Low income families

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2001 : July : 17

Low income families
By Another GA teacher

I taught at a low income population school (100% of the pupils attending this school received free lunch.) Snacks were not a scheduled portion of our day, but I wanted to have them, so I sent home a monthly newsletter which
included the week each student was to bring snack. (This student was also the snack helper that week, so it was part of our calander/morning routine, and the students were proud of the opportunity to share snacks with their friends.) Out of 23 students, I can only remember one child who did not send a snack when it was his turn; it turns out that many parents who feel intimidated

by the whole school experience will OVERCOMPENSATE when they are given a task that they feel comfortable with! I had snacks running out my ears! The parents would come in with 2+ grocery bags, and because of our "pest" problem, I would have to take it home to store it. I eventually did snacks myself, because I wanted healthier things for my kids (many of whom were obese), and I would send home a letter to a few parents asking for SPECIFIC items...if they didn't send them by the requested date, I would just buy it myself(but usually I got everything I needed.) When I moved to PRE-K, I felt a little sad that the snacks were provided, because I missed that wonderful opportunity to see many of the parents (same community) happy to visit and be (in some small way) a contributor to their child's education. Our PRE-K contracted the Head-Start cafeteria to do meals and snacks, though, and they always had the most wonderful and nutritious food! Please see my other post for snack ideas that I got straight from the wonderful ladies at the Head Start lunchroom.