March 26, 2021
What: From P.E. to home kitchen: Families of designated elementary school students to pick up free Burrito Bowl meal kits to make at home
Taking classroom instruction home to the family through free meal kits
Who: Cynthia De La Garza, Collins Garden Elementary School principal
Kendra Doyle, executive director, SAISD Curriculum and Instruction
Roxanne Sarabia/Cheryl Theinpont, campus P.E. teachers
Raul Salazar, senior coordinator, SAISD Health & Physical Education
When: March 27, 2021 (Sat) – 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Where: Collins Garden Elementary School, 167 Harriman Pl.
Students from 40 schools within San Antonio ISD are picking up an innovative homework assignment this weekend. Each of the participating campuses collaborate with the Culinary Health Education for Families (CHEF) program in San Antonio, a nutrition education program. As part of the initiative, students are receiving recipe demonstrations with nutrition and cooking tips during their physical education and health education classes.
But this weekend, students are taking their learning home. Students pre-registered to pick up free, CHEF meal kits to make delicious, nutritious burrito bowls at home with their moms, dads, and other family members – so that the whole family can practice healthy cooking and eating habits. The kits feature all the ingredients needed for the burrito bowl, which is the first recipe that students learned in their CHEF Bites series during a January health class. The meal kits are packaged and distributed by the culinary and nutrition education teams with the San Antonio Food Bank.
Raul Salazar, SAISD health and physical education senior coordinator, says events like this are important because it helps students and their families establish healthy eating behaviors.
“This is such a different way of teaching nutrition. Our students are able to learn, see, smell, cut, and taste the colorful food,” Salazar said. “Traditionally, when we teach nutrition, we show them pictures and give them examples. But to be able to learn to cook and sample the healthy, colorful food is quite innovative.”
Media are invited to one of the participating campuses during the distribution process. SAISD staff will be on hand for interviews.