Kindergarten Learning about Child Hunger
Kindergarten examines the issue of Child Hunger
Some Essential Questions...
What does it mean to be hungry?
What are healthy delicious and nutritious foods to eat? Why do all children deserve to have these foods?
*We brainstormed different categories of food (meat and protein, fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy) and then students drew pictures of nutritious and delicious food. Later they created "plates" of food choosing from their classmates' pictures to create a nutritious and delicious meal. Additionally...we watched a few different video clips of children sharing what it feels like to go to sleep hungry (can't fall asleep and keep waking up) to what it is like to have just cereal for dinner (tears were rolling down her eyes) and how some children drink a lot of water from the fountain at school to get "filled up" because they are hungry (heartbreaking).
How can we help take care of people in our community as Pirke Avot teaches us?
The Kindergarten welcomed Jackie Colby - Director of Volunteers at the Newton Food Pantry - to Rashi and had an opportunity to interview her about her work and how the NFP works. She shared with the students that she was drawn to do this kind of work because it is so important to ensure that people get the food they need. Jackie is going strong at 92 years old!
Students asked Jackie what kinds of things they could collect for the Newton Food Pantry. She told them that they always need soup and shampoo and that they started to offer children's books as well.
Why are some children in Boston hungry?
The kindergarten students did a simulation to begin to understand why some children are hungry in Boston even when their parents are working so hard in their jobs.
Every student was given $72.00 in play money and asked to imagine themselves as parents. Next they b-stormed what kinds of expenses/things they would need money for each month. Then we took students through the different real-life scenarios of collecting their money for each of the different expenses each month. Students watched their monthly paycheck dwindle right before their eyes. And we asked them... And what happens when you run out of money and you still have bills to pay like an unexpected flat tire or a sick child or a birthday party coming up?
How did farmers in ancient times come up with creative ways to share their harvest and provide help to people who needed food?
Students worked in small groups to act out each of the farmers' ideas for feeding people. The rest of the class had to watch carefully and guess each of the ideas.
Idea #1: Leaving the corners of their fields
Idea #2: When they were harvesting their crops, if they dropped anything, they didn't go back and pick them up.
Idea #3: They had to "remember to forget" to harvest some of their crops!
Students worked in small groups and tallied how much soup, shampoo and children's books were collected in their class before everything was loaded up into bags to deliver to the Newton Food Pantry. In all, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Liptz and I completed the mitzvah and delivered 27 bags to the Newton Food Pantry (located in the basement of City Hall) filled to the top with shampoo, soup and books for children. How proud we were of the kindergarten students and their families and their huge and generous hearts!
