Breakfast in the Classroom

Any person that has ever been hungry knows how terrifically impossible it is to focus on anything but your growling stomach. I have been on long car trips with my husband (anyone who knows my husband knows he only stops when the car is on empty), and have been consumed by hunger pains. The radio fades to the background....his mouth is no longer making noises.....the arguments coming from the back seat no longer exist. I can only focus on one thing....how many more miles until I get food in my belly? Never mind the fact I had eaten three square meals the day before and breakfast that morning. We've all been there, haven't we?

For many of our students, hunger is their reality. Asking students to learn to read, write, and do math is an impossible feat when they are consumed by hunger. Many of our students rely on the two meals they receive at school as their sole source of nutrition. We know that 100% of our students eat lunch, but we only had a 50% rate of children eating breakfast. The reasons fewer students eat breakfast were many.....social time with friends, arriving at school too late, the stigma of being the kid that ate breakfast in the cafeteria. Trips to the nurses office from the start of the day to lunch time were great. Many students presented with belly aches; the cure being a package of crackers and a small container of juice.

When we were approached about a program called Breakfast in the Classroom, I was super excited. Upon entering school, students grab a breakfast and take it to their classroom. Regardless of their lunch status, all students eat without a charge. When the tardy bell rings, students open their breakfast sack and eat breakfast in their classroom. Students are no longer hesitant to eat breakfast in school. It is now socially acceptable to eat breakfast; it's part of the community and culture of their classroom. The process only takes 10 minutes from start to finish, but a lot is accomplished during that short time. Most importantly, we have increased breakfast participation to 98%; teachers are building classroom communities; table manners are explicitly taught; fraction lessons are occurring (cut your french toast stick into thirds). The nurse has reported a drastic decrease in the number of students being seen in her office for hungry bellies.

There was a small initial set up cost to get the program up and running; but within a year, it was 100% self sustaining. With over a 98% poverty rate, our nutrition department can bill the federal government for reimbursement of meal costs for students on free and reduced lunch. The other 2% of the meal costs are absorbed.

Breakfast in the Classroom was a relatively easy and cost efficient way to remove a large barrier from the learning of our students.