School Breakfast, Most Important Meal of the Day

Course Description

This training describes how breakfast relates to children's health and achievement, the benefits of eating breakfast, and the daily and weekly requirements for a reimbursable breakfast. A variety of types of breakfast service is included as well as resources to provide and promote nutritious school breakfasts.

• Course Number: 131
• Training Length: 30 minutes
• Certificate: Available at the end of the training
• Target Audience: Food Service Director and Staff
• Mandatory: No
• Cost: Free
• Date Recorded: August 2017

Online Course

Begin the School Breakfast, The Most Important Meal of the Day! course.

Referenced Resources

The following resources are referred to throughout this online course:

• Cal-Pro-NET Center at San Jose State University (SJSU) Breakfast Planning Grades K–5 (PDF) template
  
  
• SJSU Breakfast Planning Grades K–8 (PDF) template
  
  
• SJSU Breakfast Planning Grades K–12 (PDF) template
  
  
• SJSU Breakfast Planning Grades 6–8 (PDF) template
  
  
• SJSU Breakfast Planning Grades 6–12 (PDF) template
  
  
• SJSU Breakfast Planning Grades 9–12 (PDF) template
  
  
• California Department of Education (CDE) Breakfast Menu Planning Grades K–8 (DOC) answer sheet
  
  
• CDE Breakfast Menu Planning Grades K–12 (DOC) answer sheet
  
  
• SJSU Breakfast: Successful Menu Planning (PDF) self-assessment tool
  
  
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Whole Grain Resource Guide (PDF) a guide to meeting the whole grain-rich criteria in the School Breakfast Program (SBP). Go to pages 23–24 to access Exhibit A.
  
  
• USDA Food Buying Guide manual assists with buying the right amount of food and the appropriate type of food and determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements.
  
  
• CDE Menu Pattern Activity (DOC) handout
  
  
• CDE Meal Pattern for Breakfast chart
  
  
• USDA There's More That One Way to Serve Breakfast (PDF) handout
  
  
• CDE Week 1 Menu Grades K–8 breakfast menu planning activity handout
  
  
• CDE Week 2 Menu Grades K–12 breakfast menu planning activity handout

Crediting

• Crediting: 0.50 Hours

• Key Area: Nutrition (1000)
  • Training Topic: Menu Planning (1100)
    • Learning Objective: Analyze Menus (1150)

For more information on crediting, access the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) web document Professional Standards Learning Objectives (PDF)

Additional Information

For more information about nutrition education training and resources, visit the CDE Healthy Eating and Nutrition Education web page.

General Resources

• No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices provides the tools and resources needed to help elected officials and their staff, educators, and community leaders achieve success in fighting childhood hunger. Learn what works in the fight against childhood hunger and discover toolkits, case studies, hunger stats, issue briefs, reports, and more.
  
  
• Action for Healthy Kids Breakfast for Healthy Kids web page find resources including webinars to help sell breakfast to administrators, marketing materials, and helpful facts about school breakfast programs.
  
  
• California Food Policy Advocates Breakfast First Campaign find various resources and tools for implementing breakfast in different ways.
  
  
• USDA Offer versus Serve (OVS) Guidance for the National School Lunch Program and the SBP (PDF) manual for operators utilizing OVS, which is optional at all grade levels for breakfast and required at the senior high school level only for lunch.
  
  
• Food Research and Action Center School Breakfast Scorecard (PDF) report that indicates that school breakfast participation continues to rise, but did not grow fast enough to meet the urgent need of eligible, low-income children to receive a healthy breakfast every day.
  
  
• USDA Energize Your Day with School Breakfast a toolkit with a collection of digital resources that program operators and other stakeholders may use to establish or expand the breakfast service within their school. Includes modules on getting started, implementing, and marketing school breakfast.
  
  
• USDA SBP Marketing web page will help you develop a promotion plan for your SBP. It includes fun ideas to make the program more appealing to students and parents, strategies for approaching your marketing plan, and adaptable resources such as flyers, letters, public service announcements, newsletter inserts, newspaper articles, and information sheets.

Contact Us

If you have technical difficulties, please contact the Education and Nutrition Policy Unit by phone at 916-445-9127 for assistance. For questions regarding the course content, contact Julie BoarerPitchford, Nutrition Education Consultant, by phone at 916-322-1563 or by email at jboarerpitchford@cde.ca.gov.