Produce Pick of the Month

Extension’s Produce Pick of the Month (PPOM) is a series of 9 monthly nutrition lessons designed to promote fruit and vegetable consumption among second- and third-grade students. The PPOM lessons are based on the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Pick a better snack lessons, but they have been modified to align with the seasonality and availability of produce in Nevada. The lessons include a short physical activity break using dance videos from the Extension Healthy Kids Physical Activity Toolkit, and they cover the food system sequentially, teaching students how produce moves from the farm or orchard to their table and beyond. The monthly lessons highlight one fruit or vegetable each month, giving students the opportunity to taste it in the classroom, as well as learn how it is grown and why its so beneficial to eat. By the end of the school year, students will have learned about every fruit and vegetable color group as well as the different edible parts of the plant. The complete lesson series includes monthly lesson narratives for teachers, student handouts to complete in class, a chef demonstration (video), bilingual family newsletters, and a monthly bingo (Lotería style) game that encourages students to try nutrition and physical activities out of school. The lesson series is available for live instruction in the physical or virtual classroom, or teachers may use the asynchronous version on demand which includes a 20-minute nutrition education video lesson, fillable PDF student handouts, and electronic versions of the PPOM newsletters and bingo games. In addition to direct education, the Healthy Kids, Healthy School program offers nutrition promotion activities and helps schools implement school wellness policies.