Pupils have 'super' time time shopping for food

Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School third-graders in Jackson are learning their math skills firsthand from a program that involves students, parents, teachers and associates at a local ShopRite supermarket.

Pupils from the Rosenauer School in Jackson received practical lessons in math, nutrition and budgeting when they took a field trip to ShopRite in Jackson. Parent volunteers accompanied the children on a trip through the store's aisles as the youngsters tried to buy $100 worth of healthful groceries. The youngsters recently took a field trip to ShopRite, County Line Road, to apply some of the math skills they have been learning in class to a real world situation.

One of the people who welcomed the children to ShopRite was Howard Herbert, a former superintendent of schools in Hasbrouck Heights who is now a consultant to the Perlmutter Family ShopRite.

The Young Consumer program designed by Herbert has been around for nine years and has been in Jackson for five years.

About a dozen tables were set up throughout the supermarket as stations where the children could work on the type of problems they might encounter on a test.

PHOTOS BY DAVE BENJAMIN Herbert said the visit to the supermarket is the culmination of a yearlong effort that is directly related to the curriculum.

As part of the exercise, the children were given a budget of $100 and were asked to behave as a family. The idea was to spend the $100 without going over that amount.Anurse or nutritionist asked the children questions about whether they had made healthy choices for their families.

"We don't tell them what to buy," Herbert said, "but we encourage them to see if they can demonstrate that they know what the food pyramid teaches."

Teacher Laurie Shupin said, "ShopRite has been very gracious to us in opening up their store. They have given us the products we needed for practice (i.e., pretzel sticks)."

Pupils from classes taught by Shupin, Joanne Heininger and Dana Smith took part in the shopping excursion. Parents volunteered to escort the children around the supermarket.

Jennifer McMahon, of the Perlmutter Family ShopRite Community Affairs Department, said, "We are working here with children from the Rosenauer School as part of our community outreach and being a good neighbor to those around us. This is great for the students because it gives them an opportunity to understand what it's like to be in their parents' shoes and because they are here today shopping with a $100 budget."

McMahon said the children were asked to make nutritious food selections as they went through the store.

Classroom visits during the year gave the students the preparation they needed for the tests they take in school and for the life experiences they had when they came to the store, she added.

"I'm here to help out today," said Fernanda Simoes, a store employee who was manning a station where parent Curtis Dunn was escorting Simone Trite, 9, and Nikos Leodis, 9.

Gianna Lauria, 9, and Kyra Pearson, 9, said they were learning about math and how to use money. Gianna said she liked being in the supermarket, while Kyra agreed and said it was fun.

"We're checking for the price per pound," said parent Kim Kerezsi, who was escortingMario Saweris, 8, andArjya Sinharoy, 8.

Arjya said his group was comparing items to find out which one was "a better deal."

Kerezsi said they were also checking for whole grains, the amount of sugar in a product, protein and the number of calories.

P

arent Paul Mathias said he was

happy to volunteer to help the children.

As they shopped with their $100 budget, the students were checking to see if they could make a wellbalanced meal with their food order and they also checked for salt content and cholesterol in their product choices.

Students at the "No Bologna" station had to determine how many slices of bologna would be needed in a bologna sandwich and how many slices they would need if their entire family had to take bologna sandwiches for lunch.

At the cash registers the students unloaded their shopping carts and cashiers tallied their orders.

"That's more money than you want to spend," Herbert told one group whose order came in at $110. "Try to go for exactly $100. You might want to take a few minutes if you think you are over and take about $10 (worth of products) out."

Students also had their orders checked for nutritious items and were given bonus points if their order had items that had low cholesterol, low sugar and/or low salt.

Herbert told one pair of students who were waiting on the checkout line that they did not need the toys they had placed in their basket. He reminded them that they were at the store to buy food for their family.