School Nutrition Bulletin 2021-36

This week we honor the many School Nutrition Professionals and their heroic efforts to provide school meals during this challenging year. Thank you for your dedication to giving kids a healthy start each day with school breakfast.

USDA Team Nutrition has free lessons, activities, posters, and more to help you teach kids about the benefits of a healthy breakfast. Visit our School Breakfast Materials webpage for resources.

 

Under challenging circumstances during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, school communities have worked tirelessly to ensure children have access to meals. Below are some of their inspirational stories. Share your school/school district story with us @TeamNutrition.

 

A new feature is available on the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs (FBG) Mobile App. The Mobile App now allows users to customize the Serving Size per Meal Contribution for fruits and vegetables using a drop-down menu to auto-calculate the amount to purchase based on the selected serving size. This feature was recently released on the FBG Interactive Web-based Tool.

Download the FREE Food Buying Guide Mobile App on the Apple Store or Google Play today!

 

Schools operating the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) or Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and providing meals to a child care center or in-home daycare, please review the updated School Meals During COVID Q&A, questions 120-124. The guidance has been updated to include details about the infant and preschool meal pattern, notifying parents of enrolled children receiving SSO/SFSP meals, and when childcare centers must be added as a site to the school’s SSO or SFSP Application.

 

The Spring Small Victories Training will be available virtually starting March 24, 2021. This training caters to the unique situations faced by smaller school communities. Included in this training will be information about the Farm to School program and some basics on serving line essentials. In addition, some best practices for serving during the COVID-19 pandemic will be discussed. On April 28, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. there will be a one-hour live session for food service professionals. More information on this live session will be available in a few weeks.

 

We’ve made it to March and Spring is on its way! One of the foundations of the Afterschool Snack Program is providing an educational or enrichment activity open to all students. Here are some educational and enrichment activities you can share directly with students to go along with their snack. This week it’s all about poetry.

 

You can share the links with families or print out the list and slide it into a snack sack, or play the videos during snack time, as you wish. We hope this is helpful to those of you providing afterschool snack.

• Listen to Chante Rue read A Child’s Calendar by John Updike.
• Jeff Harden reads Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher & Kate Keisler
• Tarneshia Evans at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden reads Over in the Garden by Jennifer Ward with activities for Pre-K
• Pamela Orgill reads poems from Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems by Francisco X. Alarcon, illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez.
• Meet the Veggies food poems by New Horizons Academy and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• Kids Poetry Club podcast, episode 50-The Farm Stand

It’s National School Breakfast Week! Did you know that eating school breakfast is linked with better attendance, higher grades and test scores, and improved concentration and memory? Let school provide your child with a nutritious and delicious school breakfast!

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended free meals to kids for the rest of the 2020–2021 school year. Some parents may be hesitant for their child to receive free school meals because they think they would be taking the meal from a child who needs it more. That is simply not the case. Regardless of their household income, all children 18 and under can access free and nutritious school breakfast and lunch each day through the end of June 2021. More healthy meals served means more funding for their school district’s nutrition program. Parents should also know that students who participate in the school meal programs consume more whole grains, milk, fruits, and vegetables when eating school meals and have better overall diet quality than students who don’t participate.

 

Whether children are learning from home or in-person, schools are using a variety of methods to safely distribute meals to students, including meal kits, drive-through pickups, bus route deliveries, and meals in the classroom. Parents can check with their school district’s website for information on how to safely access school meals.

 

You can spread the word using our partner toolkit and visit our website and web feature for more information about school nutrition and the benefits of school meal programs

A positive social and emotional climate (SEC) in schools is more important than ever, as our students face added stress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research clearly shows the benefits to both SEC and social and emotional learning (SEL)—and ultimately, the well-being and academic success of our students. Did you know that school nutrition policies and practices can improve the overall SEC and reinforce SEL core competencies?

 

School leaders can improve the overall school environment by strengthening the connection between school nutrition, SEC, and SEL. Our new research brief on this topic includes a description of the SEL core competencies and provides examples of school nutrition policies and practices that reflect each competency. This information makes it easy for school leaders to focus on policies specific to their needs and setting. Learn more here!

 

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This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

 

This is a communication from the WI Department of Public Instruction, School Nutrition Team.

You can contact the School Nutrition Team at dpifns@dpi.wi.gov. To subscribe to schoolmealsnews, please send an email to dpifns@dpi.wi.gov. dpi.wi.gov/school-nutrition #WISchoolMealsRock