Expanding Breakfast: More Options for Students « Back

Many schools capture breakfast skippers by Expanding Breakfast service beyond the cafeteria's walls. The reason – schools find that when they take breakfast to students, instead of expecting the student to come to the cafeteria, more students eat breakfast and gain the academic, behavioral and nutritional benefits. When all students in a classroom eat breakfast, everyone from teachers to students to parents wins. Typically, schools use one of three approaches, depending on their unique setting:

• Breakfast in the Classroom – Students eat breakfast in their classroom, either at the beginning of or early in the school day. They eat while listening to the announcements or while the teachers read aloud or conduct other classroom duties. A breakfast of easy-to-eat items, such as breakfast sandwiches and burritos, low-fat muffins, French toast sticks, cereals, plus milk and fruit or juice, are brought from the cafeteria to the classroom, often by students. Breakfast participation greatly increases with this expanded service.
• Grab 'n' Go Breakfast – A nutritious breakfast is packaged so students can quickly grab it from the cafeteria or carts elsewhere in the school. They eat it in the cafeteria, the classroom or on the school grounds.
• Breakfast After 1st Period – Usually served in middle and high schools, students are allowed to get breakfast after their first period. A mid morning breakfast gives students a nutritious choice and encourages students to make breakfast part of their daily routine.
• Universal Breakfast – Universal breakfast refers to any school program that offers breakfast at no charge to all students, regardless of income. How can schools do this? Offered in districts/ schools that have a higher percentage of free and reduced priced students. The high meal participation rates associated with universal breakfast create such economies of scale that schools are able to provide all meals on the reimbursable dollars they receive from the government for those students that qualify for free and reduced price meals.

The School Nutrition Foundation with support from the Walmart Foundation and the Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom has launched its new Breakfast in the Classroom Resource Center.  Read all about it at www.beyondbreakfast.org and visit the resource center at www.schoolnutrition.org/bic