Food resources for families

Below are school and community resources available to provide food assistance for those who need it. 

Food Market at Irving

The Irving Food market is open to any student, parents of students and school staff. Those who need food assistance may come to the Irving cafeteria on Monday, November 3, 2025 at 3:00. Menu specific items are available and supplemented by a limited number of donated goods, bakery items and fresh produce as those items are available. Food is based on an allocated amount. 

Free and Reduced School Meal Program

Families can apply for Free and Reduced school meals at any time, especially if there has been a recent life change or change in income. If approved, the student then qualifies for free and reduced meals through the school year. Families will need to complete a new application starting next school year. Once your student is approved for free and reduced meals, you can also qualify your family for scholarships and fee waivers for student activities at school.

You can pick up a paper application from your student’s school if unable to access the form online. Learn more about the Free and Reduced Meal program on our website.

LPS Emergency Pantry

In response to the high need of students and their families experiencing hunger, the Food Bank, in cooperation with Leadership Lincoln and Lincoln Public Schools, opened the LPS Emergency Pantry.

Any LPS, private or homeschool student and their family can come to the pantry to receive food assistance. The amount of food families can have is based on family size.

The pantry is located at Bryan Community (300 S. 48th St.) and is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 3-5:30 p.m. when school is in session.

*You must have a school-aged student to visit the Emergency Pantry.

Community Food Resources

• List of community food distribution opportunities compiled by UNL Extension

• 2-1-1 Nebraska

• Food Bank of Lincoln website (and here is a pdf list of resources from the Food Bank)

• Little Free Pantries

• MyLNK is a website (https://mylnk.app) and a mobile app (for Apple and Android - search MyLNK) that has information about community resources. It can be downloaded in a wi-fi environment and then used when wi-fi is not available. The website provides translations in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

• Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (SNAP)

Information from Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services about SNAP

On October 29, Nebraska paused SNAP benefits due to the federal government shutdown. This means that SNAP benefits will not be issued during the month of November until the shutdown ends.

What do I need to do?

• If you are currently on SNAP, you may continue to use any remaining benefits on your EBT card for nine months from the date of last use.

• You must also continue to recertify your SNAP and report any changes to your personal information.

• If you are not on SNAP, you can still sign up and your application will still be processed.

Interested in helping an LPS student and family in need?

If you are interested in helping LPS students and families in need, you can give to The Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools student emergency fund, or contact them at 402-436-1612.

Greetings, 8th Grade families!  High School Choice Form is OPEN tomorrow (November 1st).  Please see the links below for more information.  

If you have any questions, email me (jfiero@lps.org) or call me at (402) 436-1214.

LPS - Preparing for High School  

LPS Home High School Lookup Tool 

LPS High School Choice Form - do not fill out prior to November 1.  

Janis Fiero

8th Grade Counselor

In Health class, students are finishing final lessons of Unit 1. These lessons include four lessons regarding “Understanding Mental Health”. Students will learn and discuss Recognizing mental illnesses, getting help for mental illnesses, negative consequences of social media, and preventing suicide. 

In PE, we have started our soccer unit. Students will focus on ball handling, passing, shooting, and eventually working their way into competitive games.

Students have been working hard on their balloon cars.  We learned how to make a simple blueprint and then how to construct a chassis that has the wheel and axle. Students are applying their knowledge of Newton’s three laws of motion, friction forces, momentum, and calculating the speed of their cars. Students have been doing a terrific job staying on task, being helpful to each other, and cleaning up after themselves. If you have any questions, please email at adivis@class.lps.org.

We will be learning to read and talk about sports and hobbies. Students will be able to describe when and how often they do different activities and state preferences. The substitute teacher, Herr Jensen, will start classes on Nov 10 through Jan 19. Herr Scheuler, the practicum teacher will continue teaching the class through Dec 4.

Students this week have been finishing up their understanding of the American Revolution. In the diff classes, they wrote an essay on the prompt, “What was the Revolution about?” For the on-level classes, they have had to tell the story of the Revolution in nine parts on a slideshow. Both groups have had three class periods to finish. We move on to the unit which I refer to as the “Early Republic” where we learn about the formation of the Constitution and the administrations of the first five presidents. The largest assessment coming up is on the Founders and slavery in the Constitution. 

Students have just wrapped up the second DCA about the American Revolution, and we are not moving on to the beginning of the United States and the formation of the government. Students will begin learning about the Articles of Confederation, Shay’s Rebellion, and the need for a new government, which will become our Constitution. Next week will be all about the Constitution and the early US government during the late 18th century - early 19th century. I have many students who have not finished DCA 2, so I may be in contact about a time your student could report to Homework Hub.

Students will test over Chapter 3 and Chapter 2 Retention next week (Nov 4-5). We will be reviewing in class, and review materials will be placed in Google Classroom. Then we will begin Chapter 4, which focuses on the connections between the four representations of data: patterns, tables, graphs, and equations. We will finish the chapter before Thanksgiving Break (review materials will be placed in Google Classroom as normal).

Students took the Chapter 3 and Chapter 2 Retention tests this week, and we will begin Chapter 4 next week, which focuses on Systems of Equations. Students are learning to write and solve equations from word problems, and to use a variety of methods to solve systems of equations in different forms. We will finish the chapter before Thanksgiving Break (review materials will be placed in Google Classroom as normal).

This past week, we began Chapter 4 - Trigonometry & Probability, which focuses on the Tangent relationship compared to slope triangles. We will discover ways to organize information to figure out compound probability. The test for Chapter 4 will be November 10-11. Chapter 5 is called Completing the Triangle Toolkit. In this chapter, we will discover the Sine and Cosine relationships, and complete our tools for finding missing sides and angles of right triangles. We will test over Chapter 5 in early December.

Students are finishing their Personal Narrative Essay. In November, students will complete an independent book study; they will select their own novel to read and respond to during class. They will also do various research projects, grammar work, writing practice, and Greek and Latin lessons throughout the month.

Rewards Plus-  Students are moving into a Unit using a passage about Food Preservation to practice many reading and writing skills.  The skills include vocabulary, sentence writing, sentence structure, spelling and fluency.  

Rewards Secondary-  Students are moving into a Unit that includes four types of lessons focusing on word parts, prefixes, suffixes, vowel combinations, sentence writing, sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling and fluency.  

***Please encourage your child to read, practice fluency and practice spelling at home***

Please email me with any questions! Thanks! rhughes3@lps.org or jbaker@lps.org