-Sarah Wildman

In December, the seventh and eighth grade GATE classes from Wilson C Riles Middle School took a fun and exciting field trip to the California Academy of Sciences museum in San Francisco. At the museum, students toured the exhibits, which included information about earthquakes, Pterosaurs in flight, the science of snow, and conservation. Additionally, they visited the beautiful indoor rainforest and aquarium. The students used their knowledge to collaborate on a project explaining human impact on the earth in the past and in the future. It was a fun and informative day!

-Robert Smith, Member of Center’s Wellness Committee

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVED John Hughes’ 1985 film about some high schoolers serving a Saturday detention. However, the Breakfast Club I want to talk about has nothing to do with punishment. It’s all about teaching students at Dudley Elementary how to start their day with some nutritious foods. It’s the brain child of Leah Dean, a second grade teacher who began doing these positive Breakfast Clubs when she was teaching in San Francisco. She graciously invited me to visit her most recent Thursday morning gathering which took place in her classroom.

Since it was the first Breakfast Club meeting of the new year, ten of the 13 current members showed up, but it was a very heterogeneous cross section of Dudley students: one first grader; three second graders; one third grader; three fourth graders and two fifth graders. A couple of siblings were part of this fun mix of students. It was a good time to drop in, as this was one of the last meetings of the first session of the Breakfast Club. Mrs. Dean will be looking for different students for the next two sessions of the year so that more tasty and nutritious-minded seeds will be planted around the Dudley campus. Kudos to Mr. Jackson, our principal, for finding the funds to reimburse Mrs. Dean for her out-of-pocket expenses.

Each meeting begins with a couple of important pre-arrival rituals. First, Mrs. Dean cleans the table/s where the students will be preparing and eating their breakfast. She does this before they arrive. She also has some soothing music playing to warm-up this makeshift eatery. Upon their arrival at 8:00 a.m. each student washes their hands before diving into the work of creating the dish for this week. Students also refer to their hand written recipes from past Breakfast Club meetings that they can take home with them.

This morning’s featured creation was a breakfast wrap. Mrs. Dean had warmed some tortillas and arranged around the table were the ingredients from which the children could choose to adorn their wrap: canned peaches, canned pineapples and bananas (all of which club members cut up themselves); raspberries, blueberries, and granola; with two spreadable options (whipped cream cheese or cottage cheese). Mrs. Dean reminded the children to take portions that were considerate so that everyone had the option of trying some of everything. She suggested they choose one protein spread and two fruit options on their wraps, along with the granola. It was fun watching the students carefully arrange the chosen items on their wrap canvases. It reminded Mrs. Dean of a story from her past. When she was young, her brother and she used to compete in trying to create the most attractive tortilla before destroying it during the wrapping process. One of the Breakfast Club members forgot to fold one of the ends, so hers’ ended up spilling out the back.

At the first past Breakfast Club meeting Mrs. Dean distributed and discussed posters (supplied by Center’s Wellness Committee) about the basic food groups. Today, as the students are preparing their wraps, she asks them which food group each of the featured ingredients fall into. “Next time,” she says, “I’ll buy smaller sized tortillas because these were too awkward to work with.” She further explains that no added sugar was necessary for this recipe. However, at a previous morning session she offered “agave” to students who wanted to sweeten the oatmeal they had prepared. The least nutritious part of the breakfast wraps were the canned fruit items which had been sitting in naturally sweetened juices.

My favorite part of this Breakfast Club were the conversations taking place among the participants, mostly with their immediate seat mates (e.g. “Raspberries are like mini-strawberries.”). There were lots of “pleases”, “thank you’s” and an occasional covered cough -- all signs that social kindnesses are being taught in these students’ homes and classrooms. I asked each of the students to tell me what they like best about their Breakfast Club. Here are some of their comments: “I like getting together to eat.” “There’s lots of food.” “I like designing my meal.” “We get to try different foods.“ “We get to make stuff.” “Being together and having fun.” Of course, my favorite one was suitable for crocheting on the table cloths of every home in the world: “We learn how to eat healthy and change our lives.”

This morning there ended up being enough ingredients so that students who wanted to make a second wrap got their wish. Other students turned their energies to creating two breakfast wraps for delivery to Kim and Tina, the saints who work in the main office. One student, who had finished her meal early, tried to sneak out, but Mrs. Dean kindly reminded her to first clean her area and then to say goodbye to everyone. She also told them all that, once again, their healthy breakfast would provide the energy and extra brain power necessary to get them ready for the fun of learning (thereby, making each of their teachers happier -- MY editorial comment).

If anyone has other healthy school related stories like this, please let me know. This kind of good news needs to be shouted from Center school rooftops.

The Center Joint Unified School District is committed to equal opportunity for all individuals in education. School and district programs, activities and services shall be free from unlawful discrimination based on actual or perceived sex, race, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, ancestry, ethnic group identification, gender, physical or mental disability, or on the basis of a person’s association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics, or sexual harassment in any district service, program and/or activity that receives or benefits from state financial assistance. The district shall promote programs, which ensure that unlawful discriminatory practices are eliminated in all school and district activities.