To Snack or Not to Snack
Posted by Kim Murphy on 30 Mar 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Management, Classroom Routines, Teachers and Teaching
I am a constant grazer. In fact, as I write this blog post, I’m nibbling on pretzels and trying to keep the salt from falling between the keys on my keyboard. (Should the keyboard get too gritty, I’ll move on to my cottage cheese or the dried fruit.) Snacktime for me is slightly messy, but basically pretty simple.
In direct contrast, snacktime with a classroom of youngsters is fraught with complications. Food allergies and healthful food requirements can cause oodles of stress! Is snacktime allowed in your school? Do you provide a snack, or do youngsters bring their own? Do you do any cooking activities with your students? Sit back and type me a reply telling me all about your snacktime or lack thereof. Hey, while you’re at it, why don’t you have a little snack!
Your hungry blog cohost,
Kim Murphy
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As a nutrition educator with University Extension programs I teach Pre-K through 6th grades in several schools. I talk about smart snacking as a part of a healthy diet and as a way to add some of the nutrients we all need without adding lots of the “extras” like added sugar/ fat/ high calorie foods. Most kids are really eager to try different healthier foods once they find out that they can be fun and taste good too. Snacks can be as simple making up snack size ziplocs of dried fruits and a variety of low sugar cereals and pretzels as a trail mix to munch on, or they can be something that kids may be familiar with presented differently. A favorite with older kids has been veggie pizza (Dip whole wheat crackers flat on a tsp. of low fat Ranch dressing, then lay the dipped cracker on a tsp. of finely chopped cauliflower,broccoli & carrots. The veggies stick, it is fun and visually appealing.)There are lots of great simple ideas for snacking available through University Extension offices and USDA Team Nutrition web sites. Nutrition education is offered in many states through their Extension services so it could be a resource that is available in some of your areas. In my state we have curricula that meets specific GLE’s for grades K-8th that includes some great food experiences through tasting. I hope some of you will check with your state university to see what is available in your area.
I, like you, EAT CONSTANTLY! Hey, we’re busy people and need a steady supply, right?
My group of second graders and I eat at 10:40 in our preK-12 central school, so we’re hungry in the afternoon! We publish a snack calendar each month with each student’s name on their designated snack day. (I just posted to another blog that perhaps a few school supplies each month (tissues, paper towels, pencils, etc.) could be scattered on the snack calendar for the student to bring in as well.) When I make classroom decisions regarding my kids, I try to imagine myself in a learning situation at some conference somewhere. How would I like to be treated in order to keep my body and mind energy going? Answers: some activity, some companion time, some alone time, freedom to go to the bathroom when I need to and, well, food, of course!
Over the years we’ve had a few allergies ranging from lactose intolerance to nuts. Two years ago I had a little girl who has diabetes. In all cases those students had a little stash of snacks they could have if the snack that day was inappropriate for them (my diabetic had her own snacks PERIOD.)
We try to keep our snacks healthy. I rotate the students around their birthdays, so many birthday snacks are a little less healthy. I’ve had pretty good luck with kids remembering to bring in a snack. I try to keep a back up supply of microwavable popcorn for emergencies!
I teach a multiply disabled and very medically fragile class of 12 - 21 year olds. (functioning around a 3 month level). Five of my nine students are fed through a GI tube and are NPO (nothing by mouth). The other four require to have their food processed to a pudding consistency or are on a mechanical soft diet. Just like the rest of you, my classroom staff really enjoy an occasional snack - or better yet need it. If a student requests a snack independently through eye gaze, signing or using a voice output device, we drop what we are doing and they get a snack. In my 22 years of teaching, I have found cooking to be a wonderful activity regardless of the level student I have taught. For the students who were a little more independent, I have taught skills such as using a toaster, spreading, making healthy choices (and amounts)…you get the idea. The reward at the end is they get to eat their masterpieces. For the class I currently teach, I find that cooking is a wonderful activity that involves all of their senses. Even the students that are NPO can “taste” lemon juice, a touch of chocolate on their tongues… For the students that can eat by mouth, they get to eat their creations (sometimes a snack or sometimes a meal). We also bake or cook for special guests visiting our school. We use switches to operate kitchen appliance and voice output devices to request a turn or make a choice. Our upcoming project is to bake for 140 people attending our PPA Spring Dinner Dance. The class is usually a mess at the as well as the students and staff. We all have a blast and what better way to wake up the students and stimulate all of their senses.
I teach full day kindergarten. We have a “group snack” at 10:30. Each family is asked to send in 2 boxes of (relatively) healthy snacks per month. Haven’t had any food allergies to deal with, but some families never send in anything. I sometimes supplement what the families send in because I worry we won’t have enough. This year’s class also is hungry in the afternoon (lunch is at 12:00 and dismissal is 3:50), so I usually have a snack center during their afternoon choice time. In first grade and up, students bring their own individual snack. This is a little easier because they have what they like, but I had a few last year who never had anything (I loop for two years, K-1). I don’t think there is an ideal solution, but I do think that all elementary kids need a snack mid morning. My own daughters were allowed to bring a piece of fruit, cheese & crackers, etc. through 6th grade.
Without a small snack, many children will experience a drop in blood sugar that will make learning even more challenging. Not to mention those that don’t eat breakfast…a whole other problem.
My school provide snack and lunch for all students and teachers. However, we can never satisfy everybody tastebuds or allergic problems. We normally send home snack and lunch monthly calendar, in case a student can’t eat the snack or lunch then they must bring their own from home.
I love to give reward to students for enjoying their snack in the classroom if they were all achieve good mark in their test. Sometimes, I even bring my home made snack for the class for the reward, yet they are responsible for the mess.
I teach 2nd grade and the students provide an afternoon snack as we have lunch at 10:45!! I send home a monthly snack calendar with assigned dates and gave suggestions at the beginning of the year for healthy snacks. I have a dairy allergy this year, and peanut butter allergies in the past. Parents have been very good about sending in something everyone can eat.
I also have Snazzy Snack once a month. It is a fun snack that the students made themselves. We write out the recipe and then put it together. By the end of the year they have 10 receipes to put in a receipe book!
I teach the PreK class at the Preschool that I co-own. Every day we serve snacks. While we try to keep it healthy (lots of snack mixes & fruits & veggies) on birthdays anything goes. I do lots of cooking with my class by breaking the recipes down so they can measure and make their own individual product. I also do a Friendship fruit salad & a Friendship mix with them. Each child brings a piece of fruit from home. At school they cut it up (plastic knives only) and add it to our salad. I’ve also made blender applesauce in the Fall where they cut up all of the apples and I put them in a blender with a bit of apple juice, honey and cinnamon. For Friendship mix they bring a dry ingredient which we add to a bowl and mix it up for all to share. I find kids are more apt to try things when they have helped with the preparation.
I teach a reverse inclusion preschool class. I work at making snack time educational, fun, relaxing and as healthy as possible. I serve only 100% juice. My snacks include things like crackers, cereal, and pretzel sticks. Crackers can be used to review shapes. Cereal can be used to make food/color graphs if you use something like Fruit Loops. Pretzel sticks can be used to make squares and rectangles. All items can be counted and sorted. I also have a balance at my snack table and we predict and then find out which food item will be heavier and how many of the lighter one will balance with the heavier one.
Since I often have non-verbal kids or ones who are limited verbally, we work on language skills: requesting, describing, manners, complete sentences…
I teach the fourth grade. I allow my class to have a light healthy snack while they are doing seat work for math time. All classes at our school have the children keep water bottles at their desks.
I teach full day kindergarten. We have snack twice a day, 9 am and 2 pm, as well as lunch at 12:00. The students bring their own snacks from home on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Our school has a grant that allows us to get fresh fruits and vegetables for Tuesdays and Thursdays. The students can also purchase milk from the school. We strongly encourage healthy snacks, but of course there are those who send in junk food. We try to educate the children as well as the parents about what makes a food healthy.
We just recently got a mobile cooking lab in our school (but have no funds for food, so that has to come out of my own pocket). We are doing our first cooking experience later this week. It should be fun!
Happy Easter and Passover,
I love to snack and try to do it healthy, but I also love chocolate which grows abundantly at my school. I teach First Grade and we sometimes have snacks after Reading group, esp. if I need one. I usually bring it in, like “Butter-snap pretzels,” snack-size carrots, or even some cookies. I have one little one with allergies, but either her Mom or I keep Rice crispy treats or plain-creme filled cookies on hand for her. She has almost outgrown her food allergies. On occasion, my daughter will come in and help create a fruity/cream snack, which the children make for themselves. It is hard to cook with all the test prep., and curriculum to teach, actually there really isn’t enough time for all that either. In our new school the Kindergarten rooms have beautiful big ovens, but rumor has it they may take them out. Just another great big waste of tax payers dollars - go figure. But I do love teaching and the Mail-box. Thanks for all the support through out the years.
Peace,
jrj
I teach 3rd grade and we do have a morning snack time. While they are eating the snacks that they bring (I send home a Classroom Handbook at the beginning of the year which requests healthy snacks and most parents are very good about it) I also use this time to assign new jobs on Mondays and for Family News Time the rest of the week. Students like to be able to tell the rest of the class what is going on with their families or what they did the night before and it gives them relaxed practice with public speaking. I have had allergy issues in the past but nothing as drastic as some of the posts have indicated.
This year I teach 3rd and 4th grades. I’ve been lucky that I haven’t had children with food allergies. I tried snack time several years ago. We had it in the morning and students had to bring in a fruit, vegetable, or cheese/crackers. (I chose those things because those are the food groups most children don’t get enough of.) Although it was popular at the beginning of the year, it tapered off quickly and we discontinued it. I do cook with the students at least once a month. However, next year will be a challenge since I’ll have a student with severe milk allergies and one with peanut allergies. So I’ll have to come up with new recipes with the help of the moms, or discontinue cooking altogether.
I thought I was horrible for not allowing my 5th graders to have snacks, but from the comments I’ve read it seems like snacks in schools are all in the primary grades. At first, I did allow my students to bring in “healthy” snacks but soon it became pop-tarts, cake, pizza, etc. They were allowed to have snacks during DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read)and the rules were for 10 minutes they were to read silently and eat their snacks. This was really done not for them but for me….I needed time to get reading and centers ready to go, but soon this time became, bathroom break time, drink time, can I take a reading test on the computer, time to talk and have social hour with their snack so after repeated warnings I stopped snack time and DEAR time rearranged the schedule and at first it was really hard….poor kids had to go from 8:00 in the morning until 12:10 for lunch, but now…it is no big deal and they are used to it…but somedays I wish I could snack
I teach Developmental Preschool in a building that houses childcare, preschool, Head Start, and kindergarten. This year we have a few children with severe nut allergies, so severe that they are rushed to the ER when reaction happens. Therefore, our district made our building is nut free and no longer are snacks permitted. I can no longer cook with my preschool students. It has been frustrating, but we are keeping the health and safety of those children with the allergies in mind. Next year, our whole district will become a nut-free district.
I teach a full day Kindergarten. This year and in past years we have always had morning snack that the students provide each day. Next year I have a child that has air borne allergies. Our whole Kindergarten wing will be food free. Every child will be required to send in $5.00 a month and the mother of the allergy child is going to shop for all snacks. We will see how it works!
I teach second grade and our class gets an afternoon snack only. I have given them animal crackers, and other little treats periodically during morning lesson time. Some of them eat very little or nothing for breakfast, so they have complained of tummy/headaches. I like the idea given earlier about “nibbling” during class, and having the water bottle. We are right around the corner from the water fountain, so they can get some frequently. My students love chocolate!! So, Christmas time was filled with extra chocolate! I will finish this year with having something nutritious handy for them, and hopefully, I can start the year off that way in the fall.
I teach 1st graders. None of my students have any allergies this year, but I have one who can’t eat ham or pork due to her religion. On Dr. Suess’ birthday she could have gren eggs but no ham.
Our county provides free breakfasts to every student (served from 7:30-8:00 am), however my class has a very early lunch (10:57). Some aren’t that hungry yet, so a lot of food is unfortuantely wasted. By 1:30 many are starving!! So I offer parents to send in a personal snack for their child, but many of my families are on free or reduced lunch so they can’t afford or don’t send in snack for their children. I assign each student to send in a healthy snack for the class once a month. I also purchase extra (or have a pot luck day)for days when parents forget. The snacks range from pretzels, to carots w/ ranch dip, grapes or occasional cookies. We eat during our D.E.A.R. time. (Drop everything and read)
I teach a full day Kindergarten in a K-12 school. The students bring in their own snack and drink daily. We have mid-morning snack-time which provides a wonderful venue for the children to socialize in addition to lunch-time. We are a tree nut and peanut free school. Because of additional food allergies in my classroom(eggs) cooking is somewhat discouraged. I have been very careful though and have created recipes using egg-replacer and products not manufactured in a factory where peanut products are made. We are now discussing possibly eliminating birthday treats being sent in because of the risk of cross-contamination. We encourage parents to send in ice-pops or fresh fruit.
We have a preschool and childcare, and our parents rotate bringing in snacks for weekly periods. We have a morning and afternoon snack. When it’s their week, we send home a decorated bag and the children bring it back the following week filled with recommended choices. Some parents improvise which can be great like bananas and nilla wafers, and some not so great like chips and cookies =( . But, we take it all in stride, and for the most part it has worked well. Our allergies are eggs and milk, so those children provide their own snack.
I teach 1st and 2nd grade. I keep a supply of restaurant style crackers that the students can nibble on throughout the day. At recess they can have peanut butter on their crackers. This has helped alleviate tummy aches and headaches especially for those students that don’t get breakfast. I luckily don’t have any students with food allergies. They also keep a bottle of water at their desks.
I teach 4 yr old preschool and have had kids take turns bringing healthy snacks. I also did cooking activities, but they were not always food related. We have made several concoctions such as scented playdough, built a gingerbread house, used cake decorating bottles, etc. I was struggling with what to do next year and really like the idea of each child bringing own healthy snack daily but having backup if neccessary. My schedule changes for next year from 2 full days a week to 4 half days (YES!) so I’ll do a cooking excersise once a week I think.
I teach first grade and we have morning snack daily. Each child brings their own “healthy”
snack. They are not allowed to eat cookies,
candy, chips or have drinks. Sometimes we also eat our snack outside during recess.
We have a daily morning snack but it has become much more complicated due to food allergies and restrictions. Gluten free, tree nut and egg allergies are the most common. Two years ago I had my first child with diabetes so scheduling was a key factor along with the limitations. We try to provide healthy snacks but often they are more of a drain on the budget. This year is the first year parents have sent in some snacks, unsolicited.
We do Fun w/Food at least once a month. Again, some of those have had to change from years past due to allergies.
The children need a snack during the morning session but it is becoming more challenging.
I teach three and four-year-old preschool and we do have snack time. We have the kids bring their own snacks to avoid any problems with allergies and the kids not liking what’s put in front of them. It’s much easier that way. We do keep some nutritious snacks on hand in case someone forgets their snack, but that’s pretty rare. (Although sometimes kids would rather eat what we have on hand than what they brought!) We don’t do any cooking since we do not have the facilities for it in our building.
We do a family style snack. Some kids are out on the yard by the time everyone has finished washing hands. Some kids are at the table for 20 min. They love those little tangerines called cutties we let them peal them themselves.
This year we have allergies eggs, milk, nuts, berries, melon sugar. They don’t like to try new things but sometimes when they do they like it. WE bake our birthday muffins here because of the allergies, we use egg replacer and it works great. Eating together is a great time to talk in fact if they have lots to say at circle time I let them know they can share at snack time. eating and talking what could be better?
I do inhome daycare, so we have morning and afternoon snacks. I only serve healthy and nutritious snacks. The daycare kids and I do cooking activities monthly, sometimes weekly. They love to cook, and are proud when they take home samples to share with their families of what we made.