Reading, writing, counting and eating—the schools chancellor is telling city pre-k programs to make family-style meals part of the curriculum. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed this report.
Twice a day, every school day, four-year-olds sit down to eat with their teachers at Brooklyn Child Care in Fort Hamilton.
"Which do you like better, the yellow or the red tomato?" a teacher asks a student.
"Yellow tomato!" one student shouts.
It's called family-style eating, and starting this school year, the Department of Education is instructing every pre-k program to organize meals this way.
It's something schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña has been encouraging for awhile.
"Having the children eat in a communal setting and learning how to talk together around the table," Fariña said in April.
Research shows there are academic, social and nutritional benefits to these conversations.
"You made a pattern! Can you guys make a pattern?" one teacher asks students.
"Teachers will join in and help with the conversation to make sure it's flowing," says Brooklyn Child Care teacher Jeanette Escobosa.
They also subtly insert lessons into the act of preparing and eating food.
Teacher: "We cut it into?"
Students: "Half."
Teacher: "And then?"
Student: "Another half and then it will be quarters."
Teacher: "That's right. We cut it into half and then quarters!"
The other component of family-style meals is that students serve themselves. Research suggests this helps them develop motor skills and learn how to regulate and respond to their own hunger. Studies show young children are also are more likely to try and enjoy foods that they've put on their own plate.
"If you don't taste it, you won't know if you like it," one student says.
"If they just hold it or lick it or something, that's all encouraged, because not every child is going to like everything and if even they don't like it today, they may like it tomorrow," says Escobosa.
At Brooklyn Child Care, the family-style meals are just the start. The children also grow many of the vegetables, which teachers say makes students even more likely to enjoy eating the healthy meals.
"And now celery is my favorite vegetable," one student says.
"My favorite vegetable is cucumber and celery," says another.
While not every pre-k program will be able to have a garden, education officials do expect the communal breakfast, lunch and snack table to become as common—and important—a part of pre-k as a reading rug or a block center.