Childhood Hunger- School Food Wasted and Minds Unfueled

5-402 Mrs. Brenner

INTRODUCTION-

Can you work productively while you are hungry? Students in PS 148 are not eating a proper breakfast or lunch and therefore can’t be as productive as they should be. Students are leaving a large amount of food behind and wasting uneaten, untouched, unwrapped food. We will use all the resources and skills available to determine why students are not eating and what can be done to make the food served at PS 148 more desirable. You are the new Nutrition Task Force who will determine why students leave food uneaten!

TASK-

Together with your Nutrition Task Force, you will determine why students in grades 3-5 are not eating school breakfast in the morning and leaving lunch untouched. You will research and determine why so much school food is being wasted. Within a 3-week time frame (approx 12-15 days) your team will determine what’s happening at PS 148 and what you can do to create some possible change. You will create a digital slide show to present and see if you can make change happen.

PROCESS/RESOURCES-

Students will be grouped in pairs. Create a Google Doc, interview and speak to students on the ground, analyze the Google Doc data, and then create a plan for possible change.

Using the PPA Process, you will follow the six steps to solving the problem of childhood hunger waste food in NYC schools. The six steps of the PPA Process are:

● define the problem (What is wrong?)

● gather the evidence (How do we know this is a problem?)

● identify the cause (Why is this problem happening?)

● evaluate the existing policy (Are there rules to help this problem?)

● develop a solution, (How can we FIX the problem?) and select the best solution. (Which solution works best for us?)

Preview Day_ We notice daily that students are not eating breakfast. We see this in classrooms having bins of leftover, uneaten foods, milk, and fruits. Why are students at PS 148 wasting breakfast? What are the reasons for the food to be left uneaten? Together with your task force, you will help stop this problem.

Days 1-4: Gather the Evidence interview students, send and submit the Google doc to compile student data.

Breakfast and Lunch Google Form

Days 5-7: Review all information and review the results. What are students in grades 3-5 saying?

Days 7-8: Identify the causes of students wasting NYC food for breakfast and then again for lunch. Your team of investigators will determine why this problem happening. Are the PS 148 students bringing in their food? Do the students at PS 148, not like the choices available? Are the students at PS 148 just not hungry during the day?

Days 9-10: Evaluate the existing policy of NYC food and other urban areas:

● Menu Nutrition Information

● Menus

● New York City Food Standards

● Nutrition

● Reducing food waste in schools - Green Schools Program - King County, Washington

● Food Waste Prevention at School | StopWaste

● Scot Scoop News | Schools are experiencing an increase in food waste from school lunches

Days 11-14: Develop a solution for students to eat school breakfast and school lunches and be less wasteful.

You and your team will look at the student data from the Google form, and determine options for what students might prefer to eat in school from other menus or determine what can be used in its place as additional food options.

Create a slideshow of your data and display the results of the survey. What do the students at PS 148 want to eat, which will give them a well-balanced diet and all the energy they need for a successful day of learning?

EVALUATION

CONCLUSION

You have completed the job of the Nutrition Task Force. The findings of the 2023-2024 Nutrition Task Force will be shared with all the members of the School Leadership Committee and if needed additional outreach will be made. You and your team have outdone yourself by finding out the reasons why students are not eating the foods prepared for them. Feel free to encourage your classmates, and younger school friends to eat the foods they like that are served in school. Encourage your friends to eat school food and help reduce student hunger throughout the day.

STANDARDS

● Operations and Algebraic Thinking 4.OA Generate and analyze patterns. 5. 4.OA.C.5

● Operations and Algebraic Thinking 5.OA A. Write and interpret numerical expressions.

● 1. 5.OA.A.1 Use parentheses, brackets, or braces in numerical expressions, and evaluate expressions with these symbols.

● 2. 5.OA.A.2 Write simple expressions that record calculations with numbers and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them.

● B. Analyze patterns and relationships.

● 3. 5.OA.B.3 Generate two numerical patterns using two given rules. Number and Operations in Base Ten

● 5. NBT A. Understand the place value system.

● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.9: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.