Delmar Middle: 5th Grade SNACK FUND
Donation protected
My name is Vicki Di Vittorio and I am fifth grade Special Education teacher at Delmar Middle School in Delmar, DE. (Please bear with the explanation below and read to the end!)
Delmar is "The Little Town Too Big For One State". Delmar's 962 residents live in a unique community that calls two states, Delaware and Maryland, home. (the district has over 1,300 students, some of whom live in Delmar, MD but attend school in Delmar, DE).
Our school district is unique in that it consists of only one building; comprised of a Middle and a Senior High School: there is no elementary school on the Delaware side (K-4 students attend Delmar Elementary School in Delmar, MD). The middle school and high school students and faculty share not only a gym, a cafeteria, all specials teachers (art, music, gym, foreign language, computer) but also all district offices and support staff.
Our middle school houses four grades (5-8), our High School houses four as well (9-12). There is no doubt that eight grades of students sharing facilities creates a scheduling conundrum. It also necessitates the need for eight seperate lunches (due to overcrowding concerns). As you can imagine, it is not an easy task for a district to get in eight, half hour lunches within a 7 hour school day.
This time constraint necessitates that FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS eat LUNCH at 9:50 AM this coming school year (2015-2016). YES, you read that correctly: our fifth grade students will be eating LUNCH at 9:50 AM. This past school year, the fifth graders ate lunch at 10:00, but ate a seperate breakfast from the rest of the school at 7:50, and then were provided a District funded SNACK at 1:05 each day (the school day ends at 2:56 each day).
The district funding used to provide every fifth grade student (160) with a daily snack is not available for this coming school year! This creates an entire other situation for the incoming class of fifth graders (aside from being fifth graders (9-12 year olds) in a Middle School environment). HUNGER!
There is no doubt that eating LUNCH at 9:50 makes for a long day for the youngest group of students in the district (they will not eat a seperate breakfast this coming school year either). There is a lot of research to support that "Inadequate nutrition is linked to delayed brain development and an impaired ability to learn. In addition, hunger and lack of nutrition result in reduced academic achievement; test scores are lower, and absenteeism is higher. and there are more grade repeats( http://www.thefoodeffect.org/all-about-hunger/).
Students can not learn if they are hungry! Eating LUNCH at 9:50 in the morning and then going the remaining 5+ hours of the school day with out a snack to hold them over will definitely impact their learning, behavior, attitude and (dare I say it??) state test scores! (The District has provided snack to the students for two consecutive years for this reason)
THE KIDS NEED A SNACK TO GET THEM THROUGH! AND THE FIFTH GRADE TEAM OF TEACHERS NEED YOUR HELP TO GET IT TO THEM!
Your donation will help a child to remain focused throughout the day; helping them to remain focused, giving them the ability to continue to learn and grow during a very crucial fifth grade school year.
We are hopeful that through the generosity of the community (both friends and strangers) that we will reach our $4000 goal and be in a position to provide snacks to each fifth grader, every day throughout the 2015-2016 school year.
Delmar is "The Little Town Too Big For One State". Delmar's 962 residents live in a unique community that calls two states, Delaware and Maryland, home. (the district has over 1,300 students, some of whom live in Delmar, MD but attend school in Delmar, DE).
Our school district is unique in that it consists of only one building; comprised of a Middle and a Senior High School: there is no elementary school on the Delaware side (K-4 students attend Delmar Elementary School in Delmar, MD). The middle school and high school students and faculty share not only a gym, a cafeteria, all specials teachers (art, music, gym, foreign language, computer) but also all district offices and support staff.
Our middle school houses four grades (5-8), our High School houses four as well (9-12). There is no doubt that eight grades of students sharing facilities creates a scheduling conundrum. It also necessitates the need for eight seperate lunches (due to overcrowding concerns). As you can imagine, it is not an easy task for a district to get in eight, half hour lunches within a 7 hour school day.
This time constraint necessitates that FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS eat LUNCH at 9:50 AM this coming school year (2015-2016). YES, you read that correctly: our fifth grade students will be eating LUNCH at 9:50 AM. This past school year, the fifth graders ate lunch at 10:00, but ate a seperate breakfast from the rest of the school at 7:50, and then were provided a District funded SNACK at 1:05 each day (the school day ends at 2:56 each day).
The district funding used to provide every fifth grade student (160) with a daily snack is not available for this coming school year! This creates an entire other situation for the incoming class of fifth graders (aside from being fifth graders (9-12 year olds) in a Middle School environment). HUNGER!
There is no doubt that eating LUNCH at 9:50 makes for a long day for the youngest group of students in the district (they will not eat a seperate breakfast this coming school year either). There is a lot of research to support that "Inadequate nutrition is linked to delayed brain development and an impaired ability to learn. In addition, hunger and lack of nutrition result in reduced academic achievement; test scores are lower, and absenteeism is higher. and there are more grade repeats( http://www.thefoodeffect.org/all-about-hunger/).
Students can not learn if they are hungry! Eating LUNCH at 9:50 in the morning and then going the remaining 5+ hours of the school day with out a snack to hold them over will definitely impact their learning, behavior, attitude and (dare I say it??) state test scores! (The District has provided snack to the students for two consecutive years for this reason)
THE KIDS NEED A SNACK TO GET THEM THROUGH! AND THE FIFTH GRADE TEAM OF TEACHERS NEED YOUR HELP TO GET IT TO THEM!
Your donation will help a child to remain focused throughout the day; helping them to remain focused, giving them the ability to continue to learn and grow during a very crucial fifth grade school year.
We are hopeful that through the generosity of the community (both friends and strangers) that we will reach our $4000 goal and be in a position to provide snacks to each fifth grader, every day throughout the 2015-2016 school year.
Organizer
Vicki Di Vittorio
Organizer
Delmar, DE