GREENFIELD — Aquinnah Mass smiled a bit as she jabbed a straw into a juice box in her fourth grade Federal Street School classroom Monday morning.
Across from her, classmate Dominic Adams bore a similar grin, just before he sank his teeth into a ripe banana.
Similar scenes unfolded around the room as some students picked at yogurt cups, while others devoured various fruits or chugged milk from cardboard cartons.
After expending some early-morning energy running around outside, these students needed to refuel for the day of learning that lay ahead of them, and the school’s new Breakfast In The Classroom program, which started last week, is just the trick, said Madison Walker, the School Department’s food service director.
Breakfast programs have also been implemented at the Newton School, the Math and Science Academy and Greenfield Middle School, Walker said.
The purpose is to increase the number of students eating breakfast, Walker said, by making it less disruptive to regular instruction. There’s no shuttling back and forth between the cafeteria and classroom. Instead, the students quickly clean up after they’re done eating and one student brings the snack cart back to the kitchen.
“One trend we’re seeing is a lot more participation,” Walker said, noting that students were previously able to choose whether to come in for breakfast or spend more time outside in the morning. Now, they get both, and the breakfast runs concurrently with a simple lesson, she said.
“They might go over a homework assignment, or turn on the kid’s news version of CNN, or do a mini-lesson,” Walker said.
It also takes the burden off of busy parents who are trying to get their children off to school in the morning, or for those who may not have the means to provide their child with a proper breakfast, Walker said.
“We’ve found it to be very successful; it really sets the tone for the day in a positive way,” Walker said. “The students are more attentive, more ready once they’ve started the day with a meal.”
Any fruits or snack bars that the students don’t eat are put on a table called the “community bin,” and students who may need that food can take it home with them.
The program is funded through a grant from the Eos Foundation of Harwich Port, a private charity seeking to address childhood poverty.
You can reach Tom Relihan at:
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