Milk at Cottage Lane
Do you drink milk at lunch? Walking through the cafeteria at lunch on Thursday I saw students buying pizza for lunch and making the choice many kids make every day- chocolate or plain? But the question of chocolate or plain has become a bigger one ever since many fifth graders researched this issue and wrote persuasive letters about it. Recently Ms. Beglin and I received a pile of letters trying to persuade us- about half of them said we should ban chocolate milk from CLE, the other half wants it to stay.
Those against chocolate say it’s higher in sugar and calories and could be the beginning of a life of unhealthy choices for kids. Many students wrote that it has more calories and more sugar than plain milk. Those who love their chocolate milk say that while it may have more sugar, it still has the nutritional benefits of plain milk and kids are more likely to drink it.
Ms. Wisbeski, who runs our cafeteria program told me that “Students, especially younger ones, do take more milk and more importantly, drink more milk, when chocolate milk is offered. ” She said that the the amount of chocolate milk the school cafeteria orders is three times the amount of plain milk they order to keep up with those chocolate lovers. She also pointed out that it is skim chocolate milk, meaning it has no fat, and only 40 calories more than the plain milk they serve. Some students wrote about chocolate milk having fat in it, but the chocolate milk served in our school does not- it’s skim chocolate milk. Chocolate milk you may buy at the store can have lots of fat and much more sugar, so it’s important to look at labels and notice that all chocolate milk is not created equal.
Our school nurse, Mrs. Fitzgibbons, said that while chocolate milk has more sugar, kids like it, and if parents or kids are worried about the extra sugar they can choose to drink plain milk. It’s true that it is a choice kids or parents can make. Offering chocolate milk does not mean that students have to choose it. However, I do understand that it can be tempting to make that choice if it’s there.
Many students made convincing arguments against chocolate milk and students should know and understand the differences. However, the demand is there. Kids want the chocolate milk and where there is demand, there is (usually) supply! (You will learn more about that in middle school). As many students wrote, if we didn’t serve chocolate milk many kids wouldn’t drink milk at all, and there’s a lot of nutrition in milk (our chocolate milk included). It has protein, calcium, and vitamins D and A.
In conclusion, chocolate milk will continue to be served at Cottage Lane. Kids like it, and the chocolate milk that is served at Cottage Lane is relatively healthy. Also, students can always choose not to drink it if they don’t agree that it’s a healthy enough choice for them!
Hallway Display Cases
If you look in the hallway near the computer lab you will notice the display cases look different. SAC members took time to decorate showing events going on in the school and topics we feel are important. Some of these display cases show how we feel about Veteran’s Day, what we noticed on bulletin boards and our Buddy bench, to name a few.
We have one more hallway of display cases that need to be decorated. Below is a survey to complete to help us find the top five topics for our next series of display cases:
Book It Forward
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day SAC is sponsoring the program, Book It Forward. The program is inspired by Kid President who wrote a book himself. Check out the video below:
On Thursday February 12th all members of the Cottage Lane community are encouraged to bring their favorite book to give to someone who they feel would enjoy reading it. Since the following day is Rockland Read-In, this is perfect timing.
Hopefully that person will Book It Forward as well !!!!!
Hey Cottage Lane students! We love it when the weather is nice and recess is outside, but what about when it’s not? Take this survey and give us some ideas to make indoor recess better:
