Sheryl Arpin teaches the 5 a day program in the 3rd grade classes for public schools in Phoenix, AZ. She teaches that fruits and vegetables have 3 things in them that make them good for us.

They are vitamin A, C, and fiber. “We have posters showing that vitamin C helps our bodies heal when we get a wound. Our poster is a hand with a bandaid on it. Vitamin A helps us see in the dark, so our poster shows eyeballs in the dark (black background). Fiber acts like a scrub brush to help clean our food tube (digestive system). The concept of fiber is hard to show. One idea we tried was to use a juicer to juice a carrot. The fiber is like sawdust when we do this, so we put the carrot fiber in a zip lock sandwich bag. In class we pass the zip lock bag of carrot fiber around so the kids can feel the fiber. We also show the carrot juice along with a whole carrot. The fiber concept seems to be easier to explain this way.”“We also have the kids make a healthy snack in one of our classes. We talk about ways they can get 5 a day by incorporating fruits and vegetables at snack time. We have the kids make a fruit parfait with vanilla yogurt and fruits that are in season. They layer the fruits over the yogurt and top the parfait with a low-fat granola with raisins. They love making this snack, and it’s good for them.”