Friday, September 4, 2009
Dear Parents:
We take our responsibility as your child's educators very seriously.  We see it as our sacred duty.  We are honored by the trust you place in us and in this school to help your child on his journey to adulthood. Because of that trust, we strive everyday to provide your child with optimum experiences to grow his sense of independence, confidence, competence, and inclusion.  In striving to provide those optimum experiences at school, we endeavor to provide and support the values and standards you embody at home.

We feed the mind and the body.

We challenge your children's minds and bodies with activities that are academic and physical, giving them the opportunity to practice and perfect each movement until it appears graceful, intentional, and effortless.  When your child demonstrates, on his own accord, self-control by inhibiting an impulse, he is self-disciplined.  When your child offers comfort to another or expresses curiosity about another, he is empathetic and sympathetic.  His emotional intelligence has grown.  It does not happen overnight, but through much practice, so that when that moment appears, it seems to occur as if by magic.  It is not magic; it is practice.

Lunch time in your child's classroom encompasses challenges to his mind and his body.  It is an opportunity to learn about nutrition and different cuisines and cultures as well as practice good table manners and patience while bringing about awareness of others.  We provide the children with the tools -- the physical materials, the language, and the movements -- to become good dining companions whether with their friends at school, at home with family, in a restaurant, or when visiting others.

The children arrange tables and chairs, set the table with table cloths, flower arrangements, real utensils, glasses, and plates.  Another child fills pitchers with water and milk for the children to serve themselves.  Every child places all of his food on his plate.  Certain convenience foods, such as yogurt in a tube, inhibit his ability to act independently.  He must wait for an adult to open the package before squeezing it on to the plate.

We absolutely see the value of convenience foods when your family is on the go, running errands on the weekends, traveling for pleasure, or simply shuttling between after-school activities.

At school, the children are encouraged to take their time with every activity, enjoy it and fully engage with it, whether it is math or lunch.  The lunchtime experience is a sit-down meal.  The foods included in that meal contribute to the richness of the experience.  Involving your child in preparing his lunch or the dinner that will become his lunch tomorrow, greatly increases his interest and investment in eating that food.  Stashing pre-packaged convenience foods into your child's lunchbox tends to convey the message that what he puts into his body is inconsequential.  Good nutrition and awareness of that food is important to his physical well-being as well as his intellectual development.  A good balance of protein, fruit, vegetables, and grains in his lunchbox is important to your child, to you, and to us.

Children are particularly attuned to sensory input from the environment, including from the foods they ingest.  It does not take much of any taste for the child to recognize its quality, whether it is sweet, salty, bitter, or sour.  When we provide too much of any single taste, a person's sensitivity to that taste diminishes.  If we consistently give a child high-sodium foods, it takes increasing amounts of sodium for him to recognize that a food is salty.  Many pre-packaged convenience foods score very low in nutritional value because they pack in a lot of saturated fats, sodium, and sugars without the balance of lean protein, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals.  (See http://caloriecount.about.com/foods for a easy to read nutritional score card.  Attached is a wonderful quick guide to reading food labels).

We know that you want your children to be healthy and strong and have a positive relationship with food.  We want that too. The lunchbox policies we developed reflect your desires for your child, physically, intellectually, and emotionally.

We recognize that policies need to be re-visited from time to time.  In the coming weeks, you will see higher standards applied to your child's snack list.  You will see changes that include more whole-wheat grains and breads, a greater variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, and more low-fat, low-cholesterol proteins.  We hope that when it is your child's turn to provide snack for the class that you will take the opportunity to talk with your child about the importance of strong, healthy bodies and how nutritionally sound foods helps to fuel his body and prepare him for the work he does at school and at home.

We would like to remind everyone to please revisit the School Handbook for the policies regarding lunchbox types and please be aware that this extends to the containers, including thermoses, inside the lunchbox.  Also, please note the policy regarding that parents ensure that the meal in your child's lunchbox is well-balanced and healthy (leaving the cakes, cupcakes, candies, chocolate-covered granola bars, cookies, juice packs, and pre-packaged convenience foods at home as a special treat).  Also please be aware that the charge for a replacement meal is increasing from $3 to $5. 

Stephanie Michielsen, Head of School
Jeanne-Marie Bailey, Education Coordinator