JANUARY 13, 2023 IN THE CLASSROOM GROUNDCOVER NEWS Opening young minds to critical issues of nutrition in difficult circumstances ANNA GERSH Groundcover board member The readers of this publication already understand many of the challenges faced by homeless and near-homeless people. That’s what this paper is here to do, but it’s important to discuss these issues with everyone, not just those folks who read newspapers. We know that to meaningfully address the problems of our many fellow humans who live in poverty, we need every mind directed toward these issues as early as possible! That’s why Groundcover News visited Eastern Michigan University’s Bright Futures after school program at Wildwood Elementary School. We asked Mr. Brett’s 2nd through 5th-graders to think about nutrition and staying healthy when there is no refrigerator or a stove to protect and prepare food. We asked the kids what they thought would be the ideal food for someone who moved around a lot and didn’t have a reliable place to store their food. We talked about foods with high levels of nutrition, foods that help our bodies stay warm (and keep cool!), and food that keeps well over long periods of time. After our brainstorming sessions and discussion, the kids spent some time thinking about and then drawing what they saw as the best foods to meet those criteria. When we returned to see what they came up with, the kids shared their ideas in a special presentation. Thanks so much to Mr. Brett and all our new friends at Bright Futures at Wildwood ES for your great thinking on this important topic! Top left: Ellie is participating in Mr. Brett's brainstorming activity. Top right: Sammy, Xavier and Shawn participate in the creation process. Bottom left: Sammy recommends an orange because it stays clean and has lots of vitamin C. Bottom right: Alana recommends yams, chicken and mac'n' cheese. Abby suggests watermelon because its very tasty. They are pictured working on brainstorm activity. 7
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