The theme of this year’s National School Breakfast Week (NSBW), March 5-9, 2007, is “A WORLD OF SCHOOL BREAKFASTS.” Child Nutrition Directors can give children a great opportunity to have fun, taste international breakfast menus and learn about the global village during celebrations in school cafeterias. The theme focuses on breakfast dishes from around the world and the importance of starting each day with a nutritious breakfast.
In keeping with the international theme, the NSBW menus include “Bejing Breakfast” with Congee, “When in Rome” with a Breakfast Frittata and “Awesome Aztec Desayuno” featuring a Breakfast Burrito.
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) Child Nutrition Unit (CNU) wants to help Child Nutrition Directors get started with planning activities for NSBW by providing links to websites (please find the links mentioned under Attachments) where great ideas can be found. Using breakfast promotion activities encourages students to become involved with eating a healthy breakfast, which leads to increased participation in the School Breakfast Program. This is also a wonderful way to involve the district Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee (NPAC).
Tools You Can Use can be downloaded from the School Nutrition Association (SNA) website. These include a comprehensive “Toolkit” packed with ideas, support and resources available to help with the promotion of NSBW. There is a “Passport” that contains fun facts about breakfast, suggested activities and a place for a student to get the passport stamped after eating a school breakfast. “Activity Sheets” are also on the website with fun puzzles and brainteasers to stimulate students as they eat a nutritious school breakfast.
The official SNA Press Release can be downloaded for promoting a school’s activities in the local media, and official artwork is available to support a school’s celebration. Merchandise, including posters, balloons, T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, aprons and socks, is available for purchase from the SNA emporium.
Wherever a school travels during NSBW, submit articles and pictures of school breakfast events for possible statewide publication in “Nutrition News,” the newsletter of the Child Nutrition Unit. If the district has a high school journalism class, ask the class to help write the newsletter article and take pictures. Email breakfast promotion ideas and results to Juanita Giles, Editor and Project Manager, “Nutrition News,” at juanita.giles@arkansas.gov
For questions about NSBW, please contact Rita Hamilton, Area Specialist, at 501-324-9502 or send an email to rita.hamilton@arkansas.gov