When it comes to knowing food groups and which food belongs to which group, sometimes it can be a struggle for elementary children (well maybe for adults too).  Some foods the kids are very sure of, such as milk is from the milk group!  Other foods like eggs, ham, and bacon can be harder to classify, especially if you are in elementary school. 

During the introduction of my Mobile Dairy Classroom assembly, I like to review the milk group foods, so students can better relate a dairy cow to their everyday life.  They can usually identify the obvious foods like milk and yogurt -- and are very excited to tell me these foods. However, there are the occasional answers such as hamburgers, bacon, carrots, cookies and eggs are from the milk group.  What really caught my attention one day was the response, Chinese food. 

Chinese food from the milk group, hmm... I'm not sure how students make these connections. When I hear comments that show kids really do not understand the origin of the foods they eat, I feel my job is more important than ever.  I want to make sure kids know what foods are milk and dairy foods, where they come from (a cow!) and the importance of dairy foods in their diet. 

I am one of the newest instructors; so have fewer stories than some of our veteran instructors. We will be sharing more (and possibly better stories) in future blog posts. 

Kimberlee Youman
Mobile Dairy Classroom Instructor