As you plan your nutrition activities, use the cafeteria as your classroom's "lab." It's where kids make food decisions every day, and it's one of your best resources. Here are some helpful tips for connecting with the cafeteria and taking nutrition learning to the next level.

And think of them as part of the nutrition teaching team! From the outset of planning your nutrition unit, work with school nutrition services to develop meaningful experiences that extend classroom learning.

Join children in the school lunch line or at the lunch table. Talk about their food choices and relate them to what they are learning in the classroom. And let students see you make nutritious choices, including milk for lunch, too. Teachers are among children's most important role models.

Plan a Field Trip...To the Cafeteria

Forget scheduling buses, packing lunches and putting up with travel time! There's an educational field trip right in the school! Find out what goes on behind the scenes for school meals, or learn about food safety, hot and cold, volume and measurement, and more. Work with the cafeteria manager ahead of time and decide on a focus for your visit.

Ask the school nutrition director to support Little D's Nutrition Expedition® and Arianna's Nutrition Expedition™ 2nd and 4th grade programs. For example, ask them to use Little D's and Arianna's artwork on the menus or supply food for Going Further activities. Find more suggestions for coordinating Little D's and Arianna's activities with school meals.

Invite the school nutrition director talk to students about good nutrition and school lunch. Then, working in teams, have students plan lunches to submit for the school lunch menu. See an example of how Classroom Menus for the Cafeteria worked when the activity was initiated by a teacher.

Developed by National Dairy Council® and the School Nutrition Foundation, these lessons each include a cafeteria component designed to develop effective partnerships with school nutrition service. Ask your school nutrition director to teach the Cafeteria Connections component of these new lessons for grades 5-10.