Reading and Breakfast
Good reading skills and eating habits are important contributors to student success. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a principal or work at a school, there are ways to incorporate reading into your school breakfast program.
If your school offers breakfast in the classroom, the following books would be a great complement not only to an established reading lesson but also to reinforce the habit of eating breakfast every day. Teachers could read to their students while they are having breakfast.
If schools offer breakfast before classes start in a common area, they can set up a small bookshelf with these books and others so students can read while they are enjoying their morning nutrition. Creating a small library in the cafeteria may allow students to read while they are eating breakfast.
Feel free to share these books with your school librarian and work together with school staff to add more food and breakfast related books to this list. Connect with your local public library as well, for more ideas.
Many schools provide newspapers to students at their school. Newspapers in Education is one program in which schools can connect with their local newspapers to receive them at a discounted price or sometimes at no charge. The goal is to encourage reading among students. Having books or newspapers available to students at breakfast may increase participation at breakfast.
Other ways to incorporate reading and breakfast include:
• Working with your local literacy project or literacy council to bring in “celebrity readers” during breakfast. These readers could be police, fire fighters, a local sports celebrity, a local artist, etc.
• Create a school ‘story time” in which volunteers or older students read a book to students during breakfast or right after breakfast, before classes start.
View our suggested Breakfast and Nutrition Books for children
Enjoy your reading.