Who Needs the Mess? Family-Style Meals

What's In This Kit?
This training kit is designed to introduce family-style meal service and help teachers consider ways to successfully transition to family-style meal service in their classrooms. It contains:

• Expected training outcomes
• Preparation instructions
• Training strategies and tips
• Implementation steps
• Follow-up activities for teachers
• Follow-up activities for administrators/directors
• A learning assessment
• A training evaluation/further needs assessment
• A resource list
• The article “Who Needs the Mess? Family-Style Meals” by Gigi Schweikert
• A training certificate to award to teachers for attendance and participation
• A certificate for the trainer and other presenters

Who's the Target Audience?
The target audiences for this kit are beginning and intermediate teachers. The kit will introduce teachers to the idea of family style food service and how to incorporate it into their classrooms.

Teacher Skill Level

beginning intermediate advanced

Children's Age Level

infants toddlers preschoolers school-agers birth to 8

Kit Timeline:
Preparation time for this kit is 2.0 - 3.0 hours. Implementation time is estimated at 1.5 - 2.0 hours.

Training Outcomes:

1. Teachers will understand the concept of mealtimes as curriculum.
2. Teachers will identify the steps needed to transition from restaurant style meal service to family-style meal service.
3. Teachers will make a plan to handle messes and spills.
4. Teachers will list the benefits of family-style meal service for children.
5. Teachers will understand the importance of respecting children’s choices about what they eat.

These training outcomes address the following professional standards:

• 3.D.07 of the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria (2005), http://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/standardscriteria/.
• 1, 4a, and 4b of NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation, Initial Licensure Level (2003), http://www.naeyc.org/faculty/college.asp.
• 1304.21(1)(iii); 1304.23(c) of Head Start Performance Standards (Federal Register, Nov. 5, 2006, Volume 61, Number 215), www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/performance/.
• B1, B22, F6, F7, and F9 of the Accreditation Criteria of the National Accreditation Commission of the National Association of Child Care Professionals, http://www.naccp.org/.

Note: Downloadable PDFs are only available for download in pdf format. Directions for downloading follow immediately after purchase.