Our food program is devoted to enhancing children’s health and wellness. We provide students with tasty, nutritious, sustainably sourced, and culturally diverse lunches. Because nutrition influences a child’s development, health status, and learning potential, we encourage healthy eating habits through meaningful interactions with food in the classrooms. We prioritize buying produce from neighboring farms, organic meats and dairy products, and whole-grain snacks.
Food & Nutrition
Lunch
We offer lunches and snacks that exceed the guidelines of the National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern. Our kitchen director, Andrea Deibler, writes the lunch menu every month. It includes protein, fruits, vegetables, and grains. Milk is also available as a drink option for all children.
We regularly monitor student acceptance of meals and incorporate foods they enjoy as much as possible. Lunch also allows students to eat and try foods they might not be exposed to regularly. We are committed to using high-quality, local, and organic ingredients whenever possible.
The children are provided with a pleasant eating environment that includes positive supervision, role-modeling, and adequate time and space to eat meals. Every student has an opportunity to practice grace and courtesy in preparing and cleaning up the lunch environment.
Snacks
Snacks are served twice a day (morning and afternoon). The snack consists of a variety of grains, fruits, vegetables, and proteins such as:
Grains: whole grain bread, granola, whole grain pretzels, whole grain tortillas, granola bars, oat cakes, corn chips, air-popped popcorn
Fruits / Vegetables: bananas, apples, pears, berries, pineapple, mango, grapes, carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower
Proteins: bean dips, cream cheese spreads, yogurt, cheese
Allergies
Each item on the menu calendar indicates if the meal is egg-free (EF), dairy-free (DF), gluten-free (GF), or vegetarian (V). All allergens reported to the school by a child’s family are on display both in their classroom and in the kitchen. If your child has an allergy and is in the Nido or Young Children’s Community program, we make a separate meal that does not include the foods your child is allergic to, and they are supervised during the meal by an adult in the classroom.
If your child is in Primary or Elementary, we ask that you sign up for meals they can eat according to the categories we provide on the menu calendar. If your child has an allergy not listed on the menu, we check the ingredients in the foods against our allergy sheet and eliminate that allergen from your child’s lunch. We do not serve peanuts, tree nuts, or any nut products.
