Family Fun, Food & Fitness
On Monday evening, September 22, 2014, at the Lakeside Elementary School in Glen Elder, the school was filled with noise and excitement as families participated in the “Family Fun, Food & Fitness” event. The event was designed to promote healthy habits in both children and their parents.
As families arrived they were divided into three different working groups to rotate through the sessions on physical activity, nutrition education and food preparation.
The Lakeside FCCLA members of Carolina Harzman, Holly Tanis, Lexa Adams, Kaytlin Kiser, Cierra Gullion and Rachel Miller lead each group through a series of games. Families had a great time playing “Pin the Fruit on MyPate”, “4 Corners”, “Health, Fruit & Fitness Relay” and “Snakes in the Grass”.
In the nutrition education session families learned about the importance of eating together as a family and how it effects child development. They also learned about healthy eating by developing and drawing their own meals using MyPlate as their guideline. And to finish the session they played a fun round of nutrition bingo.
And if you are going to talk about food, you better have some healthy foods available for sampling. As a family unit, they made chicken quesadillas, cheesy celery and carrot boats, and shaker pudding topped with mixed berries.
It was a great evening and Diana Roe, cook at the Glen Elder Elementary school, said as the kids came through the breakfast line the next morning they were talking very excitedly about what they did the evening before.
To make an event like this happen, it takes the help of many. Assisting that evening were Troy Damman, USD 272 Superintendent, Debbie Taylor, USD 272 School Wellness Coordinator, Stacey DeBey, Glen Elder Elementary School Secretary, Jodi Koops, FCCLA Sponsor & FCS Instructor, Diana Roe, Glen Elder Cook, the FCCLS members of Carolina Harzman, Holly Tanis, Lexa Adams, Katylin Kiser, Cierra Gullion and Rachel Miller, the Glen Elder Elementary school teachers – Cynthia Goth, Kindergarten; Lucille Heller, 1st grade; Cindy Clausen, 2nd grade; and Karolee Wiles, 3rd grade, Joyce McKinney, Post Rock Extension Family Nutrition Program Assistant and Post Rock Family and Consumer Science Agents Nora Rhoades and Nadine Sigle. 
The funding for the program was made possible by a grant
from the Kansas State Department of Education through the Child Nutrition and Wellness program. Assistance was also received from the Family Nutrition Program which is funded through the Department of Children and Families. It was a fun evening for all involved. Families at the Lakeside Elementary School in Downs can be looking forward to a similar event on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.
