Great Ideas

Balanced Day Lunch Kits

They have finally arrived! A lunch bag especially designed for the Balanced Day! Over 800 schools across Ontario have adopted the Balanced School Day approach, and more are trying this system every year Children have 3 long blocks of learning time and 2 Nutritional Breaks in between where they eat for 20 minutes followed by 20 to 30 minutes of recess or activity time.

Schools encourage parents to pack healthy lunches. As a teacher myself, I have seen how challenging it can be to pack a lunch to be divided between two breaks.

This new lunch kit is divided into 2 labeled sections. It is helpful to parents in planning and packing nutritious lunches.

Check out www.balanceddaylunchkit.com for more information and details about this practical and useful product.

They even have a sample menu for effective planning!

I know I am going to buy one for EvieG. Right now she has a mammoth lunch bag and I pack 2 reusable plastic containers that I have labeled for her. This new bag will keep things more compact. It will be a little more stylish too. Right now she is the kid with the HUGE lunch bag that takes up the entire interior of her backpack. It's bigger than her head.

The Green School Tote

Here is a product that makes sense for parents and kids when it comes to sending money and slips to school. It is the green school tote.

This is a reusable and recyclable pouch that parents can use to transport money, permission slips, book orders, and notes to school. It is made out of the same material as the reusable President’s Choice shopping bags. It is small enough to fit in a child’s school agenda. It has a zipper and a place for the child’s name on it. It can be washed. It is inexpensive.

As a teacher I could not even begin to count all of the little zip-loc bags and envelopes I threw away into the garbage when I was collecting money or forms. There was stuff coming in all the time for various things. This pouch is a way for parents to cut back on extra waste. By reducing the number of plastic bags and paper we use, we can spend $4.99 once for a green school tote and use it again and again. It’s fantastic!

I have already used it a couple of times for EvieG when I sent her to school with food money. The first time I used it, I sent it too early, only to have the teacher send it back with the money still enclosed because I had yet to receive the food order form. I told her I was sampling this new product. She thought it was cool too.

This product is a good way to teach our kids to be socially responsible when it comes to excess waste.

The green school tote is a super idea that I hope will have a huge impact.