MEDFORD — In putty-colored T-shirts, they arrived by the busloads. Hoards of 9- and 10-year-olds descended upon the store, higgedly-piggedly, and gathered en masse. With wide smiles and armed with calculators, they overtook the ShopRite of Medford with a common goal: spend $100.
Sixty-six fourth graders from Neeta Elementary School in Medford Lakes went to the supermarket to participate in a Young Consumers program. They were tasked with buying healthy groceries for a family of four while staying in budget, and solved a series of puzzles and games that challenged their critical thinking skills.
Students calculated the price of fresh produce based on weight, solved percentage-off problems, played with Speed Stacks and tangrams, and learned about fats, sugar and calories.
Drawing from his experiences as the former Bergen County School District superintendent, Howie Herbert developed Young Consumers as part of his Cogmotion educational program. It provides real-world applications of in-classroom math curriculum in a two-part field trip.
“One of the complaints I had about field trips,” Herbert said, “is that we’re not going to just go on a field trip unless it’s relevant to what the students need to know.”
Young Consumers also complies with Common Core State Standards Initiative’s math standards. Introduced to schools across the country in 2010, the core is an educational initiative that regulates curriculum for each grade in states that have adopted it.
New Jersey is one of 44 states in the nation to adopt the core, and began implementing the revised curricula in 2011. Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, the state will take part in Partnership for Assessments of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) to test students’ ability to comprehend core standards.
Herbert said he will continue to update Young Consumers as state and national standards evolve. But the program isn’t just about strengthening multiplication, division and fraction skills − students are also learning to make healthy choices while shopping.
When groups, consisting of three students and a parent, arrived at the cashier, dietitians awarded them points on how many servings of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, dairy and whole grains they selected.
“I definitely think this program gives them that exposure (to making healthy choices),” ShopRite dietitian Niki Toscani said. “As we know, the healthier options, the fruits and vegetables, are around the perimeter of the store and tend to be a little bit cheaper. They were told, in order to keep within their budgets, to choose healthier things.”
Jodi Piereth, a mother of three who volunteered for the morning program, said she joined to help her son and his peers.
“This is a new program for our school, so I want to see how it goes, because I have two younger ones coming through,” Piereth said. “(The kids) love it. They are all excited about the challenges, to see how fast they can do with their time, and they’re supporting each other which is fun.”
Alexis Sachdev: 609-871-8055; firstname.lastname@example.org; Twitter: @BurlcoLex