District hopes new program will teach healthy eating habits

Dec. 15—Smith Elementary School in the New Britain School District in Connecticut has launched Build Your Plate, a program to familiarize students with healthy foods, with the hope that those eating habits continue as the students age. The students are taught how to prepare a balanced meal, the source of the ingredients in the meal and the nutritional content of the meal.

Build Your Plate is divided into four modules: entrée, side dish, beverage or snack, and dessert. In each 30-minute module, the students learn about that week’s plate, see the ingredients for the dish in their raw state and learn about the ingredients’ regions.

Build Your Plate began as a pilot program in fifth-grade classes this September. It will expand to other grade levels and elementary schools next year. The program was developed by Jeff Taddeo and Michael Koch, food service directors with Whitsons School Nutrition.