy snacks. At the end of the challenge, those that completed the steps also received a prize.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

One of the challenges we faced is being a low income school. Most of our students do not have access to WIFI at home or a computer. This challenge requires students to sign up online with an email in order to receive prizes. In order to overcome this, our librarian opened the library and assisted parents with signing up for free email accounts as well as registering students for the challenge.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Our students and staff worked together by discussing what healthy snacks we chose and helped to decide on new ones to try.