The children know the routine. They arrive, put their snack and water bottles in their respective bins, hang up their book bags and jackets, then they're off to play. When the chime rings, they clean up, wash their hands, and get ready for breakfast.
The teachers encourage the students to try new things such as different kinds of cereal, yogurt, granola bars, zucchini & banana yogurt muffins and much more. However, since some kids eat at home, there is often a lot of left overs. The juice and milk get stored in the refrigerator, the extra cereal gets put in a xerox box for the "just in case" moments, and the other left overs will find a place in the class to serve as snack for those who do not bring any.
It's a system we have in place to make sure those who don't have can get snack and to prevent food waste. Each child will have their go to cereal ranging from multi-grain Cheerios to Frosted Mini-Wheats. Left over juice and yogurt gets devoured. Granola bars are split up into bite sized bars to keep the classroom crumb-free.
Eventually, all the children that would rely on the left over breakfast for snack would get bored of the same thing. They would look towards their peers and their enticing snacks. Goldfish, seaweed, Cheezits, dragon fruit, strawberries, Asian crackers, and much more. Who could blame them for wanting what their peers had? Luckily for us this year, our group of pre-K kids are very generous and compassionate. They were willing to share with their friends. In some cases, they would share all of their snack and not have any for themselves.
I wanted to take this opportunity and show our pre-K friends that their generosity would not get unnoticed. DonorsChoose.org would be the outlet to show them just that. Utilizing the Life Essentials category, a wide variety of snacks were requested and we were fortunate enough to have that project funded!
Mid-Day Meal to Mend that Munchies Feel
"A surprise!" I told them.
I explained to them about what I noticed and how caring they were when it came to sharing with their friends and taking care of those in need. They were very eager to try all the snacks, however, we would savor the moment and snacks for the following day.
Since it was the Friday before spring break, they would have to wait until after the break to try the rest of the snacks.