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Civic Minds

Program Content for November 20th, 2009

Ask your students to read the article “More families going without enough food from Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Section:  Main, A1

 

Vocabulary Warm-Up: Match the words to their definition below.

 Toll      Lexicon            Poverty            Scarce

 

________________                   Insufficient to satisfy the need or demand

 

________________                   The extent of loss, damage, suffering, etc., resulting from some action or problem.

 

________________                   The vocabulary of a particular language, field, social class, person, etc…

                       

 

_______________                     The state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; Condition of being poor

 

 

Questions for Discussion (discuss as a class, in pairs, or groups, or use these questions as a worksheet depending upon your class size and dynamics):  

 

1.      Where are the steep increases in food scarcity being seen the most?

2.       In 2008, the report found, nearly ____ million children — more than ______ in ______ across the United States — were living in households in which food at times ran short.

3.      Among people of all ages, nearly ______ percent last year did not consistently have _______________  __________.

4.      The findings are from a snapshot of food in America that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued every year since ________, based on Census Bureau surveys.  They provide a glimpse into what?

5.      Hunger is up _____% in Washington State.

6.      In Washington, the number of people who struggle  regularly to put enough food on the table has increased from 90,000 to ___________, according to the survey.

7.      The federal government began monitoring food insecurity in ________.

8.      What are all the programs Stone believe would help this situation?

9.      What did President Obama pledge?

10.   What are the first steps in Congress to make this happen?

 

 

 

 

Suggested tools for further researching this issue and sharing/discussing your findings with others (assign as in-class project or homework):

 

1.      What does “food insecurity” mean?  Have you or someone you know ever experienced this?  What were the feelings associated with this?  If not, imagine that your family didn’t have enough food. How would that feel? 

 

2.      Many government programs help those in need, through food, clothing and other social services.  Do you think it’s the government’s responsibility to provide for those that need help?  Why or why not?  If the government didn’t provide assistance, what would our community look like?

 

3.      What can you and your classmates, family & friends do to help those who need extra help this season?  Why do you think more can food drives occur near Thanksgiving and the holidays?  Should it be a year-round effort?   

 

4.      What is the WIC program?

 

5.      “Last year, people in 4.8 million households used private food pantries, compared to 3.9 million in 2007, while people in about 625,000 households resorted to soup kitchens, nearly 90,000 more than the year before. Food shortages, the report shows, are particularly pronounced among women raising children alone. Last year, more than one in three single mothers reported that they struggled for food and more than one in seven said someone in their home had been hungry — far eclipsing the food problem in any other kind of household.  The report also found that people who are black or Hispanic were more than twice as likely as whites to report that food in their home was scarce.”

 

·        What are your thoughts on the above statistics?  When do you believe the economy will rebound?  Are there any family members or neighbors affected by layoffs?  How has this changed their lives?

 

6.      Washington's 2009 minimum wage is $8.55 per hour.  Did you know that this is the highest in the nation?  Ask your parents what their latest grocery trip cost?  If you had a minimum wage job, how many hours would you have had to work to cover that grocery bill? 

 

·        Do you think teens realize how much necessities, like food, cost?  Why or why not?

 

 

Newspaper-related CBA activity:  Checks and Balances

 

A responsible citizen of the U.S. understands how the constitutional principle of checks and balances protects the three branches of government. 

 

State a position that evaluates whether the system of checks and balances worked during a particular administration, court, or congress/legislature/local council by:

 

·        Evaluating whether it prevented one branch from exercising too much power.

 

Using the e-edition, search through past articles and find a relevant story that links to checks and balances in our government system.

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 


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