Development of Nutrition Education for K-5 Students for The Daily Mile Program

With the rising rates of obesity and low consumption of well-balanced meals among children, the introduction of nutrition education is vital for improving health outcomes considering that poor diet is a modifiable risk factor that can help prevent or treat obesity. Otherwise, obesity can impact children physically, socially, and psychologically. Therefore, a supplemental nutrition education resource for students in grades K-5 was developed to complement the Daily Mile program. For the purpose of this project, ten nutrition-related topics were first chosen that explore food groups, eating practices, and food sustainability. This led to the development of scripts discussing each topic which were used to narrate and develop approximately one-minute videos. Each lesson plan was also developed to meet certain learning standards for health education in Washington State. In addition to the lesson plan, a worksheet was created, and an online recipe was selected to accompany the videos. Therefore, this project provides ten lessons that can be easily implemented on a weekly basis due to the short duration of the videos. With the completion of this project, educators can use this resource to help provide students with basic nutrition knowledge which could positively affect eating behaviors and physical outcomes. Furthermore, future research can evaluate the efficacy of the project’s lesson plans on accomplishing learning outcomes