Snack Schedule Information

Each week, a family will be responsible for providing snack for the entire classroom. We usually have a morning and afternoon snack and there will be 10/11 students in the classroom (depending on the time of year). You will end up having about 4-5 turns as snack provider throughout the year, and the rest of the time you get to relax!

Jackson’s parents have already volunteered to provide snack for  the first week of school – thank you! I'll make up a list and will let you know the rest of the schedule soon.

With our continued emphasis on becoming a healthier school, it is more important than ever to educate our children about the importance of putting good things in their bodies. A great way to do this is to have your children be more involved in the planning, shopping and simple preparation of the snacks they bring in to share. Most children find it fun to help make the food lists, go shopping, and design the menus - real life application of writing and math skills!  

I would prefer most, if not all, of the snacks to be fruits and vegetables. Most children simply do not get the recommended servings per day, and this is an easy way to encourage healthier eating. Also, with fruits and vegetables, we don't have to worry about hidden trans fats, unnecessary additives, or sneaky nut contamination (remember, we are a nut-free school!). Several children in our class have severe allergies. Again, with fruits and vegetables, we just don't have to worry about unintentionally making someone ill. 

Here are some suggestions:

Fruits:

·      berries, bananas, apples, grapes, melon chunks, kiwis, clementines, oranges, etc.

·      frozen fruits are a nice change of pace - frozen grapes, frozen berries, frozen all-fruit bars (no sugar added)

·      dried fruits, like apricots and raisins

          

Vegetables: 

·      carrot sticks, celery, cucumbers, broccoli, red and green pepper strips

Besides fruits and vegetables, big containers of natural yogurt and natural applesauce are great (please, no Gogurts or “squeezy” applesauces – lots of unnecessary waste), as is string cheese. Plain popcorn (we have an air popper), rice crackers, and pretzels are a nice occasional treat.

So, a typical week's snack bag may look something like this:

1 large hand of bananas, a large bag of small apples, a large bag of clementines, 3 big bunches of grapes, carrot and celery sticks with sun (nut-free) butter, small cucumbers, raisin boxes, bell pepper strips, string cheese with box of rice crackers, and a bag of popcorn kernels.