School finds breakfast in the classroom promotes activity

Lockwood Schools are encouraging all 1,200 students to start their days by eating at their desks.

Breakfast in the Classroom started last year as a pilot project for grades 3-5. The result was an increase in students eating breakfast at school. Building on that success, Lockwood expanded the program to grades K-8 this year. In the first two weeks of the new school year, about 400 students have been eating breakfast.

“That’s 120 kids who are getting fed more than last year,” said Kandi Phillips, who manages Lockwood food service for Sodexo.

Now the cafeteria is empty at breakfast time. Children can stay on the playground till the bell rings and still eat a nutritious breakfast.

“The kids don’t have to pick between playing and eating, they can just play,” said Don Christman, Lockwood special services director. Providing breakfast in the classroom may encourage more physical activity.

Classroom deliveries

A wall of the cafeteria is lined with 42 blue and white, 60-quart rolling coolers, each marked with a teacher’s name and a roster of students whose parents have requested breakfast for their kids. Sodexo staff members wheel coolers to every K-2 classroom. Student volunteers from higher grades fetch the coolers, which were purchased with a grant from a privately funded breakfast program initiated by Gov. Steve Bullock. Middle school students choose breakfast items at stations outside their classrooms.

The breakfast cooler is part of the morning routine in Joel Rogers’ third-grade classroom. One morning last week, as students walked into the room, Rogers reminded them to grab their breakfasts, and most headed for the cooler before they sat down. Then they got out books, pencils and paper and started reading or otherwise organizing their desks while munching on cereal bars and string cheese or sipping milk or apple juice.

On that morning, breakfast was a cup of apple juice, string cheese and a package of Scooby Doo grahams. Sodexo employees pack the individually packaged food items in plastic zip bags. Students may also have a carton of milk.

Well-nourished children are more attentive in class, perform better academically and have fewer doctor visits, according to USDA, the major funder of school meal programs. Breakfast in Lockwood costs $1.25 at regular student price or 30 cents at the reduced rate. Last year, 53 percent of Lockwood student qualified for free or reduce-price lunches.

Christman said parents are also welcome to send food from home for their students’ breakfasts.