Snack Ideas To Keep In Classroom

[hapy4dolphins]

HI, I was wondering what kinds of things one might keep in a 2nd grade classroom. My daughter was sooooooooo sad again today because for some silly reason I don't understand, after mass today, all of the school had bagels and o.j. This just breaks her heart when they can eat and she cant. Luckily I had gone down to the office, across from her classroom to find this out.

I told her to ask her teacher if she could get a little snack from her lunch. Of course she said yes.

I was wondering what kinds of snacks can stay in the classroom, so that if something like this happens again, ie bdays, other misc treats, that she can have something.

Also, some times, some school years, parents have put a note saying please don't bring in anything with strawberries due to an allergy. I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to do the same thing, except put in wheat allergy.............

Nicole

[FeedIndy]

DD keeps a couple different things in a cubby at her school-Envirokidz chocolate cereal bars for sweet treat days and Fritos for any savory treat days. This way she gets to eat a treat of somewhat similar style to the other kids.

[2Boys4Me]

My son keeps mini Aero bars and Rockets (which I believe are like U.S. Smarties) in his teacher's desk in case of emergency. The kids don't have lockers or cubbys or anything, so anything he keeps at school has to be reasonably small and crush-proof. In other words - no chips.

I had drafted a letter to the parents requesting prior notice should any of them bring in cookies, cupcakes, etc. for a birthday or other special occasion, and the office wouldn't approve it to send home to parents. On the bright side, it was within the first couple of weeks of school and they always have parent/teacher interviews, so the teacher mentioned it to each of the parents.

[jukie]

DS is in a small pre-K/K school in which each family is assigned one day/month to provide a snack for the whole class. I have not asked for a ban on gluten and wouldn

[Sweetfudge]

My son keeps mini Aero bars and Rockets (which I believe are like U.S. Smarties) in his teacher's desk in case of emergency. The kids don't have lockers or cubbys or anything, so anything he keeps at school has to be reasonably small and crush-proof. In other words - no chips.

I had drafted a letter to the parents requesting prior notice should any of them bring in cookies, cupcakes, etc. for a birthday or other special occasion, and the office wouldn't approve it to send home to parents. On the bright side, it was within the first couple of weeks of school and they always have parent/teacher interviews, so the teacher mentioned it to each of the parents.

what a great teacher. that's pretty lame of the school. i know for me, as a 23 year old, i have a hard time when the girls at work go to all the places i used to love to eat at. i can only imagine how tough it would be to be a child in that situation.

[chrissy]

i think it would be really inappropriate to ask everyone not to bring treats to school that contain wheat. celiac disease is our challenge---not everyone elses. it might be just as disappointing to the child who has his heart set on bringing twinkies for his birthday to not be able to bring them because one child in the room can't eat them. we don't EXPECT people to accomodate our girls, but we really appreciate it when they do. we send a bag of treats to school that the teacher keeps in a cabinet for the times that birthday treats with gluten are brought in. sometimes gluten free treats are brought to class even when people don't know about celiac.

i think it was really great of the teacher to tell the other parents about the celiac child. i think it would be ok to ask parents to let you know ahead of time (if possible) what treats will be brought in so that you can try to provide a similar snack----i'd be willing to bet that some parents would try to make sure that the treats they bring in are safe.

[brendygirl]

I am a second grade teacher. I think it's obviously important to inform the teacher and the cafeteria people about it. As far as sending out a letter, I wouldn't do that. It's illegal for us to divulge that kind of health information...and it's too much of you trying to control other people who don't want to hear about your issues, much less try to accommodate them.

Even before I was aware of my celiac disease, I always avoided giving my students candy or junk food. I always encourage parents to bring unsugary, un-junky, easy to hand out birthday treats, such as fruits, veggies, and popcorn. But they ALWAYS send chips, cookies, and other junk. You'd be amazed at people who show up five minutes before the dismissal bell and start throwing cupcakes at kids (literally) or drop off cake and ice cream with no plates or utensils and expect me to stop supervising and teaching in order to start hunting serving utensils and start cutting and serving.

Oh, and the ones who try to light candles!

Now that you know we can't tell you--many children in your child's class could have food allergies or be on medications where sugar or other junk makes them act out of control and hyper.

Did you know that Red Chee-tos and other snacks with red coloring make kids on ADHD meds go nuts? And guess who has to try to teach those wired up little minds?

Parents are so critical of teachers, but really, you guys don't even realize what you put us through.

We have a HUGE turnover rate for new teachers- 50% within their first 3 years- and at the elementary level the reasons teachers quit is the parents' lack of discipline and lack of respect.

[Cheri A]

I can see how that can be difficult for young teachers! Do you tell your student's parents that information at the beginning of the school year?

Our teacher did tell our classroom that there were several children with life-threatening peanut allergies (my dd being one) but only a handful of the parents really remember. I chaperoned a field trip and there were a TON of PB&J sandwiches. You could smell it really strongly so I took my group and went far away from all the other groups to keep them safe. Then I asked the teacher to make sure that all the kids went and washed hands to get rid of what was on their hands, at least.

My dd has Enjoy Life Snickerdoodle cookies in the teacher's cabinet for birthday treats. Fortunately, our teacher is very good about giving us advance notice of what will be served food-wise so that I can send in/bring in things for her.

[hapy4dolphins]

HI brendygirl,

GRRRRRRRR, I know what you saying. I did teach for a few years too and it's unbelieveable. I ended up choosing to stay with subbing, as I did really like that the best. I know it's not polite to send a letter............I was just blowing steam........it had to go somewhere......I get to be a smarty pants about it sometimes. I appologize.

Thanks for sharing, that's for sure. You know, before I became a parent myself I could never understand a lot of things about kids, and boyyyyyyyyyy do I know.

Love ya teacher!

Nicole

[hapy4dolphins]

Thank you very much for all of the great idea for snacks and input on what I can do. Sometimes I do want to control everything it seems, just to make it better for her, at time I have to admit I go off on tangents. Thanks so much.

Nicole

[2Boys4Me]

I have to jump in and say that in the letter I had drafted, I had not asked for parents NOT to send in treats, but rather to NOTIFY me that they were going to, so I could arrange for my son to have a similar treat.

Obviously I wouldn't expect anyone to provide him with a gluten-free treat, or not provide their own kids with sandwiches for lunch - just on the special occasions when Susie is having cupcakes for her birthday to please give me a call, so I can send a gluten-free one.

I did find out after spending part of a lunch there, that he washes and scrubs his desk when lunch is over. I spotted him doing it, and one girl said he does it every day. He's perfectly aware that crumbs are everywhere and it's his job to keep his area clean (of everyone else's crumbs).

[blueeyedmanda]

I would also send Rasins, and those tiny fruit cups, they come in lots of flavors now, the Enjoy Life cookies are good, and the EnviorKidz parts are great, I keep them in my desk at work.

[chrissy]

last year molly brought an assortment of candy bars to keep in the cabinet at school. this year she just wanted to bring a bag of suckers to keep at school. last year, when she was diagnosed, we learned that her teacher knew all about celiac because she has a niece with it. this year, she spend most of her day in the classroom with her honors reading teacher rather than her home-room teacher-----and, can you believe this-----this teacher also has a niece with celiac!!

[Sweetfudge]

Did you know that Red Chee-tos and other snacks with red coloring make kids on ADHD meds go nuts? And guess who has to try to teach those wired up little minds?

i am curious to know where this information is found. my husband has adhd, and his mother always likes to bring up the fact that she thinks he's got some weird allergy to red food coloring. now i know where it corrolates!

[Cottage-Soul]

I just found this site today that has nice long food list for gluten free and casien free foods. I think you might find it helpful. Lots of snack food ideas I hadn't thought about!

Open Original Shared Link

[2kids4me]

hmm, I had no problem at our school (when the kids were in elementary and snacks were common). Matt was diagnosed diabetic before celiac but it was handled the same. The teacher simply asked that parents let him know the day before if they were bringing cupcakes or snacks for their child. He only said it was so he could plan things accordingly, no privacy issues, no divulging health information. Teacher would let me know or send a note with Matt. I provided a suitable alternative. I gave the teacher a baggie of gluten free treats with the carb counts on it, and he kept it in his desk.

Plus, we live in a small town, I know the familes, so everyone found out from me about the diabetes and celiac ... the majority were thoughtful about snacks, some phoned me direct at home. Any class parties - there was one mom in partcular who would bring these wonderful trays of veges and fruits, but keep dips separate. Another brought a cheese tray but put the crackers in separate bowl.

Small towns have advantages.

sandy

[brendygirl]

i am curious to know where this information is found. my husband has adhd, and his mother always likes to bring up the fact that she thinks he's got some weird allergy to red food coloring. now i know where it corrolates!

Another teacher I work with has a son with ADHD and she told me about the red food coloring. She tries to spread the word about it.

[brendygirl]

I can see how that can be difficult for young teachers! -Cheri

Thanks for the "young"!

I've been teaching ten years and now I mentor. Funny, the woman next door to my room is in her 50s and has only taught 4 years, but everyone assumes she's the veteran!

[shayesmom]

HI, I was wondering what kinds of things one might keep in a 2nd grade classroom. My daughter was sooooooooo sad again today because for some silly reason I don't understand, after mass today, all of the school had bagels and o.j. This just breaks her heart when they can eat and she cant. Luckily I had gone down to the office, across from her classroom to find this out.

I told her to ask her teacher if she could get a little snack from her lunch. Of course she said yes.

I was wondering what kinds of snacks can stay in the classroom, so that if something like this happens again, ie bdays, other misc treats, that she can have something.

Also, some times, some school years, parents have put a note saying please don't bring in anything with strawberries due to an allergy. I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to do the same thing, except put in wheat allergy.............

Nicole

There are dehydrated veggies that you could provide as well.

One of the things that bothers me the most about school menus and snacks is that there is a huge imbalance on the dairy and grain sides of the food pyramid with hardly any attention paid to fruits and vegetables. Fresh apples/oranges could also be kept in the class for several weeks as a snack. It depends on just how "shelf-stable" you want it to be.

I sent in raisins, fruit cups, fruit leathers, gluten-free pretzels, gluten-free graham crackers (home-made) for my dd. Every once in a while, she'll ask me for a specific snack for her pre-school and I'll just send it in that day (mostly fresh cantaloupe, berries or something easily stored in a thermos). For birthdays, the teacher let me send in cupcakes to be kept in the school freezer for my dd. I wrap them individually and then put them in single-serving plastic containers with my child's name, teacher and room # on it.

[cyberprof]

LARA BARS

They are gluten-free, soy-free, added sugar-free, kosher, raw and good. Several varieties including Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, Chocolate Coconut, Cinnamon Roll.

They are a mixture of nuts, raisins, fruit, spices.

I ate them instead of protein/power bars before I was diagnosed. My teenagers eat them.

You can find them at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and COSTCO sells them in bulk.

I don't leave home without one.