Meals must be addressed by county collaborative early childhood teams from two perspectives: meal service and meal environments. This section specifically addresses meal service, which includes meal requirements related to food service as part of regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture, school breakfast, school lunch, afterschool snack, collaborative contracts, and special dietary needs. Meal environments are addressed in Chapter Four: Curriculum, Instruction, and Child Assessment. The meal environments section addresses meal times as part of the instructional day.

Breakfast and lunch must be provided for children enrolled in WV Universal Pre-K classrooms. Additionally, all meals must be served in accordance with the School Breakfast and Lunch Program. Meals served in offsite community programs may include lunch and snack, rather than breakfast and lunch if a classroom’s regular operation times occur when breakfast is not required. Collaborative pre-k classrooms have the option of following the meal pattern and serving size requirements for either the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) or National School Lunch Program/School Breakfast Program; however, all snacks must meet CACFP meal pattern and serving size requirements. WV Pre-K programs that are required to serve breakfast and lunch may choose to serve a snack during the WV Pre-K day. This decision should be based on the needs of the child and the number of hours the child is enrolled in the program. Collaborative WV Pre-K programs that participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program may claim this snack for federal reimbursement if it meets the requirements of the program. Snacks are not reimbursable through the National School Lunch or Breakfast Program.