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<\/p>\nThis piece is sponsored by Children\u2019s Home Society.<\/p>\n
For many kids who come through the doors of Children\u2019s Home Society, food can be complicated, filled with uncertainty and sometimes painful memories.<\/p>\n
But once a month, something special happens at Sioux Falls Children\u2019s Home\u2019s Loving School. Elli Nyberg walks into the classrooms carrying more than just snacks \u2014 she brings stories, science experiments and life skills that can be used long after their time at CHS.<\/p>\n
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Each month, Nyberg leads hands-on nutrition education in every classroom. She doesn\u2019t just teach students what a balanced plate looks like or how to eat healthier, she also shows them how to take care of themselves in ways they may never have been taught. Through her lessons, Nyberg\u00a0models positive food habits, helps build confidence and sparks curiosity, especially in children who may not have a healthy relationship with food.<\/p>\n
While the students know her as the fun \u201cnutrition teacher\u201d who brings snacks and cool activities, Nyberg is also a registered dietitian, the owner of Comprehensive Nutrition Solutions and a longtime instructor at CHS.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been teaching classes here for 18 years, and I haven\u2019t repeated anything except one series that I do,\u201d she laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s a nutrition story with a little dragon \u2014 I think it\u2019s super-cute. But otherwise, every lesson I\u2019ve taught is new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nyberg\u2019s journey into the classroom began with a routine nutrition assessment for a new child at CHS. When she asked what they had eaten at home, the 5-year-old replied that they had eaten frozen pizza. Nyberg questioned how it had been cooked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him, \u2018How did you cook it?\u2019 He told me that he was just so hungry, and there wasn\u2019t anyone around, so he ate it frozen,\u201d she said. \u201cI sat back in my chair and thought, this can\u2019t be happening. I had to teach these kids how to safely prepare food if they were ever left alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nyberg began researching existing curricula, but even the most basic lessons were still too complicated for the middle schoolers. So she decided to create her own. Armed with a bag of eggs and a borrowed microwave, she stepped into her first class. And the first lesson? Microwave and kitchen safety.<\/p>\n
She kept the first lesson simple, going over how to use microwave-safe dishware, how to avoid starting a fire and tips on kitchen cleanliness. Then came the fun part. She pulled out containers of eggs and told the class that today\u2019s snack would be scrambled eggs. She demonstrated how to crack an egg \u2014 something most had never done before \u2014 and then let them all take turns practicing.<\/p>\n
From there, the snacks grew to no-bake energy bites, pizza bagels and other recipes that didn\u2019t require an oven but relied on basic cooking skills like measuring and swapping ingredients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe convenience of fast-food, sit-down restaurants and food delivery services has taken away cooking opportunities in the home,\u201d she said. \u201cFood preparation is not being modeled in the home very well anymore. This is something we are seeing all over the country, not just at CHS.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help reinforce her lessons, Nyberg\u00a0created simple take-home recipe cards. Students collect them and build a personalized cookbook that they can take with them when they leave CHS.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things we made was a pizza bagel. I told them, \u2018Sometimes people don\u2019t have bagels in their house,\u2019\u201d she explained. \u201cSo we brainstormed substitutes. The kids came up with tortilla shells, bread, crackers \u2014 you name it. They leave knowing how to adjust a recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loving School principal Ericka Bohle agrees that the cookbooks are a powerful tool for helping the kids retain what they\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s not a formal cookbook, Elli makes sure each child gets printouts of the recipes they create together,\u201d Bohle said. \u201cThese recipes are realistic, kid-friendly and simple enough to make at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
From pre-test to impact<\/p>\n
Nyberg isn\u2019t just a teacher \u2014 she\u2019s also a student pursuing her Ph.D. Her experience at CHS has become the inspiration for a research study she plans to publish.<\/p>\n
To measure the students\u2019 progress, she developed a short and simple pre- and post-test, asking two questions:<\/p>\n
Do you know how to read a recipe?
\nDo you know how to measure ingredients?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t anything fancy,\u201d Nyberg said. \u201cI asked the two questions at the beginning of the school year and again at the end of the year. The increased number of hands that were raised was awesome to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data she collected is now part of a manuscript \u2014 that is currently under academic review \u2014 and the early findings are powerful. Students showed significant gains in nutrition knowledge and food-handling confidence. Even BMI scores have improved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BMI improvements were statistically significant,\u201d Nyberg said. \u201cEvery child in the overweight and obese category moved down at least one percentile, if not completely came into the normal range. We have very few kids who are underweight, but even those children came up to the normal range. I believe it\u2019s fair to say that their nutrition status has improved and these classes matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the principal, the data simply confirms what she is seeing in her students already.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese monthly nutrition classes are important because they help students build healthy habits, support growth and learning, and prepare them with practical life skills for the future,\u201d Bohle said. \u201cElli\u2019s lessons reinforce how food impacts energy, focus and behavior, giving kids tools to make better choices for their health and emotional regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taste, try and trust<\/p>\n
Not every lesson teaches only nutrition facts. In fact, many of Nyberg\u2019s classes also involve communication and trust. For kids with food trauma histories or sensory challenges, just having a new food on a plate in front of them can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never pressure them to eat anything I bring in,\u201d Nyberg said. \u201cBut I\u2019ll try to get them to smell it or encourage them to touch it and pick it up. Eventually, they try it, and a few months later, they\u2019ll be asking, \u2018What\u2019d you bring for snack today?\u2019 It\u2019s rewarding to see that progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her snacks aren\u2019t just a standard apple or banana. Instead, Nyberg often ties her lessons to national food holidays or brings unfamiliar fruits and vegetables. She\u2019ll even take the time to show a short video about the food \u2014 how something is harvested or where it comes from \u2014 but it\u2019s all part of her farm-to-table approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up on a farm,\u201d she said. \u201cMost of our kids at CHS are \u2018city kids,\u2019 and they\u2019ve never seen where food really comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bohle agrees that these things are important for the kids to learn and commends Nyberg on making her content engaging for all the kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cElli introduced a cow named Mr. D to teach about vitamin D and where milk comes from,\u201d Bohle said. \u201cShe consistently brings engaging materials that help students understand the content in a fun, age-appropriate way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to food prep, Nyberg teaches kitchen hygiene, table manners and how to safely handle common kitchen utensils. She has noticed in a few of her dining hall audits that many children don\u2019t know how to cut food with a knife or open their milk cartons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe practice \u2018please\u2019 and \u2018thank you,\u2019 how to hold a knife and fork, how to stir without sending a bowl flying across the room,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cIt sounds simple, but no one\u2019s ever taken the time to show them how.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Veggie-Plate.jpeg\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Veggie-Plant-822x1024.jpeg\")
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One favorite activity among the students was when Elli Nyberg brought in a plate of vegetables and fruits and guided the class in building a flower. This hands-on activity helped kids visualize how the parts of the plant we eat grow. For example, they used carrots to represent the roots because carrots are root vegetables that grow underground. They used celery to represent the stems because we eat the stalk of the plant.<\/p>\n
From there, lessons expanded into topics like plant anatomy, intuitive eating and even food allergies. Her lessons are evolving constantly and never boring. A favorite series for many students was a hands-on lesson about the digestive system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI once did this series on how food goes through the GI tract using a Ziploc bag, real food, water and a lady\u2019s nylon,\u201d Nyberg said. \u201cIt was so hands-on, and the kids were having a blast squishing the hamburger and seeing the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/5-food-groups.jpeg\")
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Another fun activity for the kids was building a food group dragon. Each child was given five circles and wrote down their favorite food from each food group.<\/p>\n
According to the principal, students look forward to nutrition class, and the lessons stick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids look forward to seeing Elli and participating in her activities,\u201d Bohle said. \u201cThey get to ask lots of questions and often seek reminders for how to make the foods they\u2019ve learned about.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Nyberg\u2019s favorite memories took place during the pandemic. A nursing home in the Sioux Falls area asked her for help because residents were losing significant amounts of weight and were missing their families. She had the children write letters to the residents, encouraging them to eat and stay positive during those uncertain times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t intend for this activity to be as meaningful as it was,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really touched the kids and made them think about others and their circumstances. These letters lifted the spirits of over 100 precious men and women who had become so sad during the final chapter of their lives \u2014 it made them smile again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a sampling:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CHS-Letter-6-869x1024.jpeg\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CHS-Letter-14.jpeg\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Letter-to-Nursing-Home.jpeg\")
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More than the research<\/p>\n
CHS isn\u2019t just part of Nyberg\u2019s research \u2014 it\u2019s her \u201cfun job.\u201d And while her work supports her Ph.D research, her role goes far beyond the Loving School classrooms. She\u2019s heavily involved in almost every part of the CHS nutrition program. She helps review menus so that meals are compliant with federal regulations, performs child nutrition assessments, finds creative ways to reduce food waste and trains staff on how food and behaviors can be connected.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I can do nutrition analysis and fix up all the numbers so they meet regulations,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think the most meaningful part of my work is in the classroom and seeing the impact on the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this summer, while working on a PRN basis at Avera Behavioral Health Hospital, Nyberg ran into several former CHS children, now teenagers and young adults. The best part? They didn\u2019t just recognize her \u2014 they remembered her and what she taught them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve run into five or six of them now. Those kids remembered me and gave me hugs,\u201d she said. \u201cThroughout the lesson, they answered my questions, interacted with me and remembered the stuff we talked about in the nutrition classes at CHS. It was so rewarding to experience that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that her lessons do more than just teach nutrition \u2014 Nyberg\u2019s ingredients of skills, confidence and trust have given her students the menu to care for themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This piece is sponsored by Children\u2019s Home Society. For many kids who come through the doors of Children\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[114324,114325,97,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-197920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-childrens-home-society","9":"tag-comprehensive-nutrition-solutions","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}