Teacher’s Room – SNAP-Ed New York

Smart Board

Lunch Box

Teacher's Desk

Phone

Balloon

Bulletin Board

Water Bottle

Clock

Activity Center

Reading Center

Speaker

Backpack

Food is personal, snacking isn’t bad, and so many factors influence food choices: location, taste, quality, transportation, cooking skills, kitchen tools, culture, and more. It's important to recognize these factors and understand what can help build spaces that encourage a healthy relationship with food for learning, for us, and for future generations.

You Can:

Encourage students to share what foods and movements are part of their lives with you. If willing and allowable, they can share with others.
Learn more about what is offered in the areas your students live in.
Speak with your Food Service Director about supplying event or holiday foods and take the burden/challenge off families.
Connect with your social worker and/or nursing staff to identify resources for families to support them.

Free Resources:

Food for Thought

Water, Water Everywhere!

Is valuable classroom time being lost cleaning up sticky messes? Are students experiencing multiple dentist visit related absences? Suffering from dehydration fatigue? All of these contribute to the loss of meaningful and productive classroom time. Making water the primary and/or only beverage allowable in the classroom will not only address all those challenges, but can have a lasting impact on your and your student’s health.

You Can:

Bring your own water bottle and place it on your desk.
Encourage your students to bring their water bottles to class.
Discuss the location of water fountains in the school building. (Check with the local Department of Health or Department of Environmental Conservation to confirm that the water is safe to drink.)
Discuss the benefits of drinking water with your students (see Morning Announcements).
Share information on the benefits of water with families.

Free Resources:

Healthy Classroom Environment

Visuals can contribute to the establishment of a healthy classroom environment. They are a powerful medium for communicating and should encourage engagement in healthy lifestyle habits. Having bulletin boards, student artwork, or posters around the classroom can help in the promotion and learning of information around the various school wellness areas such as drinking water, brain breaks, and healthy eating.

You Can:

Display imagery that uses items other than food to illustrate concepts. Example: One car plus one car instead of one lollipop plus one lollipop.
Utilize healthy messaging posters/materials that you can hang in a designated area of the classroom (wellness corner) or all around the classroom. (See links below.)
Engage students to create artwork that depicts healthy lifestyle elements.

Free Resources:

On-Screen Food & Movement

Technology in the classroom can improve the learning experience while making teachers' lives better and easier. It can also be a valuable wellness tool, placing fun facts about food and exciting brain break opportunities just a click away! Did you know that brain breaks can increase the learning capacity and academic performance of your students by improving focus, enhancing creativity, and problem-solving skills?

You Can:

Explore the SNAP-Ed NY Kid’s Corner website and engage with interactive nutrition education and physical activity content.
Select and guide your class in regularly scheduled brain breaks.
Engage students in mindfulness & social/emotional learning activities such as guided meditation and breathing exercises.

Free Resources:

Teacher’s Thoughts and Tools

Are you looking to create access to food and movement in your school or classroom? What does that look like? What role can you play? Is it in the form of a backpack program? A school pantry? Student-centered school food? Fun brain breaks throughout the day? Are there simple no-cost or low-cost ways to increase access? How do we make it equitable? This section offers you tools, resources, and ideas to dive deeper into Free and Reduced Lunch, Summer Food Service Programs, Local School Wellness Policy, Pantry (or Care) Closets, and Staff Wellness/Burnout.

You Can:

Inquire about your local School Wellness Policy and/or School Wellness Committee.
Ask your Food Service Director (or local school food manager) about breakfast programs, free meals for all (Community Eligibility), and backpack programs.
Be aware of your own habits, stressors, and barriers and how they can affect your day and influence your students. Role modeling a healthy relationship with food, movement, and self is a great way to teach lifelong skills and habits.

Free Resources:

Creative Classroom Celebrations

Birthdays, holiday celebrations, and family events are great opportunities to celebrate our friends and loved ones, provide consistent messages, and create excitement around nutritious choices at school. Host and normalize inclusive events that make it easy for children to make healthy choices while celebrating the purpose of the occasion and the company of their friends.

You Can:

Shift the focus and plan non-food events centered on physical activity, music, art, and games to acknowledge the celebration.
Plan inclusive events that emphasize healthy foods and align with classroom lessons.
Check your school’s wellness policy or school improvement plan to see if they contain any guidelines or goals about food for birthdays, celebrations, and family events. If they don’t, find out what it would take to address this issue.

Free Resources:

Running Down the Clock

As educators, we know that every minute of the school day is valuable. Your students showing up well nourished, emotionally regulated, and ready to learn is key to moving the day along smoothly. Support your students by incorporating movement when you can and connecting families with nutrition resources so they can show up ready to use their time wisely.

BONUS: There are some great activities here to leave for a day you might have a substitute.

You Can:

Set the expectation with your class that you will have regularly scheduled brain breaks throughout the day at certain times or moments of transition.
Keep some small, simple items on hand such as scarves and activity dice to keep it quick and easy.
Save time by integrating subject-specific movement into your lesson plan.

Free Resources:

Activity Center

Does your class have the opportunity for a longer movement break such as indoor recess, a fun reward, or celebrating a special occasion? This section is stocked with activities and nutrition games to get kids moving in your classroom to put their energy to use, help them reset, and refocus to learn.

You Can:

Plan in advance for longer movement opportunities and have alternative activities on hand and prepared.

Indoor Recess:

Hardcopy Games/Resources for Cart:

Inclusive Physical Activity:

4 Ways to Champion Inclusive Physical Activity

Reading for Health Literacy & Fun

Exposing students to books and materials that discuss food and movement is a great way to enrich student learning. It creates opportunities for more inclusive and comprehensive learning with the discovery of new foods, learning about diverse cultures, and connecting knowledge to history and social sciences. This can all happen while supporting the building of a healthy classroom culture and contributes to healthy and more sustainable eating habits later in life.

You Can:

Ask students to bring books about food or movement from home.
Connect with your NYS local farm-to-table program to find out about harvest of the month and other materials.

Free Resources:

Language shapes lifelong attitudes around eating and movement behavior. What we say about food and eating can significantly impact kids’ eating habits. Positive messages about food and eating will help children develop healthy habits. Sharing positive messages about food and movement is important in building a healthy classroom culture.

You Can:

Make the sharing of healthy messages a part of your daily classroom routine.
Ask students to share a fun fact that they know about food and movement.
Find out about national food holidays and share a fun fact with the class.
Integrate books about fruits and vegetables into reading/ELA time.

Free Resources:

Morning Announcements

Health and wellness starts at home! Engage your families in your classroom health goals with resources they can use outside of school.

You Can:

Get your families on the same page with a “Wellness Pledge.”
Provide families with resources on health.
Invite your families to participate in healthy classroom activities.

Free Resources:

The Take-Home Folder

We’re thrilled you found us! SNAP-Ed NY is a nutrition and active living education program, ready to support school champions like you! Our goal is to provide you with the resources and guidance needed to create a healthy, active learning environment. Whether you need assistance in your classroom or are looking for educational tools, we’re here to help.

How SNAP-Ed NY Can Help Your Classroom:

Classroom Education: Engaging lessons designed to teach students about nutrition and active living.
Peer-Led or Youth Engagement: Programs that empower students to take leadership roles in promoting healthy habits.
Staff Training: Professional development opportunities to equip teachers with the latest in nutrition education, physical activity and how it benefits staff, students, and families.
Parent and Community Engagement: Involving families and the local community in creating a supportive environment for student well-being.
Policies, Systems, and Environmental Support: Helping schools implement long-lasting changes that promote health and wellness.

If you’re ready to bring these benefits to your classroom, click here to find a SNAP-Ed NY program near you.

Together, we can create a healthier future for our students!

Connecting SNAP-Ed NY With Your Classroom

Site Links

How to Navigate the Teacher Orientation for the SNAP-Ed Classroom!