Launched by Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) in 2007, LiveWell Kids is a comprehensive school well-being program developed specifically for elementary school students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The program was originally created in response to a high rate of obesity – 20 percent in 2007 among Redondo Beach elementary school students. Since the program’s inception, there has been a 60.5% decline in RBUSD student obesity. 

After a brief pause in data collection due to COVID-19, BCHD resumed its annual Body Mass Index (BMI) assessments throughout Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) elementary schools. The 2021-22 childhood obesity rate for participating RBUSD elementary students was 7.9%. While this is a slight increase from 2019 (6.4%), obesity rates among RBUSD Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd and 5th grade students have been declining since 2007, and are far below the county, state and national obesity rates.

The LiveWell Kids program includes both garden and nutrition education. It is comprised of six interactive lessons focused on educating students about the process and benefits of growing their own food, improving nutritional knowledge and making healthy eating choices. All lessons are delivered in the fresh air of the school gardens by trained volunteers. Funded by BCHD, the gardens are maintained by a dedicated group of Garden Angel volunteers.

2022-2023 Lessons

Lesson 1: The Importance of Water for People and Plants

• Benefits of Drinking Water
• Recipes to Make Water More Fun
• Eat Your Water
• Water Tracker
• Nutrition Facts: Sugar (Sports Drink & Cola)
• Benefits of Eating from the Rainbow

Lesson 2: Planting Cool-Season Crops – From Garden to Pizza

• Nutrition Facts: Ingredients (Fresh Corn & Creamy Corn)
• Irrigation Instructions
• Seed Packet Kale
• Seed Packet Peas
• Seed Packet Carrots
• Seed Packet Beets

Lesson 3: Soil, Sodium and Minerals All Living Things Need Nutrients

• Nutrition Laminates
  • Nutrition Facts Label: Fresh Potato/ Potato Chips
  • 2 Sets of Sodium Relay flashcards (1 blue-dot set and 1 yellow-dot set)
  • Answer Key for Sodium Relay game
  • High Sodium label
  • Low Sodium label
• Garden Laminates
  • “Do the Rot Thing…Compost!”
  • Landfill
  • Decomposers in the Compost Pile
  • Compost Cycle
  • Worm Bin
  • Compost Do's and Don'ts

Lesson 4: Pollination and Seeds

• The Life Cycle of a Plant
• Anatomy of a Flower
• Flower to Fruit Process
• How Seeds Travel
• Diagram of a Seed
• Nutrition Facts: Carbohydrates (Whole Wheat Pasta and Fruity Cereal)
• Nutrition Facts: Protein (Black Beans and Hot Dog)
• Nutrition Facts: Fats (Walnuts and Pecan Pie)

Lesson 5: Harvesting Cool-Season Crops and Enjoying Fresh Garden Foods

• MyPlate

Lesson 6: Planting Warm-Season Crops & Creating Balanced Meals

• Lesson Review Game
• Nutrition Facts: Serving Size