After a quick breakfast poll, students discuss why it’s important to eat breakfast then brainstorm reasons for skipping breakfast. Working in cooperative groups, they identify practical “breakfast solutions.”
Student Outcomes
- State that eating breakfast helps them concentrate, learn and feel better
- Identify reasons for skipping breakfast and identify strategies for making sure they eat breakfast each day
What You Need:
- Chalkboard/Chalk
- Paper/Pencil - One per group
What You Do:
1. Open the activity with a quick poll. Write the answers on the board.
- How many students ate breakfast today?
- How many ate breakfast yesterday?
- How many eat breakfast everyday?
Compare their results to other kids their age – surveys show that on average only 6 out of 10 kids eat breakfast.
2. Discuss reasons for eating breakfast. As students respond, make a semantic web connecting all of the reasons.
3. Point out breakfast helps us learn, concentrate and feel better yet large numbers of children miss it. As a class, brainstorm reasons kids might miss breakfast and list them on the board.
4. Break students into cooperative groups and appoint a recorder. Have each group choose two or three reasons (or assign reasons) and brainstorm practical “breakfast solutions” for each reason. Have groups share their solutions with the class. Summarize on the board. If students don’t mention it, highlight school breakfast as a great option.
5. As an outside of class activity, have students write a rap, draw a cartoon strip or write a newspaper story a convincing “breakfast skippers” to eat breakfast every morning. Remind students to incorporate information from the semantic web and practical breakfast solutions brainstorm.
Learn more about how breakfast contributes to children’s
success in school with our
“Breakfast Boosts Brain Power” brochure.
Related Books
George Washington's Breakfast
by Jean Fritz
The Putnam &; Grosett Group, Paperstar, Reissue Edition, 1998
