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Teacher's Class Gets What It Gives

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE PHOTO

Teacher Peggy Middleton works on a tally chart of collected can goods her Developmental Suport class has collected at Citrus Park Elementary School. The students have collected the canned goods for the school's food drive for the Salvation Army for Thanksgiving. Middleton has turned the collection of the canned goods into a lesson plan for the students, combining math, counting, and graphing.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

CITRUS PARK - The soup, pudding and instant potatoes Xavier Peoples brought to class would help feed the hungry. In the special-needs class he attends with other kindergartners and first-graders, the donations also became lessons in math, reading and graphs.

Peggy Middleton, who teaches the developmental support class at Citrus Park Elementary, merged a school donation drive with lesson plans. Citrus Park children annually collect canned and boxed goods to give to the Salvation Army, and Middleton makes sure her students get involved.

The 14 children she teaches have varying abilities - some can recognize numbers and letters; others can read, add and subtract. She starts by challenging them to bring in as many items as their age, which added up to 92.

"She's done so well, and the kids are loving it," said guidance counselor Cathy Gatchell, who organizes the collection.

The food drive ended mid-month, and Middleton's class contributed more than 250 items. Each day, students sorted the donations by categories, counted the foods in each and marked the tallies in charts. Middleton encouraged them to try to read labels or figure out what packages were, based on visual cues.

"Xavier, I want to thank you," she said this month when the boy presented her with a bag of goodies. "You brought in food today."

Middleton held the boxes in front of the class and quizzed the students on what they saw. Look at the pictures on the box, she said, and try to guess what is inside.

Eggs or potatoes? she asked.

Potatoes, the class answered.

Are potatoes a meat?

No, the children yelled.

Is it a vegetable?

Yes, most said.

She held up the pudding. Is it a fruit? A meat?

A mix, one student said.

It is a mix, Middleton said, but what else? Is this a dessert?

The children yelled yes and Middleton gave them the results. They had one soup, one vegetable and one dessert to add to their charts. Together, the class counted the totals.

But she also made sure they did not forget the reason they brought in the food.

"Is this food going to my house?" Middleton asked. "What are we going to do with this food?"

Tommy DeJongh, 7, said it would go to people "who have no food that need food to eat."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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