2016 Title 1 Distinguished School

Kindergaren teacher Joy Howard hands Jerez Prebble his morning meal.

By Erin Albanese

School News Network

Just after the morning school bell rings, West Kelloggsville Elementary School teacher Joy Howard calls up her kindergartners one-by-one to hand them breakfast. They settle back in their seats to sip milk and juice, nibble cereal, crunch apples and devour muffins.

“It makes us healthy,” said kindergartner Jerez Prebble, after polishing off his morning meal.

Following spring break, six teachers at West served breakfast in the classroom as a way to make sure their students not only had the option to eat at school, but that a meal was put right in front of them every morning. It’s a way to get more children eating; while free breakfast has been available to all students before school through the School Breakfast Program for years, the number of them arriving in time to eat was lagging. At West, 79 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches.

“The percentage of students at West eating breakfast was way lower than you’d expect the need to be,” said Principal Eric Schilthuis. “We want them to have a nutritious meal to get them through the morning.”

It’s a common scenario. Nationwide, 21 million U.S. children get free or reduced-price school lunch, but only half of those students get breakfast even though they are eligible. That’s according to No Kid Hungry, a campaign of Share Our Strength, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that connects children with healthy food offered through federal programs such as the School Breakfast and Summer Meals. In Michigan, offering breakfast is mandated in schools with a free and reduced-lunch population of more than 20 percent. Some low-income districts offer free breakfast to all students.

Research shows starting the day with breakfast has long-term benefits. According to the report, “Ending Childhood Hunger: A Social Impact Analysis” by Deloitte and the No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices, students who eat breakfast attend an average of 1.5 more days of school; average 17.5 percent higher on math tests; and are 20 percent more likely to graduate high school.

Since serving it in the classroom, breakfast participation at West jumped from about 35 percent to 68 percent building-wide. That should increase more when more teachers offer it next school year. “It’s been a great success here,” said Brenda Jansen, food service director.

Dexter Andrew digs into breakfast at West Kelloggsville Elementary.

The Big Picture

The story is bigger than breakfast: it’s about ending childhood hunger. Amy Klinkoski, breakfast coach for Michigan No Kid Hungry, is working with Kent County districts, including Kelloggsville, to make breakfast more accessible.

Klinkoski recently coached food service directors on implementing a “Grab and Go” option at Union and Ottawa Hills high schools and C.A. Frost middle and high schools. The option allows students to grab prepackaged breakfasts from mobile carts in high traffic areas, such as hallways, entryways or cafeterias. Since starting the option, the number of Union High students eating breakfast has increased by 250 to 300 students per day, she said.

East Kentwood High School offers vending and smoothies to students until mid-morning, and has the highest percentage of students who eat breakfast at a Kent County high school, Klinkoski said.

Wyoming, Godwin Heights, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, and Alpine Elementary in Kenowa Hills Public Schools have had breakfast in the classroom in place for several years.

In Wyoming’s Oriole Park Elementary School, second-grade teacher Danielle Terpstra said eating breakfast in the classroom is part of the routine for at least 50 percent of students. She keeps leftover breakfast items around for snacks later, so nearly every student in her room eats something.

“Some of the kids eat the food as breakfast, morning snack, some at lunch, and even ask to take some home,” Terpstra said. “I believe it gives the kids the necessary start to a healthy body and brain for learning that day.

“I am thankful that we can fill that basic need for so many of them,” she added. “I don’t have any test scores to back my claims, but I really believe that the breakfast is one thing we can do to get our kids just what they need at the start of the day.”

Klinkoski reminds hesitant educators that offering breakfast at the beginning of instruction time is the same type of interruption as having snack time later — and keeps hunger in check earlier. Also, increased revenue from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for more breakfasts offsets the cost of labor and food.

Why it Matters

According to the report “Ending Childhood Hunger” from The Lunch Box, a network supporting healthy school food programs, 48.8 million Americans — including 13 million children — live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. As a result, they struggle with hunger at some time during the year. The average Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program monthly benefit is $1.46 per meal, and nearly half of SNAP recipients are children. Three out of four teachers say their students regularly come to school hungry.

In her kindergarten classroom, Joy Howard agreed starting the day with breakfast in class helps her students be more ready to learn until lunchtime.

“Some of the children who needed it the most were missing it,” she said. “There’s a comfort knowing that if they haven’t eaten, they can get it here.”

Fourth-grader David Espinoza reviews letters he’s worked on with EL teacher Nicole Adams.

By Erin Albanese

schoolnewsnetwork.org

Letter by letter, fourth-grader David Espinoza read through the alphabet on flash cards. English-learner teacher Nicole Adams timed him with a stopwatch at 40 seconds. Unsatisfied, David wanted to try again.

“Last week you were only able to do it in one minute. Now 40 seconds seems slow,” Adams said.

David, a recent immigrant from Cuba who started at Gladiola Elementary School in September, tried again, hesitating at just one letter. His time: 34 seconds — a personal record. “Wow! Wow!” Adams exclaimed to a gleeful David, who wrote the time down on his data sheet.

First-grader Gustavo Aburto Ambriz shows his story to EL teacher Nicole Adams.

David is learning English letters, sounds and reading. By the end of the school year, he will be much more proficient. Adams spends time with him conversing in Spanish and English, in ways that capture his attention. David knows a lot about dinosaurs and, in Spanish, talked excitedly about a brachiosaurus. In English, he practiced words like “mouth” and “neck” while describing the prehistoric beast.

“He’s really eager to learn and not afraid to practice,” Adams said. “He will be much more fluent by the end of the year.” He has strong Spanish speaking, reading and academic skills, she said, so he’s on the right track.

Gladiola is one of only 35 schools recognized by the Michigan Department of Education for academic efforts for English learners over the past two years, and is eligible to be named a 2016 Title 1 Distinguished School in the category of Serving Special Populations (English learners). Also in the running are West Godwin Elementary in Godwin Heights Public Schools, Explorer Elementary in Kentwood Public Schools, Sibley Elementary in Grand Rapids Public Schools, and Appleview Elementary in Sparta Area Schools.

The top two schools will be announced in late November and recognized at the 2017 National Title 1 Conference in Long Beach, California.

The schools have shown growth in proficiency levels with their EL population.

David Lyon, who was hired as principal last year, credits a strong culture of shared leadership in the building and strong EL instruction including a full-time EL teacher, formerly Laura VanderWerf and now Adams.

Fourth-grader David Espinoza, who is from Cuba, uses beads that correspond to questions to grow his vocabulary.

He said EL students are held to high expectations, and not not limited because of low proficiency in English, Lyon said.

“Sometimes the perception in your struggle with English is your struggle with ability. This really proves you’re a very capable student in spite of your struggles with the language,” he said.

In-depth language instruction challenges EL students in Adams’ class to really think about words. They hold colorful beads resembling a caterpillar. Each bead corresponds with different questions on the classroom wall. When David thinks about a dinosaur, for example, he goes through each bead. What does it do? What does it look like? What is it made of? What are its parts? Where does it live? And what else?

At Godwin Heights, Director of Instruction Michelle Krynicki said staff works hard to build relationships and collaborate. Oftentimes, instruction can be tweaked in classrooms to benefit all students.

“The celebration for us at West Godwin is embracing the idea that all of these learners are our responsibility,” she said.