It's been forever since I have written a blog post! School and life has taken over and barely leaves me time for anything else. There are tons of new things happening in my life and I plan to share them all (most anyway). I recently joined a Word of Mouth group called Green Moms Meet. Green Moms Meet is an online resource that empowers moms to come together in an informal setting and talk about the latest on raising healthy families and living green (taken from the Green Moms Meet site). I was selected to be a Mom Ambassador and Moms Meet Blogger. I'm extremely honored to be selected to be a part of this wonderful group and blog all about it.
My first blogging invite was National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day! Yep, you guessed it today is National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day. So, I went to eat lunch with my son and his class. Today, was a little different. I have eaten lunch in the school's cafeteria many times before due to my student teaching this semester. Today, my son's extra generous teacher treated those students who made the honor roll to an ice cream treat in their classroom. So I wasn't able to talk to the lunch staff. Mrs. Gowen informed those receiving the treat before leaving the classroom, that they were to pick up their lunch trays and line up to go back into the classroom. The remaining students sat at their assigned lunch table and ate lunch as usual. At first, I felt sorry for those students that didn't get to go. Knowing what was going on in the classroom while they sat in the lunch room. Then, I realized this act would actually make them work harder to make it onto the honor roll next 9 weeks. My son was one of the students that received the treat, my big boy made the A honor roll!!! Math 95, Reading 95, and ELA 97 I'm such a proud mommy :)
Unfortunately, I didn't have my memory card in my camera but I did get a few pictures. I will up load them once I get my camera cord. For lunch students had: Roasted chicken, Baked sweet potato fries, cabbage, pear, juice and milk. Most students seemed to enjoy their lunch. I noticed almost all of the students ate their chicken, a few ate their cabbage, and they all seemed to be taken away by the sweet potato fries. I couldn't get my son to eat lunch from the cafeteria today, he brought his lunch. I was able to ask him a couple of questions once he got home about the food in the lunchroom.
His favorite breakfast items are the Super donuts and sausages. His favorites use to be corn or frosted flakes and blueberry muffins. Super donuts and sausages are his favorite because he loves their taste. Kelin's favorite lunch items are grapes, oranges, salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, and pizza. These lunch items are his favorites because they all taste really good. Students are allowed to purchase extra items occasionally. I asked "How do you choose what you eat in the cafeteria as far as extras?" He replied that he purchase the items that tastes the best to him. Carrots are his favorite vegetable served at school. When asked what item he's served at school he would like for me to make, he replied "uncrustables because they look like a pie." He aslo would like the school to serve more mixed fruit, carrots, and celery because they are healthy snacks. Kelin said he doesn't always eat everything on his tray, but sometimes he cleans it! Sometimes he is full after lunch and sometimes he's still hungry. Items served that he doesn't like are the normandy blend or sloppy joe because he doesn't like the way it tastes.
Milk and fruit juice is served everyday. I was told the lunch staff always wants the students to get juice, when asked if he gets a juice everyday he said yes. Apple juice is his favorite juice and pineapple is the one he likes the least because it tastes nasty. Kelin drinks some of his milk everyday and sometimes drinks it all. The school serves three types of milk: regular, chocolate, and strawberry milk. Regular milk is his favorite while he doesn't really care for the strawberry milk because it's too sweet. He would like for the lunch staff to serve shrimp, crackers, brownies and more pizza. I asked if he felt like he had enough time to eat his lunch. Kelin thinks the students need more time to eat lunch. They only have enough time to eat a little bit of their food before staff calls for students wanting to purchase extras. After purchasing extras, students feel rushed to finish eating.
The opinions within this post are those of my son and myself. He is just one of the many students served at our local elementary school. Being that I didn't get to talk to an actual member of the kitchen staff I will state what differences I have seen so far. This year our Elementary school cafeteria has made lots of changes. I have noticed that they are serving fresh fruit now, opposed to fruit cocktail that was served at breakfast and lunch. The menu now consists of more items from the food groups. I feel like the new menu plan will introduce a lot of children to healthy eating and will encourage students to try foods they have never tried before. Overall, I enjoyed my lunch visit with my son and his class.
