Food and Drink Policy
The State of Iowa has mandated a set of guidelines (“Healthy Kids Act”) to promote wellness in schools. As a result of this, some grade levels have opted to add or remove certain snacks from their daily routine. Additionally, many children at Lourdes have food allergies and this further limits what food items are allowed in your child’s classroom. Check with your child’s homeroom teacher or our school’s health aide to ensure that any items you bring to the classroom are safe for all students to consume.
If your child’s classroom allows healthy birthday treats (please check with each individual teacher due to allergy reasons and/or school policy), please ensure it adheres to the guidelines below, and only provide a store-packaged item in a sealed container with a visible nutrition label. The LCS school policy for food options does apply to holiday parties.
Drink options must include: NO caffeinated beverages, NO soda/carbonated beverages, NO sports drinks or flavored water, ONLY juice with 100% fruit/vegetable juice (no added sweeteners), ONLY unflavored low fat or fat-free milk, or flavored fat-free milk.
Food options must include: Items that are <200 calories/serving; <200mg Sodium; items that have <10% Saturated Fat calories; items that have 0 gm Trans Fat; items that have <35% total fat; items that have < 35% sugar.
Items to consider: Sugar-free pudding, Popcorn, Rice Cakes, Low-fat Cheese, Low-sugar or sugar-free cookies, Low-sugar or sugar-free Mini-muffins, Sugar-Free Popsicles, yogurt, Granola bars, Raisins, Unsweetened Applesauce, Pretzels (check labels – do not assume all items above are compliant)
Non-food options to celebrate your child’s birthday may include:
An indoor board game, puzzle, Legos, etc. to be used for Indoor Recess; the donation of a book to the classroom or school library; extra recess (time to be determined by the homeroom teacher)
Peanut and Tree Nut Free Snack Suggestion List:
Please refer to the “Safe Snack Guide” on the Safely website at https://snacksafely.com/safe-snack-guide/.
