Chartwells, Wayland Union Schools’ food service provider, emphasizes food and nutrition education through cafeteria and classroom activities and connections. Seasonal campaigns and monthly promotions and events encourage students to explore new flavors and learn more about the food they eat.

Classroom nutrition and sustainability lessons are designed to meet curriculum standards and teach students about wellness and healthy lifestyles. Chartwells’ nutrition team has developed numerous lesson plans designed to meet curriculum standards for math, science and social studies.

Hawkins, held a cooking demonstration at Dorr Elementary as part of Chartwells' Chefs2Schools event promoting nutrition education. Students learned how to make fresh hummus and how different herbs and spices can enhance the flavor of food. Students were given a chef's hat, recipe and an activity to learn more about spices, then got to sample the hummus with pita bread and carrots.

At Baker Elementary, the students celebrated March Reading Month by reading the book "The Two-Bite Club," a story about encouraging children to try at least two bites of new foods.

“They made smoothies with peaches, strawberries and spinach,” says Laurie Zywiczynski. “The students were impressed by how different the spinach tasted raw versus how it tasted in the smoothie.”

Then, for Eat Learn Live Week, the students made smoothies again, but this time with citrus fruits. In one class the students created Citrus Jicama Fruit Salad.

The lesson behind this special week includes:

• Eat: The students sample the tasty, refreshing salad. 
• Learn: They learned what Jicama is and the health benefits to each ingredient in the salad. 
• Live: Each student received a copy of "The Two-Bite Club" and became members of the Baker Elementary Two Bite Club. 

“They have done a great job so far of taking at least two bites of new foods they otherwise wouldn't have wanted to try before,” said Zywiczynski.

Students at Steeby Elementary School received lessons on nutrition in their math class. While making a healthy, low-fat version of no-bake oatmeal raisin cookies, Hawkins helped them break down the recipe using fractions.

Then there was the celebration of National School Breakfast Week. Wayland students enjoyed a healthy alternative to the traditional banana split, replacing ice cream with yogurt.

“The schools personalized the campaigns for each class and really made the nutrition segments fit with each lesson,” Zwiczynski said. “It’s a great way to get kids to explore food options they may never have been exposed to.”