CeeScraps
Pearl Clutcher
~~occupied entertaining my brain~~
Posts: 3,829
Jun 26, 2014 12:56:40 GMT
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Post by CeeScraps on Aug 13, 2015 22:55:31 GMT
Our district is starting with "breakfast" this year. It will be free to all. Now why is "breakfast" in quotes.....it's suppose to be a breakfast bar, fruit and some sort of drink. Will the drink be juice and that be the fruit/drink? I don't know yet.
It sounds like it is going to be an eat and walk thing. There isn't a lot of time from when the children get dropped off from the bus to when school starts. Our district buses all of the kids, except those whose parents want to sit in the line for drop off (another topic).
Does your district give the students breakfast? If they do what is served? How do they serve it?
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Nicole in TX
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,951
Jun 26, 2014 2:00:21 GMT
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Post by Nicole in TX on Aug 13, 2015 23:04:55 GMT
Our (jr./sr. high) school used to do breakfast in the cafeteria. Of about 550 kids, about 10 would eat breakfast so they did away with the program.
Then, somebody got the idea to have a cart in the hall from which the kids could get a breakfast to take with them, such as a breakfast sandwich. They also have permission to take it with them to 1st period and finish it then. (They are not allowed to eat in classes normally). And now, so many kids eat breakfast at school. They can socialize in the hallway and have a full belly. It is wonderful!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 19:37:23 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2015 23:09:06 GMT
My grand kids do breakfast at school (they also have breakfast at home but they have a long bus ride so are ready to eat again) They get a small container of milk, a small container of fruit pieces (apple slices, orange segments or something similar) and a small bagel/English muffin type of thing with cream cheese or a "butter" Everything is finger types of food.
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johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,682
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Aug 13, 2015 23:11:57 GMT
Our is a breakfast bar it's setup in the hallway, the kids get X amount of "points", grab what they want equally those points and eat in the classroom. They have fresh fruit, dry cereals, milk (maybe juice too, not sure) plus something hot like a breakfast sandwich. It varies some, ds was in preschool last year so he didn't go through the breakfast line, they brought it to their class each day, but not the variety. Usually fruit, milk and a "main course". If the kids ate at home or don't want breakfast they just don't get anything, I don't think anything is "forced". I'm assuming the teachers require that they all be finished eating by a certain time as to not drag out the distraction.
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Post by myshelly on Aug 13, 2015 23:29:20 GMT
All the schools in our district have been doing it for about 10 years. Each morning a soft sided cooler is placed outside each classroom. Inside is a plastic bag for each student. Inside the plastic bag is a drink (a milk carton, juice carton, or juice box) and the bfast item. Some examples of bfast items include sausage wrapped in a pancake on a stick, sunbutter sandwiched (no PB here), donuts, muffins, bfast bars, banana bread, an apple, an orange, a banana. Teachers pass out the bags and kids eat at their desk during attendance and announcements.
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Post by mandasue on Aug 13, 2015 23:38:00 GMT
We can buy breakfast in the cafe just like lunch. DH's aunt works for a local board of Education (and not in what I would consider a poverty area - it's a rural mountain town) they offer free breakfast (maybe lunch) and get this dinner/supper. To get the free meal at supper time you have to be signed up in an after school program but they include sports.
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Post by traceys on Aug 13, 2015 23:38:58 GMT
We had breakfast. It was different each day, but there was usually something cooked (scrambled eggs/bacon) or cereal. We had biscuits and gravy one day a week, but the wheat biscuits kinda took the excitement out if it.....LOL
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perumbula
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,439
Location: Idaho
Jun 26, 2014 18:51:17 GMT
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Post by perumbula on Aug 13, 2015 23:46:55 GMT
Ours does a milk and/or juice along with one piece of fruit and a breakfast item, like cereal, breakfast burrito, pizza (on Fridays, it's YDD's favorite day for breakfast.) It's usually simple and doesn't take utensils to eat it. bagels and cream cheese are also common. At the high school they have a 15 minute break after second hour they call "nutrition break" when the kids who didn't get to school in time to grab breakfast can do so. If they got breakfast before school, they would have to pay for a second meal at nutrition break. When breakfast was instituted at our schools, the district moved bus times up by about 15 minutes for each route. It got most kids to the school in time for breakfast. My kids' normal bus to the middle school does not, so we drop them off. We offer them breakfast at home, but cold cereal and oatmeal aren't exciting and varied enough for them with the school out doing us every day.
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Post by gorgeouskid on Aug 13, 2015 23:52:03 GMT
My district did this last year- Breakfast in the Classroom. Free food for everyone (Title I) during instructional hours. Minimum of 30 minutes of instructional time given to breakfast. Everyone can eat, though not everyone does.
My thoughts- no child should go hungry. This is an absolute. However, the entire district was already providing breakfast before school. The argument for BiC was that not everyone could get to school for the before the school breakfast time (20 minutes earlier than class time.) BUT, if your child is truly hungry and you can't provide food for him, then you make sure your child is there on time.
I truly felt felt that this was a make-work program, designed to funnel even more taxpayer money into a program that was already providing services at a level that was designed to prevent hungry children.
And it had the distinction of taking away valuable instructional time- from 20 minutes in upper grades to 45 minutes in lower. Also, eating in the classroom where cleaning facilities are lacking is just unhygienic. (Custodians DO NOT come and clean in the classrooms, outside of trash removal, and even that was minimal.)
This year, this extra breakfast will be happening before school and continue at recess for students who are in need of food at 10:00, or so.
ETA- the food is crap. Sugar cereal (Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruity Cheerios), slimy burritos, breakfast biscuits, raisins (those are a fraking MESS on the floors), pan dulce buns, Sugary yogurt, milk, juice, fruit. It's a lot of food for a little kid, and not quality I would serve my child in those quantities.
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Post by monklady123 on Aug 13, 2015 23:52:38 GMT
Our schools have always offered breakfast, as least as long as I've been involved in this school system (about 18 years since ds started kindergarten), but it's only for the kids on free/reduced lunch. They get milk/juice, cereal, bagels, muffins, fruit, breakfast sandwich, cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs (not all of that, of course, but they take from what's offered that day). It's a good program and a big help for some families.
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Post by bc2ca on Aug 13, 2015 23:55:29 GMT
Our district has breakfast for any student interested. Some qualify for Free & Reduced meals and others pay. The selection includes a rotating breakfast sandwich (egg & ham, sausage & cheese, etc.), bagels or breakfast burritos. Yogurt and cereal are offered daily along with fruit milk and juice.
Students go to the cafeteria and eat there. IIRC you are allowed on campus 15 minutes earlier if you are eating breakfast.
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Post by Leone on Aug 13, 2015 23:56:41 GMT
This isn't unique at all. It's all based on federal funds on how many free and reduced lunches the school has. Soon they will start free meals on weekends if the percentage of free lunches is high enough in your school. Also, free meals all summer.
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CeeScraps
Pearl Clutcher
~~occupied entertaining my brain~~
Posts: 3,829
Jun 26, 2014 12:56:40 GMT
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Post by CeeScraps on Aug 14, 2015 0:32:08 GMT
I didn't say it was unique...this is a spin off of someone's post where they used "unique" in the title.
That's interesting how the different schools do it. Our middle school is going with the grab/go concept. Last I heard our kids (grades 1-3-about 2,200 kids) are going into the cafeteria. There they are suppose to eat and go to class. From what we've been told not all will take it.
My guess is after the kids see what is being offered less and less will stop in to get anything.
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Post by utmr on Aug 14, 2015 0:41:24 GMT
Our district does it and it's free for everyone, regardless of free lunch status. Fruit, milk and juice everyday along with cereal, cinnamon toast, cereal bars, etc.
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Post by littlefish on Aug 14, 2015 1:17:23 GMT
My school qualifies for free breakfast for all because more than 80% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Under the federal mandates I'm required to offer it to everyone. I must use specific markings and use black ink on all documents. It's a whole process. Audits are done.
Students are served in the classroom.
4 days a week students get a pack containing either Honey Nut Cheerios or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, some kind of cracker (animal or honey graham), juice, and then I give them milk. Occasionally they have raisins that are coated with some kind of flavoring to make them sour (they're disgusting, I think), or unsweetened applesauce that most of them won't touch because it isn't sweet. Fridays they sometimes get something different, like a whole wheat "doughnut" or pancakes pre-soaked in syrup, or muffins.
We did a little math in class, and if a student ate one full breakfast (the cereal with milk, crackers, juice, and raisins), they would consume 69 grams of sugar.
SIXTY-NINE.
A serving of Mountain Dew has 31.
However, under USDA guidelines, the only restrictions/requirements have to do with the amounts of whole grains and calories. "Fruit" (in parentheses because they are including dried fruit, not fresh produce as being acceptable) is a relatively new guideline.
So imagine serving up 69 grams of sugar to 8-9 year olds then asking them to focus on reading and math for the next 3 hours.
My administration brought this up to the county-level cafeteria manager, who basically said that "something is better than nothing" and that the sugar in Mountain Dew is not the same as the "natural" sugars in the cereal (and juice, and crackers, and milk, and raisins...).
I cringe every morning sitting there with my black pen and my checklist.
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Post by melanell on Aug 14, 2015 1:48:15 GMT
I know that our elementary schools & middle do have some sort of breakfast available, but I don't know much about it. My son has never had any interest and it's never come up in conversation with anyone else I know with kids in the district. I do recall that when DS #1 was in elem. school there was an actual breakfast menu that changed from day to day on the back of the paper with the lunch menus. So it wasn't just a bar & drink, but I don't recall any specifics.
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Post by christine58 on Aug 14, 2015 1:51:49 GMT
Our kids are offered many choices for breakfast
bagels cereal Milk juice Those are daily
then some days there's eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes. In the winter there is hot oatmeal
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Post by RiverIsis on Aug 14, 2015 2:03:49 GMT
My school qualifies for free breakfast for all because more than 80% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Under the federal mandates I'm required to offer it to everyone. I must use specific markings and use black ink on all documents. It's a whole process. Audits are done. Students are served in the classroom. 4 days a week students get a pack containing either Honey Nut Cheerios or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, some kind of cracker (animal or honey graham), juice, and then I give them milk. Occasionally they have raisins that are coated with some kind of flavoring to make them sour (they're disgusting, I think), or unsweetened applesauce that most of them won't touch because it isn't sweet. Fridays they sometimes get something different, like a whole wheat "doughnut" or pancakes pre-soaked in syrup, or muffins. We did a little math in class, and if a student ate one full breakfast (the cereal with milk, crackers, juice, and raisins), they would consume 69 grams of sugar. SIXTY-NINE. A serving of Mountain Dew has 31. However, under USDA guidelines, the only restrictions/requirements have to do with the amounts of whole grains and calories. "Fruit" (in parentheses because they are including dried fruit, not fresh produce as being acceptable) is a relatively new guideline. So imagine serving up 69 grams of sugar to 8-9 year olds then asking them to focus on reading and math for the next 3 hours. My administration brought this up to the county-level cafeteria manager, who basically said that "something is better than nothing" and that the sugar in Mountain Dew is not the same as the "natural" sugars in the cereal (and juice, and crackers, and milk, and raisins...). I cringe every morning sitting there with my black pen and my checklist. I wish I could like this more! When my kids went to try their school breakfasts back in the day they were basically sugary and some variation of cheap poptarts from what they told me.
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Post by Linda on Aug 14, 2015 2:34:41 GMT
I just looked at the menu for August for our elementary school.
choose 1 or 2 from assorted fruits and assorted juices AND choose 1 from 3 choices (cereal OR cereal bar/muffin OR random breakfast item that changes daily - mini waffles, breakfast pizza, egg/cheese biscuit...)
seems reasonable to me - we'll be giving it a try this year with my 8 y/o (3rd grade) and see what she thinks
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Post by lucyg on Aug 14, 2015 5:24:23 GMT
Our school serves breakfast before school every morning ... free to the kids who get free lunch, paid for by the rest. Strictly optional, and we never bought breakfast at all last year in kindergarten. It's just not on my radar most of the time. I think our school meals are okay, not fantastic but not as bad as they could be. Breakfasts are something like cereal, pancakes, breakfast sandwich or burrito, etc., plus fruit, yogurt, milk, maybe muffins or toast to choose from. I don't know about breakfast, but I know at lunch the children must take a piece of fruit or a serving of vegetables. (No one polices whether they actually eat it or not.) The 6yo likes buying lunch when I let him, and I bet he'll go nuts once he figures out there's breakfast, too. I just tried to pull up the menu but they're redoing all the school web sites over the summer and they aren't done yet. I couldn't find lunch or breakfast menus anywhere. We don't start back till the end of August.
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anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,394
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
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Post by anniebygaslight on Aug 14, 2015 6:46:30 GMT
The school that my kids went to started this a few years ago. Just cereal, toast, milk and orange juice.
You would be astounded at the number of kids who don't get breakfast at home, and they are not necessarily from the apparently less well off homes.
The academic and behavioural improvement was noticeable and justified the expense. It was free to all, but donations were welcome.
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Post by M on Aug 14, 2015 10:54:54 GMT
Our district has had free breakfast for at least the last 10 years. This year, all of the schools but 7 in our district have been approved for free lunch, too. I am not sure how they did it, but they did something with averaging and all but 7 were approved.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 19:37:23 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 11:26:02 GMT
our school serves breakfast, but it's not free, costs $1. They get a choice of cereal or a hot meal such as waffles or pancakes. There is also a fruit, drink and muffins to choose from.
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Post by Merge on Aug 14, 2015 11:41:28 GMT
Ours does this too, and we also have "breakfast in the classroom" that eats up about 30 minutes of instructional time. My beef is that we can waste time and money feeding all the kids, when many of them already ate or could have eaten at home, but we can't give them more than 20 minutes of recess and when they're falling behind the state's arbitrary standard, we cut music and art to provide remediation.
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Post by Dixie Lou on Aug 14, 2015 12:15:13 GMT
We've always had breakfast but beginning last year it's been free for everyone. Breakfast is 7:15-7:45 and the tardy bell rings at 7:55. Cafeteria doors close at 7:45 so if you want breakfast you have to be in the doors by then. You aren't counted tardy if you miss the tardy bell because of breakfast. There's absolutely no talking so all you have to do is to eat and not dilly dally around. There is always cereal, milk, toast and cinnamon toast but the hot items rotate through every 21 days. The only items I can think of are sausage and a biscuit, pancake and bacon, breakfast pizza but there are 21 different options.
Last year if you ate breakfast at school you got your name put in for the chance to win a bike. They really wanted kids to come!
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Post by anxiousmom on Aug 14, 2015 12:23:00 GMT
I just asked the boy about breakfast at his school. (I never even thought about it so had no clue until this thread prompted me to ask) He said yes there is breakfast.
That was pretty much all I got from him. I am going to assume that it means that there is breakfast available -just as lunch is- Free/reduced or full pay. My kids eat breakfast at home, so it hasn't ever really come up.
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Post by coaliesquirrel on Aug 14, 2015 12:37:38 GMT
DD attends a Title I school and all students are provided with free breakfast. They pick up a bag as they walk into the classroom, starting at 8:15. Instructional time starts at 8:35. The menu varies (we can get it online the same place as lunch menus) but is a set single menu each day (no choices other than eat/don't eat). Main items they've had include sandwiches, pancake-wrapped sausages, cinnamon rolls, burritos, and cereal. These are always served with fruit and a drink (varies between juice & milk, but again, no choice). I don't know if this is universal or not, but in DD's class last year, unopened breakfast items were saved and offered in the afternoon to kids who hadn't brought a snack (they were allowed at a certain time, but it wasn't dedicated "snack time" and not all kids wanted/needed/brought snacks). Or, if one of the kids wanted something but just couldn't eat it at breakfast, they were allowed to put it in their backpack to take home.
DD often eats breakfast at home before leaving for school because she's usually up by 5:30 and can't wait until 8:15 to eat, but if she wants the school breakfast, then we balance it out at home with whichever drink isn't being served, maybe some protein if it's cinnamon roll day, etc. We frankly don't *need* the free breakfast, but I know many of the kids in her school do, and I'd rather it be free and available to all than individual kids who do need it being singled out.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 14, 2015 13:57:28 GMT
The school that my kids went to started this a few years ago. Just cereal, toast, milk and orange juice. You would be astounded at the number of kids who don't get breakfast at home, and they are not necessarily from the apparently less well off homes.
The academic and behavioural improvement was noticeable and justified the expense. It was free to all, but donations were welcome. I could see where this could apply to my family. We have plenty of food here for the kid to eat, but she is a night owl. She doesn't like going to bed at night when we tell her to and she REALLY doesn't like getting up in the morning. When we finally do manage to pry her out of bed, she moves so slowly to get ready that I can easily see where she could run out of time to eat before having to head out the door to catch the school bus. As much as I would like her to eat at home (so I know she ate something, and know what she ate), I'm pretty sure that she will end up having to eat something at school about half the time so I'm glad she will have that option. Otherwise all she would probably eat in the morning would be a granola bar or a Rice Krispy bar and water from her water bottle on the walk to the bus stop.
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Post by OntarioScrapper on Aug 14, 2015 14:08:13 GMT
My daughter's K-8 school is in our small town. We have a local church next door that runs the breakfast program with volunteers. They get food donated by local stores. There's a sign up at the start of every school year. Anyone is welcomed and they have to walk to the school when they are done (it's not far). The leftover stuff is brought over to the school and put on a table outside of the main office for kids that need lunches.
My son's highschool 9-12 has food donated also. Anyone is allowed to stop by the area with the food between 10-11 to grab something.
Our local stores are great because they are small locally owned businesses and the food is made daily without all that fast food nastiness to it.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Aug 14, 2015 14:38:59 GMT
DD would love a grab-and-go breakfast, and a piece of fruit would be perfect for her. She is like me - she isn't ready to eat when she first wakes up. She has 15-30 minutes after arriving at school on the bus before her first class. However, her school doesn't offer breakfast of any kind. Other schools in the district do, so I assume it is based on the number of students on free lunch.
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