South Woods Elementary School kindergarten students of Allyson (Ally) Baker have developed a love affair with fruit.
They’re also learning to eat healthy, exercise and be comfortable with who they are — values which paid off in a big way earlier this month when Del Monte Fresh Produce announced that Baker and her students were winners in the cash and fresh fruit international online contest, the “2nd Annual Teacher Monday: Cash for Classroom.”
The top prize included $750 in cash and $250 worth of fresh Del Monte fruit for her classroom. In addition, Baker reports Del Monte told her that a Third World Country school in either Asia or Africa receives a $1,000 cash prize.
The award is not only big for the school, but a personal triumph for Baker, who describes herself as “a proud survivor of anorexia nervosa.”South Woods won as the result of both Baker’s essay on how she would incorporate healthy eating messages into classroom lesson plans and through online votes from fans.
“I really feel that God’s put this on my heart, and I really wanted to enter this contest,” she said during a phone interview just after Del Monte’s announcement. She did admit to being nervous, because as a Title I school she didn’t know how the school would get enough votes. “But it really took off.”
Baker’s message was simple and to the point. “I am very passionate about Del Monte’s Teacher Monday program,” she wrote in her essay to Del Monte and “I am a firm believer in teaching students at a young age to love themselves, enjoy healthy food, love exercise and to love sweets in moderation.”
Referring in her essay to dealing with anorexia nervosa, she wrote that “the battle with this illness almost took my life, and I am so thankful to now be living healthy, whole and happy. As a result of struggling with this illness from a young age, I am very passionate about teaching kids to fall in love with WHO they are and to fall in love with healthy food.”
Success!
Her plan is working.
“I had never seen a whole pineapple,” student Hannah Roberts says. “Ms. Baker let me hold it, and it was heavy and pokey. And then Ms. Baker cut it up. We ate it in small square pieces!”
“I love fruit so much that I keep asking Ms. Baker to put some in the prize box,” was the response from Ja’Ki Singleton, and Alex Warring has decided: “Eating fruit is really fun. It helps my brain think better.”
The students discovered the joys of fruit in many ways, says their teacher. Beginning each day with time to wake up brain and body the students then go about learning. A mid-morning healthy snack allows them to recharge, and they so look forward to healthy snacks that “the students are often yelling ‘Is it snack time yet?’” Baker wrote in her essay to Del Monte.
Classroom instruction has included learning all about apples. “We have become apple experts,” Baker wrote. “I can blindfold any student in the class and put an apple in their hand, and they can figure out the color just by touch! We can also tell by the smell and the taste.”
Pumpkins were another topic during the fall, along with other healthy foods which were used to make Thanksgiving treats. The whole experience has been “really fun,” Baker said in her phone interview. “Every Friday for snack we do Fruity Friday,” with pineapple, grapes, nectarines. “It’s been really fun. Every Friday they beg ‘can I please have another?’”
Via her program Baker has accomplished just what the Del Monte program is all about.
It’s a program, Del Monte spokesperson Joanne Forster noted in a press release announcing the selection of South Woods “to help get school children across North America to make healthier eating choices. The program rewards kindergarten through 12th grade school teachers with cash to purchase school supplies and fresh fruit for classroom snacks. Over six weeks this fall, 60 teachers across the U.S. and Canada won.”
The fruit will continue to arrive at South Wood until May. Baker’s students have some wonderful ideas on ways to spend their $750 cash prize, adds Baker.
“They’re a whole list of funny things they want to buy,” Baker says, and some serious purchases. “We talked about a really big class world map,” The map would be especially helpful when the students learn what Third World Country is receiving the $1,000.