Community Corner

Students Learn Consumer Skills

Fourth-graders from Oak View School get a lesson in smart shopping.

They were divided into pairs and given a budget, then used their lessons and imagination to buy food for a family of four.

Fourth-graders from the Oak View School got a chance to try out their shopping skills at the Brookdale Shop Rite as part of the store's Young Consumers Program.

"The basic goal is to get them to make the right choices for healthy eating," explained Anne O'Leary, human resources manager for the store.

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Each pair of students had to shop for enough food to feed a family of four for four days using a $100 budget. O'Leary said students were encouraged to use healthy versions of food - brown rice instead of white rice, low-fat or nonfat milk instead of whole milk.

Students had to shop from different food groups to create menus  for breakfast, lunch and dinner and keep their purchases within the allotted budget. O'Leary said the store visit was the culmination of a student education program that goes on all school year.

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A representative from Wakefern Corp., Shop Rite's parent company, visited the students at their elementary schools and taught them lessons in healthy eating, emphasized math skills to weigh and calculate the cost of produce, in addition to other smart shopping skills.

The students got to put their knowledge to work on the shopping spree - and O'Leary said most of them came in within budget, though she admitted one student suggested feeding his family a lobster dinner.

Once the students finished their shopping, O'Leary said they were graded on their selection of food and whether they stayed within the budget. Besides shopping, the students played educational games at learning stations around the store and left with at tray of sandwiches and goody bags.

O'Leary said the Young Consumers Program, which is about 10 years old, encourages math skills and smart shopping skills. She said the lessons learned are practical - since many children are already grocery shopping with their parents.

Fourth-graders from throughout Bloomfield's public schools participate, including students from Oak View, Watsessing School, Demarest, Franklin and Brookdale.


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